Worst Service Ever!!!
Tueday night we went to a new restaurant called Pho Viet. Its Vietnamese food, and the main highlight of such places is a soup called "pho". For some reason im really hooked on that stuff, its my latest food obsession. Ive eaten it at 4 places in 3 states so far.
Anyhoo, Im still in awe of how horrible the service was. My husband was angry but I think it was mostly just that they opened recently and have no idea how to run the business. Before you start thinking Im downing the service in asian restaurants(or before you start downing it yourself) I want to point out that the staff seemed to have no "accent" and this is in no way a cultural misunderstanding. But I digress....
We walk in at 7PM. Theres 3 tables occupied, and another 3 that are still full of dirty plates. I dont mind that, Im really not picky. We are seated with a smile, and when she asked for our order we werent ready yet, and she brought us water. When we were ready to order she was nowhere to be seen. Finally she came for the order, Im not sure what time, but at least 10-15 mins must have passed. She ran away from us(into the kitchen) in the middle of our order! But she did apologize. It was a young girl 18-20, who knew NOTHING about the menu(luckily they use numbers on the menu for ordering) and kept primping herself in the mirror behind our table while we gave the order. hmm. okay, I didnt mind that.
Two more tables are seated, one behind us, and one across from us with two people at each table. A looooong time passes. Its 7:40. They bring our appetizer. It is cold. I think it was supposed to be cold but I didnt know that. In any case, doesnt that mean it didnt take any time to COOK it? why was it 25 mins till she brought it out? Then she comes back to tell us one of the things we ordered, they are out of. THEN she comes back again, to ask us about the noodles we ordered, if we want them fried or steamed. WELL since we ordered "fried egg noodles", umm I guess we want them fried. I still was not bothered. Just thought shes a dippy girl.
An order finally comes out and I thought it must be ours. WRONG!! It was to the table behind us! Now Im wondering whats going on, but still Im patient. The manager/owner came over and said, Im sorry, I know your order should have come out first, but Im not able to find it anywhere in the kitchen. (WHAT?) I started to give our order again then I told her the waitress had come over to verify something a little while ago, so could she check with her about our order. She did that. But she didnt come back to let us know what was going on with it, or to reassure us at all. BAAAAAAAD business manners! In fact, whats worse, is she did come back to the table across from us but didnt even stop at us!
At this point I start to notice that everyone elses table has one of those small pots of tea, even the tables which had already left. Hmmm did they all order it or were we supposed to get one too? More on that later.
Our food comes out a little before 8. Let me add here that we ordered noodles, and a bowl of soup. The soup is almost considered like a fast food. Its something that should be out in about 10 minutes. I cant imagine the noodles were that difficult to prepare either. Well, we all know there was no excuse. What Im pretty sure happened is this: the girl forgot to give our order, or lost it. So when she realized she had done that, she tried to recollect from memory( and I suspect that happened at the time when she came out to tell us they were out of XYZ, which was about 20 mins after we placed our order).
Oh, it gets better and better! Im pretty sure what they brought was not the "fried egg noodles" we ordered, but vermicelli noodles! that explains why she asked if we want it fried or steamed. hmmm. They also didnt bring the plate of accoutrements which goes with my soup(lucky for me I have had this before and knew abt that!) so I had to ask for it. At least I got it. After that
She never came back. My husband had to get up from the table and go ask them for silverware. She never even refilled our water, not even one time!!!! To make matters worse, the manager woman, not only didnt come back to see if we were doing okay but she DID come to the table across from us about 5 times without saying a word to us or looking in our direction. Was this because she was embarrased at their faux pas, or did it have anything to do with the fact that the table across from us was Asian? Unfortunately for them, they dont realize my "pho" fetish. I (would have been) a repeat customer!
We had to get up and ask for our bill. She did tell us she was taking off 20% but that didnt matter as much as her actions, and anyway the food was inexpensive and I already had a coupon! The real clincher was the parting words. I asked her, because I had to know, was the tea complimentary? She replied it was.... I told her, nobody asked if we wanted tea and I would have liked to have some if I known. She said "OH THATS OKAY" as if I was apologizing for it. HUH?
