I just got home last night, I’ve been visiting family in Texas. Since yesterday was my last day, and mom had to drive me up to Houston to catch my flight home, we allowed extra time so we could stop and have dinner on the way up. My cousin Jen came along with us. We stopped at the Macaroni Grill for dinner. I chose it over Olive Garden simply because I was craving Italian food, but they have better dessert. They have this awesome panna cotta with raspberry sauce and fresh raspberries. Mmm.
Anyway, since it was our last time out before I left, we’d expected dinner to be pretty expensive, and it was. Dinners, desserts and drinks for 3 people adds up pretty quickly. Well, I had a bite of my dessert and then picked up one of the raspberries because I thought I saw part of a stem in it, but it was a tiny green webworm. Ha ha! I mean, I grew up in the country and picked dewberries on the roadside, so I’m used to seeing that and it didn’t gross me out, but I still was pretty suprised, and exclaimed “Oh shit!” Our waiter was right next to the table and he turned around and I said “Excuse me, but there was a worm in my raspberry!” He grabbed my fork and started to freak out and I started to look at the other berries and he said “NO! No, I’ll get you a new one!”
He took my plate away and came back saying that he was going to send the manager over. At this point, I’d have been happy if they’d just replaced my plate, or maybe taken my dessert off of the bill. We thought that if we were lucky, they’d take all of the desserts off of the bill. When the manager came over, she was very apologetic and said that they were replacing my dessert, and also taking care of our entire bill.
Wow.
We were very impressed. That went way beyond what I expected. We left a big tip and will have no problems going back again. I just wanted to share a story about good customer service, since people usually share stories about crappy service.
One time at Cracker Barrel, there were about 7-8 of us eating, having a decent meal. Then we ordered dessert, and my (vegetarian) sister got some peach ice cream thing. When it got to the table, she ate some of it, then she found a big hunk of beef in it! The waiter wasn’t really helpful, and I think we still payed for most of the food, but noone at that table has eaten at that establishment since, and rightly so I think.
Oh, and a friend of my dad, who is allergice to mayonaise, specifically asked for no mayo on his sandwich, but when he got it he discovered that the just scraped it off. We thought the beef was the result of sending the sandwich back, but who knows. Blech!
And sorry for derailing the thread like that, it’s late and that came to my mind.
Pretty surprising that your service was that good 
Good for Macaroni Grill - I like them an awful lot, and that story gives me a reason to like 'em even more. And a little green worm on the raspberries isn’t even so bad. Means they were fresh! 
But a chunk of beef in ice cream? Now that grosses me out. But you wouldn’t find me eating in a Cracker Barrel restaurant anyway. I’ve heard way too many complaints about them over the years - about the food and otherwise.
Yeah, a tiny worm in a raspberry I can deal with, because that’s something that occurs naturally. Hair usually really grosses me out, and any other kind of bug probably would have too.
Beef in peach ice cream is just gross.
Now I know why ‘Princess Peach’ isn’t in any of the newer ‘Mario’ games.
Note to self: Don’t re-negotiate endorsement contracts in Texas…
LilMiss and I frequent a Country Kitchen a few blocks from our house. Plain simple food, decent prices.
About a month ago, LilMiss found a long grey whisker in her grapes. :urp: Very disgusting. Her meal was comped.
Last week we went there (after taking some time off–neither could stand the idea of eating there for a while). It was busy, but not BUSY. They cater to many of the church groups in the neighborhood, so seeing a table of twenty is not out of the norm. USUALLY service is always quick. We had 40 minutes for dinner- LilMiss had a concert. I figured 40 minutes would me MORE than enough time, I mean it’s Country Kitchen not Chez Bistro.
We were seated right away. About 5 minutes later we were brought our sodas as ordered when seated. While I said we would like to order now, the waitress walked away. Hmmm. She appeared 15 minutes later to take our order. I asked if it would take a while, as we (by that point) had to be out of there in 20 minutes. The waitress said “Well, I don’t know. We ARE really busy”. I replied that we have been in there when every table was full, noted that the large party had already received their meals, I was just hoping we could eat and be out of there in a timely manner. “I’ll check”.
