Pera Bistro — Restaurant in Atlanta

From beginning to end, I honestly wish I had never come. First, the valet gave my friend and me two completely different prices for parking in the exact same area. What he didn’t realize is that we were only two cars apart in line. When I mentioned the price he had quoted my friend—who was already seated at our reserved table—he told me to text her and let her know she would need to pay the higher fee he had just given me. I looked at him in disbelief and told him that made no sense. His response? “You can just park on the street.” My jaw literally dropped.

Once I finally made it to the table, our waitress “Alex” came over to take our order. I ordered the drink she recommended, but I asked for it without the rim. When it arrived, it had a rim—whether it was salt or sugar I couldn’t tell—but I never enjoy that because it makes the drink far too sweet or salty as it falls into the glass. I politely pointed this out and asked if I could please have one without the rim. Instead of simply remaking it, she shrugged and said, “That’s how the drink is made, I don’t know what you want me to do.” I clarified that I wanted the drink exactly as it’s made, just without the rim on the glass. She repeated again that “it’s how it’s made.” I asked if I could just have another glass then. She snatched the drink away rather aggressively and eventually returned with it in a plain scotch-style glass instead of the nice one it came in originally. At that point, I let it go and accepted it.

Three of us had ordered food. Two of our meals arrived, but my friend’s starter salad was completely missing. By the time we were halfway through our meals, we flagged down Alex and asked about it. Her response? “There’s nothing I can do, it’s not on me.” She didn’t even attempt to check the kitchen or resolve it. Instead, she went right back to the host stand and stood there chatting with the other staff. Eventually, my friend’s pasta came out—yes, pasta—before the salad ever arrived. She let Alex know that she was expecting her salad first. Alex once again dismissed her, saying it wasn’t her problem, it was the kitchen. About fifteen minutes later, the salad finally showed up. When Alex came over to ask how things were, my friend explained that now her pasta was cold because she had been waiting for the salad. The waitress’s reply? “What do you want me to do?” I was floored. My friend, clearly exhausted by the lack of care, simply said “nothing”—because, truthfully, that’s exactly what Alex had done all night aside from laughing and socializing at the host stand.

When the check finally came, of course it was wrong. When I pointed out the issue, Alex initially argued before realizing I was correct. I told her more than once not to worry about it, that I would just pay and go, but she insisted. She left, then returned with the exact same incorrect total. The items were different prices, yet the bill never changed. At that point, I wasn’t about to waste more time arguing—I just wanted to leave.

My biggest issue with restaurants that automatically add gratuity is exactly this: the staff often don’t care about the guest’s actual experience, because they know they’re guaranteed a tip regardless. It’s disappointing. As someone who once worked in the industry, I usually tip very generously, but this was without question one of the worst service experiences I’ve ever had. I will never return. Worst experience ever—10/10 do not recommend.

Side note: I had been here for brunch once before, and it was wonderful. That’s the only reason I came back. Sadly, this visit made me regret ever setting foot in this...

This was my third time here. I was so excited to bring my mom to one of my favorite restaurants in ATL as the previous experiences I’ve had have been amazing. I raved to her about how I’d never had anything on the menu I didn’t like.

We went on a Tuesday around 8:15 PM. It was probably the least busy I’ve seen it and they seemed well staffed. We ordered the watermelon salad with no walnuts because I am severely allergic. We waited almost 30 minutes - for a salad - and then when it arrived it was covered in walnuts so we had no choice but to send it back.

Our waitress did not return for almost 30 minutes after initially ordering the watermelon salad. My mom ordered a drink and we ordered the rest of our food - octopus and lavraki. The watermelon salad finally came out correct, but 20 mins or so had passed and my mom still didn’t have her drink. I had to ask the server who brought us our salad if we could get an update on her drink and he ran off to try to find our waitress who had not been back since.

We finally received a correct salad, octopus, and the lavraki one by one. Besides having peaches that were too hard to chew in the salad, the food was delicious and my mom really liked her drink. However it was so dark inside and the one lamp on our table was so dim that we struggled to see what we were eating. We battled between keeping the lamp close enough so we could see versus having it so close that we bumped it every time we tried to take food off our plate and it would automatically turn off.

Finally, we were waiting for our waitress again trying to get our bill. I hadn’t even seen her walk through the restaurant since our food got dropped off so I asked the man who cleared our plates if we could get the check. When we received it, they had charged us for TWO watermelon salads. Even though it was an easy fix, by that point in the night after all the hiccups and long waits, that felt like a slap in the face. It was also frustrating that there was a pretty generous automatic gratuity applied to our check after extremely mediocre service.

Overall it was kind of embarrassing that I had hyped this place up to my mom for so long and then she had the experience she did. The food is still excellent and something I will crave. I may just wait until they offer take out to...

I recently had the absolute worst experience at this establishment, and I feel compelled to share. My fiancé had planned a surprise birthday gathering for me and booked a section for our party, which consisted of around 15 people. When we arrived, the waitress tried to tell us that we couldn’t have the entire section for ourselves, even though this was booked in advance and we were promised the whole area. After going back and forth, we were finally given the space, but things only got worse from there.

We were completely blindsided when, at the two-hour mark, the waitress began informing us that we needed to leave. We hadn’t been told there was a time limit, and by then, our tab was over $1500, including two bottles, food, drinks, and hookah. Despite the large bill, we were rushed out like we were causing some inconvenience. To make matters worse, the waitress had an absolutely horrendous attitude, which my friend who frequents the place said is typical for her.

When the $2,000 bill came, we paid it, but instead of thanking us, the waitress got even more upset. Apparently, the 20% gratuity added to the bill wasn’t enough for her. She had the audacity to send not one, but TWO managers to my fiancé, demanding that he tip her more in cash because she supposedly “lost money” due to us staying past our time.

When my fiancé refused, things took an even worse turn. The waitress tried to have security escort me out of the venue simply because I was sitting in an empty chair while waiting for our Uber. There was literally no one else at the table, and I wasn’t doing anything wrong, but the security guard still asked me to get up as if I was bothering anyone, just because the waitress was upset about the tip.

I thought maybe things would be resolved when I called the following week to speak with the managers. But nope! They acted as if everything that happened was perfectly fine, because they were the same managers who believed I should’ve tipped the waitress more.

I will never return to this establishment. They have no idea what good customer service is, and it’s incredibly frustrating to have been treated like this. What was supposed to be a special occasion turned into a nightmare, and I would advise anyone considering this place to think twice...