But, it is okay. Live and learn, and hopefully they did learn something that day. I will probably give them another chance.
Anyhoo, Im still in awe of how horrible the service was. My husband was angry but I think it was mostly just that they opened recently and have no idea how to run the business. Before you start thinking Im downing the service in asian restaurants(or before you start downing it yourself) I want to point out that the staff seemed to have no "accent" and this is in no way a cultural misunderstanding. But I digress....
We walk in at 7PM. Theres 3 tables occupied, and another 3 that are still full of dirty plates. I dont mind that, Im really not picky. We are seated with a smile, and when she asked for our order we werent ready yet, and she brought us water. When we were ready to order she was nowhere to be seen. Finally she came for the order, Im not sure what time, but at least 10-15 mins must have passed. She ran away from us(into the kitchen) in the middle of our order! But she did apologize. It was a young girl 18-20, who knew NOTHING about the menu(luckily they use numbers on the menu for ordering) and kept primping herself in the mirror behind our table while we gave the order. hmm. okay, I didnt mind that.
Two more tables are seated, one behind us, and one across from us with two people at each table. A looooong time passes. Its 7:40. They bring our appetizer. It is cold. I think it was supposed to be cold but I didnt know that. In any case, doesnt that mean it didnt take any time to COOK it? why was it 25 mins till she brought it out? Then she comes back to tell us one of the things we ordered, they are out of. THEN she comes back again, to ask us about the noodles we ordered, if we want them fried or steamed. WELL since we ordered "fried egg noodles", umm I guess we want them fried. I still was not bothered. Just thought shes a dippy girl.
An order finally comes out and I thought it must be ours. WRONG!! It was to the table behind us! Now Im wondering whats going on, but still Im patient. The manager/owner came over and said, Im sorry, I know your order should have come out first, but Im not able to find it anywhere in the kitchen. (WHAT?) I started to give our order again then I told her the waitress had come over to verify something a little while ago, so could she check with her about our order. She did that. But she didnt come back to let us know what was going on with it, or to reassure us at all. BAAAAAAAD business manners! In fact, whats worse, is she did come back to the table across from us but didnt even stop at us!
At this point I start to notice that everyone elses table has one of those small pots of tea, even the tables which had already left. Hmmm did they all order it or were we supposed to get one too? More on that later.
Our food comes out a little before 8. Let me add here that we ordered noodles, and a bowl of soup. The soup is almost considered like a fast food. Its something that should be out in about 10 minutes. I cant imagine the noodles were that difficult to prepare either. Well, we all know there was no excuse. What Im pretty sure happened is this: the girl forgot to give our order, or lost it. So when she realized she had done that, she tried to recollect from memory( and I suspect that happened at the time when she came out to tell us they were out of XYZ, which was about 20 mins after we placed our order).
Oh, it gets better and better! Im pretty sure what they brought was not the "fried egg noodles" we ordered, but vermicelli noodles! that explains why she asked if we want it fried or steamed. hmmm. They also didnt bring the plate of accoutrements which goes with my soup(lucky for me I have had this before and knew abt that!) so I had to ask for it. At least I got it. After that
She never came back. My husband had to get up from the table and go ask them for silverware. She never even refilled our water, not even one time!!!! To make matters worse, the manager woman, not only didnt come back to see if we were doing okay but she DID come to the table across from us about 5 times without saying a word to us or looking in our direction. Was this because she was embarrased at their faux pas, or did it have anything to do with the fact that the table across from us was Asian? Unfortunately for them, they dont realize my "pho" fetish. I (would have been) a repeat customer!
We had to get up and ask for our bill. She did tell us she was taking off 20% but that didnt matter as much as her actions, and anyway the food was inexpensive and I already had a coupon! The real clincher was the parting words. I asked her, because I had to know, was the tea complimentary? She replied it was.... I told her, nobody asked if we wanted tea and I would have liked to have some if I known. She said "OH THATS OKAY" as if I was apologizing for it. HUH?
But, it is okay. Live and learn, and hopefully they did learn something that day. I will probably give them another chance.
posted by yum | 9:53 AM
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