Extremely rude owner and chef. The hostess (the owner) who seated us at 7pm was extremely off putting and unfriendly. My husband and I were excited to eat here tonight. Upon walking into the establishment this hostess stared us down quite rudely without greeting us, despite us being warm and friendly and us saying hello. It’s odd for a hostess to not greet patrons at all and a poor customer service signal. We calmly waited for her and started a que. She then proceeded to serve people waiting behind us in the queue, rather than us, mumbling for us to wait then reluctantly seating us after making us wait. We’ve never seen this type of poor and unfriendly service before as we dine at Michelin restaurants worldwide and local restaurants. Wouldn’t recommend eating at an establishment that isn’t welcoming to patrons!
Edit in response to the owner’s comment: it’s clear that hospitality and taking feedback is not a priority for this establishment based on the response to myself and others noting areas of improvement below. Note all events described above are as they occurred. A lesson in etiquette may be beneficial for the owner: a warm hello upon ANY guest entering your establishment is the generally accepted best practice. I will also note you did not ask if we had a reservation or note the establishment was full as you essentially did not acknowledge us or speak to us. Furthermore, communication that you are seating those with reservations first is the generally accepted practice as well which you did not do. Although, I will note there were tables free inside, you did seat us and the entire restaurant cleared out around 8pm, with the exception of two others thus the restaurant was not “full” and you did not communicate this. Most restaurants are excited patrons want to eat their food and treat them as such, if you were fully booked simply saying “hello, unfortunately we don’t have any available tables tonight or would you like to place your names on a waitlist?”. Communication skills and manners need serious improvement here. The main takeaway of the original review was related to lack of hospitality/generally unfriendly attitude and lack of communication, not the fact we had to wait (which we did patiently).
Note we will not be recommending a restaurant where the owner AND chef have such poor manners, my goodness!
Note the chef edited their response and resorted to name calling which is another signal of poor behaviour here. It’s shocking this person has been working hospitality for 36 years and doesn’t believe being pleasant and greeting patrons and or that communication is of relevance, which are hospitality 101 lessons.
Note the owner Sarah and chef Alan also changed their rude response at least four times here (during operating hours restaurant…could that explain the hostility as instead of warm greetings the focus is on hostile responses to feedback) and didn’t negate how rude they were in any of the responses, yet resorted to name calling and more rudeness. Apparently people deciding to spend hard earned money at this establishment by walking into a restaurant and saying hello without reservations is a sin and expecting a baseline of basic manners is “being a troll and ruining the industry” and instructing us to “stay home and eat there”. The response from this team speaks for itself: doubling down on being rude, name calling, insulting a patron for providing feedback (note others noted similar themes of “inconvenience” at this establishment).
On to the food: it wasn’t well balanced and plating needs...
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