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January 24, 2007
eating out
A month or so ago, Ben and I ate at clarklewis, a fancy Portland place that at one point was named the city's top restaurant. The food was OK, but I was really disappointed by everything else about the experience. We arrived promptly at the time of our reservation, but weren't seated for more than half an hour. Nobody offered us drinks until we'd been waiting for 15 minutes. Throughout, I felt really unwelcome. I left a note that I was frustrated by the service, and the next day I got a phone call accusing me of making a mistake about my reservation time. No apologies, nothing.
Today I read this, which perfectly captured my feelings. Apparently bad service has become the norm in New York. I'm glad Portland has a lot of other options, and that I can still go out for good food without feeling unwelcome.
After reading the New York Times article, I went back to look at the comments I posted on a local foodie web site. I guess some clarklewis folks took offense at what I had so say. Too bad.
Posted by Courtney_Sherwood at January 24, 2007 05:42 PM
Comments
Hilarious. I hope this guy got a few days off to think about whether snapping at already dissatisfied customers on the internets is a good idea. It sounds like his boss was none too pleased.
Posted by: underwhelm at January 25, 2007 07:13 AM
Yeah, people get really hyper about food in this city, but it seems there are only a small number of restaurants in town where you are actually treated well by the people you're paying to serve you. In the future, I'm going to look at the comments associated with food reviews before I book reservations at new-to-me restaurants. It looks like there were signs that clarklewis would be the wrong place for a nice night out even before we made our plans.
Posted by: Courtney at January 26, 2007 11:46 AM
i just read some of that stuff...
people ought to approach their job, whatever it may be with the right attitude, particularly if influences others...and indeed if you are a cook- you should be able to take criticism if someone needs to send back a dish
if you are service folk-especially in a NICE restaurant-you need to represent
as a completely opposite example you might describe what happened when you cluelessly experimented with pear brandy at the bar and how nice that bartender was about it
we went back in that mcmenamins the other night and a waitress was telling us that she split a check between 29 separate people 29!!! how freaking nice is that?
Posted by: Anonymous at January 26, 2007 03:51 PM
Yeah, that bartender wins the service award. When I didn't like the drink I ordered, I chalked it up to my own error in judgment and was totally willing to have it dumped out and to pay for something different. Instead, he worked his magic to make it into a yummy new drink, and he didn't even charge me extra.
There's a new McMenamins in my neighborhood -- in a former funeral home. I really need to head over there some time.
Posted by: Courtney at January 26, 2007 08:01 PM