BLIND DUCK — Restaurant in Boston

UPDATE: please don’t trust the RECENT FAKE 5 star reviews. The owner of this business account felt so threatened and asked others to write fake reviews to bring back the rating. Do better and train staff on basic customer service and you won’t have to worry about boosting reviews ever again.

AVOID! Local guide here. This has to be the biggest disappointment I’ve ever had at an establishment in a luxury property. Raffles, a Singapore based hotel chain, known for its outstanding level of service. Expectations are high. How could you go so wrong? the Blind duck cocktail lounge ‘speakeasy.’ For anyone interested in checking out this place, please avoid, at least for now. The system they have to keep the waitlist is absolutely inefficient. My colleagues were told they had to stay standing by the entry and wait if they wanted to stay in the waitlist. We, on the other hand, were told we would be added to the 40min waitlist and we would be notified. There is no place to sit & wait other than ONE bench on the entire 18th floor. The lady keeping the waitlist. She is very unprofessional and an embarrassment for this property. We saw how she let people into the bar with no wait time, you could absolutely tell they knew each other. When we would ask for an update, it was far from a corteous reply. Overall, this is not wait to be expected from a Raffles property. We ended up leaving because of how...

So disappointed with my experience at the "speakeasy" at the Raffles Boston. We received appalling service in what is supposed to be a luxury establishment. I was so excited to come here for a celebratory occasion, especially after seeing all of the hype on social media (and knowing the hospitality that exists at the original Raffles in Singapore). We knew that there were no reservations, so we came 30 minutes after opening (5:30 pm), and there was an anticipated wait time of 1.5 hours. We did not think twice, we were happy to wait. However, the sheer lack of respect that we received from the hostess was astonishing. We were told we had to stand inside (no standing or sitting space) if we wanted to stay on the waitlist. They didn't even allow half of our party to join us in waiting inside the establishment. I want to be clear that it was NOT the wait that bothered us, however, the disrespect that we experienced from the front staff. I had really high expectations and was upset to be let down by this hospitality chain. Our party of 4 ended up leaving due to the ignorance we experienced, it was as though the staff preferred we were not there at all. Happy to take my business else where where I am respected. Not worth the hype (unless maybe you are a guest there!).

Update: Marketing felt so strongly about the poor reviews that 8 people rated 5 stars within 1 hour. That...

The drinks and atmosphere here are amazing, but the service from the host and onsite manager was the worst I’ve ever experienced.

When we walked in, the host asked if we lived in Raffles. We said no, and she neither offered us a table nor asked if we’d like to be added to the waitlist. Her attitude made us feel discriminated against.

We went downstairs to the bar and ordered drinks. About 10 minutes later, we saw two girls who had arrived after us being seated at a table. We asked and confirmed they were also walk-ins and had not been on the waitlist.

My friend approached the host to ask what had happened and why we were skipped. In response, both the host and the manager accused my friend of giving them attitude, which was completely untrue and unnecessary. The manager told us he would “do his best” to seat us as soon as a table became available—but he didn’t follow through. He kept walking around, checking the space, and ignored our follow-up requests.

About 30 minutes later, I asked to speak with the onsite manager. I approached him politely and patiently, but he deflected by saying they had a lot going on and insisted we shouldn’t be giving them attitude.

This is the first time I’ve ever received this kind of feedback. I used to work in a restaurant, so I understand how hospitality works—and I can assure you we were not being rude or...