Pier One Restaurant — Restaurant in undefined

We had read great reviews and saw the pictures which blew us away. The location is sublime. The turquoise water backed by green palm trees with the boat marina around the holiday accommodation nearby. Can't fault it. The food is also great quality.

Unfortunately, that's where th positivity ends. We arrived at 2:30 precisely as we had made a reservation due to the potential popularity of this place.

We were asked to wait in the lounge area with no drink (that's always strike one for me. Ask guests if they would like a drink as soon as they arrive, then they are happy and will enjoy the food more).

30 minutes later, we were shown a table and offered tap water, which took another 5 minutes or so to arrive, asked what we would like to drink, my wife asked if they had fresh orange, seems a simple question to me... the person attending to us had to go and check. We then saw them show another table of 6 in and start wrapping cutlery in napkins for them. If this place is always busy, wouldn't you always have cutlery? Like a young team member constantly cleaning cutlery and getting it wrapped and ready? Crazy.

Anyway, we waited about 10 minutes and my wife got fed up so approached a person who seemed to be a senior member of staff. They came over to take our order from the vegan menu (which was also difficult to get hold of but luckily it's online so we were able to choose before arriving).

Once the order was taken, we spotted the senior team member talking to the server who was meant to serve us. They came over to tell us that the items we wanted were not on available... 1. Why would they not already know that? 2. Why couldn't they tell us directly? Mad.

We had then re-told half of our order when the server was presented with a difficult task... The flat bread without cheese. She didn't know how to remove cheese from the order, so she went to find out... When she came back we requested further items as we hadn't finished ordering... She said "but I've put your order through already" as if we're going to say, "oh, ok, forget it then, we weren't hungry afterall" 🤣 Bigger orders mean a larger bill and more tip...

Where's the logic? Where's the training? It seems that the service is almost to the point of being obnoxious about the beautiful, paradise location.

The drinks arrived quickly, thank goodness. My vegan poke bowl, however had tuna on it (which was also more expensive than aubergine and shown on the receipt so we know that it was entered incorrectly, although the server denied it).

When it came to the end of the meal, we questioned the 12.5% service charge added and still with no apology, we were told that it's already included and what was wrong with the service? I mentioned the tuna on a vegan meal and the delays. They argued that to the kitchen was backed up... Maybe it wouldn't be if the correct orders were sent through and at the same time! 😹

We said that there is no way we are paying it and we'd be happy to explain to the management. The message was sent to the bar and the senior team member from earlier was printing us a new receipt without the service charge... If they were ready to print the receipt without the charge, they obviously knew what was going on... Why didn't they come and apologise? Offer free drinks? A voucher for next time? So strange. They were either American or Canadian so should be used to good service. I just don't get it. Illogical.

Phew, rant over. Sorry for the lengthy post. I'm uploading this, not to be snide or cruel but to hopefully help teach somebody, either here or elsewhere in the restaurant business, customers come first and they are always right, then they will tell people about you and come...

Disappointing, at so many levels... Wait 25' for drinks, another 30' for a bottle of white wine (sitting in the fridge across the table), another 30' for pizza dough tasting like cardboard... Don't blame the staff, they clearly have very little training. The reality is that table waiting is actually a professional skill that needs to be taught. Eg, as a reminder:

get drinks to the table quickly: this is your highest margin product, and will also help customer wait patiently for their courses in case the place is busy

do not hang out around the bar, chatting at each others or texting on your phones - and do not take selfies: keep your head up for eye contact with customers, and keep bringing them cheap nibbles, preferably salty and fatty, so that they order more drinks (see 1. above)

Pizza is you second highest margin product: make sure it is eatable... spend a few cents more on quality dough, and customers might even return for more. And keep your ingredients simple and separate, so that you can charge more for "customization".

Do NOT look at your feet when walking around the space: look for eye contact, and more drink orders (see 1. above)

By the way, also take a hard look at you wine list: again, this is easy money (see 1. above), and should deserve a little more attention - there are much more interesting, better suited to the climate, "value for money" wines available on the Island through the numerous local quality wine dealers than the rachitic/predictable/overall inadequate choice on offer!

Restaurant business is one of these rare ventures where better customer experience can actually rhyme with higher profit margin. It may be difficult to imagine, as you are sitting on the captive audience of the residents at Port St Charles, but try to take it onboard and you will be surprised how much better your numbers look (and how much more satisfied your clients will be - and possibly return more often, and bring their friends, and post about...

Not My Cup of Tea

Original review with 2022 EDIT at the bottom

One Father's Day breakfast spoiled and I will not be returning due to bad service. From the beginning, as a party of four we were greeted warmly and shown our tables. One male server (Server A) said that he would return with the menus. Another server (Server B) took our drink orders. It was a whopping 30 mins before we got food menus from yet another server. Server B poured us the water and another party of 10 arrived and was seated after us. Server A drops butter and jam on the table without as much as a word. A few minutes later, food orders were taken and the orders for the later party were also taken. After waiting a rather long time, the food for the party after us arrived first. We inquired as to the cause of the delay for the food and the delay was blamed on one of the food items. I have some questions that I need answers for.

If there was a delay, why did no one say anything until we asked? For orders which it is natural to ask how it should be prepared, why did we have to notice that the server did not ask the usual clarifying questions? E.g. eggs how would you like them prepared? Another example of tea, would you like cream and/or sugar? After we asked about the delay, why did who I assume to be the service manager greeted and spoke to all tables except ours?

It takes a lot to make me upset after the growing list of mistakes makes it extremely impossible to ignore. Accountability was not present and apologies for the above were never even uttered.

Not my money ever again, even if they were to serve the best food in Bim.

2022 EDIT: The restaurant has since then apologized and assured me that this was not their usual standard. They invited me and my party back for another chance. The service has significantly improved from my...