:rolleyes:
Another 5 minutes later she wanders back and asks if we knew what we wanted.
Yeah. The bill for two lousy sodas.
She was offended. Too bad. When we went to cash out, the manager (a GREAT guy) asked why we only had sodas. Explained the problem- noting that we have NEVER waited so long for nothing. He comped the sodas and gave us a gift cerificate for our next meal.
I rarely crab about that stuff- I’ve been around the food service industry for long enough to know when to complain and when to deal. With the stray whisker? I commented on it to the waitress, and that was that. No manager, no loud comments. Just the :ugh: to the waitress. Matter resolved fast. Of course, LilMiss never orders fruit with her meals anymore…
I’ve had similar experiences twice - both at the hotel restaurant at the Woodfield Hyatt, oddly enough.
Years ago I was there for an SF con and went in for lunch. After I was seated I looked through the menu, decided what I wanted, and opened the book I was currently reading while waiting for the waitress. About fifteen minutes later it occurred to me that no one had taken my order, which considering that the restaurant was practically empty seemed a bit excessive. I flagged down a passing waitress and asked her to find out what the delay was. It turned out that there had been a shift change just as I was seated, and the new waitress had thought her predecessor had taken my order. She apologized for the confusion and took my order; after it was delivered the manager came over to tell me that there would be no charge. I jokingly said that if I’d known that I would have ordered the steak sandwich instead of chicken quesadilla. And yes, I left a tip.
Then a few years ago my wife and I were at the same hotel (for the same convention, in fact). We had eaten there on Friday and had had the buffet, but Saturday we were planning to order off the menu I didn’t feel like walking back and forth getting our food. The restataurant was rather busy, and when we were seated we were not given menus. When someone came by to take our drink orders we asked for menus, which then took a while to arrive. Then there was a longer wait before someone came by to take our food order; it turned out that it had been assumed we werre having the buffet again. By the time we were served and had eaten we had decided that we weren’t going to wait for dessert, as my wife was tired and wanted to go back to the room. When I was paying the bill (charging it to our room) I commented on the delay, mentioning that we had decided to skip dessert. We got back to the room and the message light on our phone was blinking. It was the restaurant manager, offering to have whatever dessert we wanted sent to our room (at no charge). She also sent us two passes for the fancy Sunday breakfast buffet, which cost more than the meal we had just eaten.
My story: I’m in Las Vegas for a homebrewing contest. There are a number of us meeting at The Crown and Anchor pub for dinner. I am in one of the first groups to arrive. We are seated at the big, reserved table for our group of 15-20. I decide to have the special. Our drinks arrive, as do more of the group. The rest of my subgroup get their food. None for me. I call the waitress over and point this out. It is her first night, and she is dealing with problems already. The rest of the table get their food…still none for me. After about the third notice to the waitress, I asked to see the manager. When he arrived, I pointed out that 1) I was among the first to order, and I was still foodless, and 2) Our waitress was handling things very well considering it was her first night, and that I wanted the kitchen staff flogged and the waitress given a raise. Result: Comped dinner for the subgroup, and free dessert for me in lieu of dinner. I believe I selected a Cask-Strength McCallan for dessert. We then left a large tip for the waitress, and made it a point to compliment her, in front of the manager, on the way out. By then, I was too loaded to be hungry. 
Oh yeah? A collection of good customer service stories.
*That link goes to a thread I started a while ago. Please don’t bump it.
Ooh. It could have been worse. It could have been a thumb.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4457687/
I do think it’s great, though, that some places go way out of their way to make sure thta you didn’t have a bad experience. Something wheree you might otherwise have warned people off of the place turns into an experience that makes you want to go back (And kind of, just kind of, makes you want to find another tiny worm at the end of a big, expensive meal again. ).