Le Moque-Tortue — Restaurant in Shediac

TERRIBLE SERVICE ! We made a reservation for 7 people on a Thursday night for 6:30 to celebrate a birthday! We get there and there’s a line up so we go to the front and ask if we have to wait in line. At first we’re told yes, we need to go to the back of the line and then rudely asked: what time is the reservation? who is it under? and how many people? We give them the information and they let us skip the line and we sit down…. 20 minutes later we are told that it’s gonna be a 1.5 hour wait for food! reluctant to wait, but we did. After 2 hours in a crowded space and one of our friends getting elbowed in the head by the manager walking by and only saying “oops”… we finally got our food. The food was the only good thing about the experience, but it wasn’t good enough for the service and the wait time. One of my friends didn’t get the sauce on the side that she had asked for and our waiter only came to check on us a few times throughout our 3 hour stay…. It’s not a big restaurant…The worst part of this experience wasn’t just the long wait for the food, It was at the end of the night when we are waiting for our bills. Our waiter asked if it’s all separate bills, we said yes it’ll separate and then he proceeds to ask each of us what we ordered so he can write them down again and print them off..… we waited 30 minutes and still nobody came with our bills so we went up to the front where there is already a line forming because everybody else is wanting to pay and leave! I don’t know if there was something wrong with their machines but they didn’t have any of our bills printed. He eventually said he printed them all on one bill and needs to separate them… as he’s fumbling around with computers and paper and debit machines, he continues to ask multiple times each person in line what they ordered so he could put it into the machine…. We end up waiting an hour to pay for our food! It’s 930 at this point, we want to go to home. I’m standing watching this unorganized mess unfold so I ask if there is a manager or anyone around to help him out it seems like he’s having a hard time keeping things straight. I say to a few of staff members standing near the front that we have been waiting for a long time, I said is this like a technical issue or what? Are you going to keep us here all night? The manager was right there, I said why are we waiting so long? I asked about compensation for this terrible wait and the manager mumbled it’s a busy night and didn’t once make eye contact, or apologize, or try to understand the situation, or even explain to us what was going on because we are so confused what the problem is and why our orders just can’t be paid for. I don’t understand how that service was allowed and we paid full price… just not great, didn’t seem like they had a great system going on and probably should have at some point told people before they sat down how long the wait would be, we made a reservation for a reason. Anyway. Just bad probably will...

Some of the worst customer service I've experienced. My husband made a reservation for 4 people 3 weeks in advance of my 30th birthday. When we called to make the reservation, we asked if it would be possible to be seated in a specific room upstairs just around the corner from the top of the stairs (a very small, cozy room that we've enjoyed before). The woman on the phone was very friendly at the time and stated yes, this would be possible and not a problem. The day before the reservation, we received the text message to confirm the reservation for 4 people. The evening of the reservation, my husband and I arrived first before our two friends. When we went in, we gave the name the reservation was under and mentioned the request to be seated in that small room. Another server said to the woman we were talking to that that table had been given to a walk-in. The first lady when proceeded to say that we would have had to pay a room rental fee if we wanted to reserve a certain room. Let's be clear - this is a restaurant that is in an older house so the layout includes tables spread throughout multiple rooms in the house. We didn't ask to have an entire room, we asked to be seated in this specific room, where we've been seated times before and where people are seated all the time. This isn't a special event room. In addition, we called and requested this 3 weeks in advance, to which we were told no problem, and no one had ever said you would need to pay a room rental fee to be seated in a specific room. I guarantee you the walk-in seated in that room wasn't paying a room rental fee. The woman speaking with us over this short exchange was very rude, didn't even try to ask us any clarifying questions or even try to be helpful. The next thing she proceeds to say is she has a table for TWO downstairs by a window. We had just given her our names for the reservation - which was for FOUR people, not two. A reservation we had made 3 weeks in advance and confirmed the day before. Given the option of a table for two available and the poor service thus far, when asked if we wanted the table for two, we decided to go elsewhere. This was some of the worst customer service I have experienced and just bad business management overall. What is the point of having a reservation, and then confirming it, if they don't even have an appropriate table to accommodate the party? What is the point of a reservation if walk-ins takes precedence and you end up with a table for 2 for your party of 4? I would absolutely never recommend this place to anyone. You'd be better off going to McDonald's because somehow the underpaid teenagers working the drive thru manage to provide a better service experience than this...

Ruined a very special event last night!

I called on September 4th to make a reservation for 4 people for the evening of Saturday September 28th. When calling I explained that we would be celebrating my wifes 30th birthday and that our plans for the evening was to spend our time there. I specifically asked for the room at the top of the stairs, first one in the right. We were told absolutely and that they were looking forward to having us. I of course confirmed my reservation the day before when they sent the reminder text message.

When we get there I mention our name and mention that we reserved the room upstairs and then the nightmare begins. We overhear that our room has been given to a walk in group of 6 people. She then says "we'll I can get you a table for 2 by the window" What???? Our reservation is for 4 and we gave you 24 days notice! Of course I try to explain this but the waitress just starts talking over me and about how we can't reserve rooms unless we pay extra... what??? I can't even get a word in. So here's this resturants logic: call and ask for a room with 24 days notice = no room and/or you need to pay, walk in without a reservation with a group of 6 = get put in a private room.

Were so disappointed and this policy is absolutely ludicrous and unacceptable. Your nickle and dimming philosophy is a guaranteed way to alienate your repeat customers. What kind of resturant says yes to a group of 6 walk ins without a reservation on a Saturday night over their commitment to a reservation made over 24 days ago?

Shame on me for trusting you guys with my favorite persons thirtieth birthday! To think I would of thought of you guys and trusted that this would be a good spot for anything makes me feel so stupid.

Here's my advice: Drop your pathetic room reservation fee. If someone calls you and explains their desire to have a special night with you and wants to reserve a room, make it happen! Especially when you confirm that. If you want to be the place that prioritizes walk ins on a Saturday night instead of reservations just put in a drive through so your true collors are obvious.

To make sure I'm clear: I feel certain my request was not only written down in their system but blatantly disregarded the night of. This wasn't a screw up or accident, this was a choice! This place made a choice to screw our special nights plans so they could make a few extra bucks from a walk in and figured it would fly. Don't make the mistake I...