Customer for Life. Not likely.

I know we are in a recession and restaurants are doing everything they can to make a buck these days. And I support them, particularly the small individual/Ma & Pop style restaurants, coffee shops, bakeries etc. But when a restaurant behaves in a greedy manner. Well, I for one will not be returning for seconds.

This morning, i decided to go for Sunday brunch in a "Scottish" themed restaurant & bar in Sherman Oaks. This place is about a year old and usually the owner who greets us as we enter is pleasant enough, as he was this morning.

Service was good, and it is always nice to dine "Al fresco". Especially on such a beautiful day. Anyway, having taken the advice of the server, i decided to order the poached eggs bruschetta & a side of spicy sausage. The dish arrived promptly and looked like a disaster on a plate. Looks can be deceiving, so I continued on and took my first bite.

Basically, it was a piece of Sliced bread, toasted with two hard as a rock poached eggs sitting on top. The Poached eggs were then completely covered with mushy diced tomatoes & feta cheese with way too much basil. The end result was a soggy piece of bread with hard as a rock eggs smothered with way too much of everything else.

I am usually not a complainer in restaurants, as I understand how difficult the business is and how mistakes can be make. I also understand how mistakes can be rectified. So when the server approached the table and asked how everything was, she noticed that I was not eating. I had already pushed the plate aside after just one mouthful. Without getting into too much detail I explained that is was not good. She offered me something else from the menu or a replacement, which I declined as i did not care too wait or eat alone.

So far so good. The server did her job. Now here is where it gets ridiculous. Later when I asked for the check, the hostess brings it over and says I believe you were not satisfied with your food. I nodded in a yes fashion and she proceeded to tell me that she has given me a $3.00 (Three) dollar discount.

I stared up at her, completely stuck for words. (And anyone who knows me, knows this rarely happens.) After a brief moment of silence, I asked her. Are you actually charging me for a dish I took one bite from and that was not good to begin with. And she replied, well, I can take it off the bill if you want. But you did order it".

To which I politely explained, yes I ordered what I though was going to be a poached egg bruschetta and a bruschetta is usually a grilled piece of crusty bread brushed with olive oil salt & pepper, not a soggy piece of toast with two dried out and over cooked eggs on it.

She promptly returned with a new check and low and behold the bruschetta was now gone. However she left on the side of sausage which I did not eat also. And was charging me $4.25 for one sausage link split in half. Now this is just plain greedy & tight. I again asked the waitress why she was charging me for something I had not eaten. As it was taken away on the same plate with the soggy bread and eggs.

The server looked at me as if I was insane. She wandered away and returned with yet another check. This one was correct. Now don't get me wrong. I don't usually complain, as a matter of fact i have been know to let quite a lot slip by in restaurants over these years. But when a restaurant is just being "tight". That is where i draw the line. After all, eating out these days is not cheap. So many restaurants these days seem to think they can serve mediocre food with an attitude and charge top dollar for it and we as consumers need to just shut up and accept it.

The servers, cooks, managers and owners all need to be retrained. Where has customer service gone. They need to put themselves in the customers shoes for one day and see if they would be happy paying good money.

What is hilarious about the dish I ordered is, that the hostess explained to me "Oh yes, we have had several complaints about this dish in the past. It does get soggy."

OMG Sister.

If i had a dish on my menu that was getting complaints I would remove it and re-work it until it was perfect. And with this particular dish simply removing the diced tomato, feta & basil & serving it on the side in a ramekin would have saved the dish. That and training the cook how to do a poached egg so it is not something that could be used to play Badminton.

"John O' Groats Restaurant & Bar". I for one will not be a customer for life.