I am astonished at my experience with The General Muir restaurant, and I felt compelled to write a review to share my poor experience. Brief Background: I live in Los Angeles. My brother lives in Atlanta. He has been very sick for about a week and I wanted to do something for him, from afar, so I decided to order dinner to be delivered to his home in Atlanta. I used The General Muir website, set up an account and initiated and completed my food delivery order through their website. They fulfill orders through Door Dash on the backend (I learned later).

I was notified through a text that Door Dash had picked up my order and was enroute to my brother’s house. A few invites later I received a call from the Door Dash driver who had arrived and upon picking up the bag with my order from his car realized that the food had leaked and the bag fell apart. He was understandably upset that the food was in no condition to eat. He explained that the packaging was green, paper-based packaging and the food had so much liquid in it that it all fell apart once it left the restaurant. He wanted to know what I wanted him to do (I had to explain that he was at my brother’s house and that I was in California). He stayed on the phone and did his best to get the food to the door apologizing profusely.

I couldn’t go through Door Dash because I did not initiate the order there, so I called the restaurant. I was connected with their manager, and I explained the situation. Basically, I said I was calling for two reasons: 1. To give them feedback that, while admirable that they use green packaging, that it is not appropriate for the way they package their food, and 2. I asked for a refund. I was told by the manager that they could not help me because they were unable to offer refunds since the orders are fulfilled through Door Dash. I asked how I was supposed to get a refund with Door Dash when the order doesn’t even show up in my app. The manager said frankly he did not know and this is rally an issue with Door Dash. That the restaurant is not responsible for what the driver does with the food once it leaves the restaurant. I disagreed that this was an issue with Door Dash, I said If you open to the feedback, I believe this issue is about the packaging, and why do you offer delivery through your website when you can’t handle a credit or refund? It makes no sense. At this point, he hung up on me. I was astonished. So, I called back, thinking perhaps it was an accident. Someone else answered the phone and I explained that I was talking to the manager and was accidentally disconnected. She apologized and put me on hold. After a very long wait, the manager answered. I said “hi, I think we were disconnected …” And, he hung up again.

I used Yelp to find this restaurant, and was considering ordering from The General Muir or from Reuben’s Deli. When I connected with The General Muir website I was impressed the “Our Story” on the first page, about the inspiration for the restaurant and the history with its namesake relating back to the refugee transport ship that carried the grandparents of one of the co-owners. And, the story about the partners and their desire to create a great local restaurant experience. I am saddened that my experience was quite the opposite of what I expected based on the story.

Overall, I am very sad that my simple desire to do something for my brother went down the tubes. But, things happen. What infuriates me is the way I was treated by the restaurant.