Max Downtown — Restaurant in Hartford

Not our first time at max downtown, but likely the last. My wife and I occasionally are able to step away from the kids for a bit and go to dinner. We were very much looking forward to the excellent service that we enjoyed previously. We’ve been Max vantage members for quite some time as well, not that it really matters.

We sat down, ordered our apps, drinks, food. Drinks and apps came out just fine. Entree comes, my filet was well done when ordered medium. No big deal it happens. If only I knew where our server went. He said he would be right back but didn’t actually come back. I had to flag down the assistant manager who took the steak and said they would make me a new one, would be right out just a minute or two. Tick tock, 5/10 mins later the steak comes out, just as my wife finished her entree. So now we have to eat separate. But wait, the new steak is now medium rare, still not as ordered.

They offered to bring it back yet again but since we had limited time we wanted to move things along, and again my wife had already finished her entree, didn’t want to eat alone. They ended up just packing up the steak to go. Not sure I’m going to enjoy microwaved filet tomorrow but not the point. At this point no comp drinks offered no comp bottle of sparkling water, nothing.

On to dessert, ordered baked Alaska and soufflé. Told the soufflé would take 15 mins, no problem, we usually love the desserts here. Not offered coffee, cappuccino when ordering dessert. 15/20 mins go by, our server brings out baked Alaska, soufflé will be right out….asked if we wanted cappuccino, would have been great 20 mins ago but too late. 5/10 mins later still no soufflé and we have finished the baked Alaska. Asked Brendan the general manager for a word and told him we were extremely disappointed with this experience, we rarely get a night out, this is not the max experience we expected. Sorry sorry sorry was the response and he would take a few things off the check.

Our server was monotone, not responsive, just came off as not caring. Didn’t apologize once. Sort of avoided the table to be honest after the entree issue. Again when you are paying top dollar at the “flagship” max restaurant you expect a high quality of service. This is not a fast food restaurant.

I said something to Brendan on the way out about how this was horrible experience and a date night ruined that we don’t get to enjoy too frequently. Again just an apology. I also suggested that the entire meal should have been taken care of which I believe would have been the right thing to do. I recognize Brendan will be reading this so when you do, how would you feel in my shoes, out for a special night with your partner/friend and the same thing occurred. Imagine you had to eat 15 minutes later than the person you came with, because someone couldn’t cook a steak appropriately. Is this truly the experience that people should have leaving your restaurant? We both know the answer, you know what you should have done and your team failed. You could have made it right in the moment, taken care of the meal and perhaps even invited us back. But you didn’t do those things, you just said sorry. It’s a lot simpler to be the manager when walking around saying hello to people, a little tougher when things go wrong. We were looking for a response such as “how can we make this right?” Or “we don’t want you leaving feeling unhappy”. But instead...

Today I had an interview with the Max restaurant group, at Max Downtown in Hartford. I had spoken to a friend who works their and that person referred me to management.

As part of the interview, i sat down with 3 different people; a managing partner and two of the managers, at three different times. Anyway, straight to the point. The last person i sat down with was Eric Karadimas, a so claimed manager.

He began by asking me questions about the restaurant; what i knew, my level of experience and why I wanted the position. After the general basic interview questions Eric had asked me what my highest level of education was. I told him I was enrolled in school this upcoming semester. I told him what my plans were and what classes I was taking this semester. He proceeded to ask, “ Are you taking English classes to better your English?” Before I could speak, he followed with, “I think you wouldn’t be a good fit for this restaurant because your English skills aren’t up to the standards. Maybe you should try more of a “greener” style restaurant.”

In total shock, I nodded my head and simply agreed. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. How could this one person belittle me and take away the confidence I had leading up to this interview? How dare this man disrespect me and degrade me for the way I spoke english. It’s one thing to be unqualified but another to be disrespected the way I was.

I have been in this country for 7 years now, I came here speaking no English at all. Within the last 7 years, I was able to overcome many obstacles, a second language being one of them. I’m not sitting here saying my English is PERFECT, because it’s not. I do have an accent. However, i am literate and I can speak english just fine. I’ve gone on to further my education as a college student.

Moral of the story, I did not expect to walk into a professional setting, such as a formal interview, being spoken to the way Eric did. The Max Restaurant Group, Rich Rosenthal and the other managing partners should be ashamed of their level of professionalism and the manner in which Eric carried himself today. To be honest, i never want to step foot in another Max Restaurant ever again. I will never take another hard earned dollar and spend it at ANY of the Max’s again. This entire situation could have been handled completely different. And I’m truly traumatized by this entire interview today. I am reconsidering career paths and would advise people considering employment at the MAX...

I went to this restaurant for the first time yesterday. Food and cocktails were delicious, and staff was friendly and professional. One thing happened though that left a bad taste in my mouth - I was overcharged by a bartender and still not sure if it was just a mistake.

I went there with my friend, who is a regular and highly recommended the place to me. We sat at the bar, shared one steak and a couple of appetizers, I had three drinks, she had one. Mostly one bartender was serving us.

I was going to put my card towards the total bill, and settle difference with my friend later. I gave my card to that bartender before he gave me a final bill (I know, it's a mistake), and when he returned the check with only the total, the total sum seemed much higher than I expected. I asked him for the detailed bill so we know how to split this check later, and he TOOK A NAPKIN AND CALCULATED only my friend's share (which was correct), but never printed out detailed check.

My half of the bill still seemed very high, and I never saw the breakdown, at this point our bartender disappeared, and I had to ask another bartender AGAIN to print out detailed bill for our dinner, which they were able to do really fast. A WHOLE $60 STEAK THAT WE NEVER ORDERED WAS ON THE BILL. Thankfully the rest of the team was very helpful, and were able to remove the steak and reprint the new bill.

If it was a mistake, I don't understand how it could be missed by the bartender who was serving us all night, knew we are sharing one steak (we asked him if they are large enough to share and they really are), and looked through the bill to write down my friend's share instead of just printing out itemized bill.

I love eating out in new places and do it regularly, but I never had it happen to me to that extent. Maybe a drink or two might show up on a bill by mistake, but never the whole $60 steak. I will probably not come back to this place, and would recommend to check your final itemized bill at all times, at any place.

I'm really thankful to the rest of the team who were able to settle this quick, hopefully I won't be charged the full amount of...