Tantalum Restaurant — Restaurant in Long Beach

BEWARE! One of the worst experience I have ever had! Please do not go there! The poor customer service is unbelievable. I hardly yelp and I am not a complainer but I just have to write this post as I also work in customer service and this is not acceptable at all.

We were a party of 11. Originally we had set up reservations for my friends go away party. When the first group arrived they told them a reservation had not been setup since they needed to provide a credit card for security. We were fine with this, we understood their policy, and we understood it was full house, but they still did not sit us together. They broke down the party of 11 and sat us corner to corner. I arrived at the restaurant, 12/17/16 around 8:20 pm. I ordered a drink and they were pretty quick with the drinks (took them about 10-15 which was understandable since there was a lot of people)

Later, we saw the people next to us leaving, the server was cleaning up the table, and we asked the manager Kristen if they could accommodate us and bring our group at least next to us. She stated they could not because other people were coming and was against policy. I asked her in a respectful way "Mam the table next to us is a party of 5, the table my friends are in is also a party of 5 plus my friends still have not ordered their food." She then told me that she was not trying to be rude but she could not do that and as I can see, they were pretty busy." We were a little upset but we did not want to ruin my friend's dinner so we stayed which was the worst mistake ever!

After I had my second drink I asked the server for water, napkins, and at least a fork since we did not have enough (we were 6 people in a table of 4). Did they ever bring me this NO! I ate with my friends chop sticks and borrowed my friend's napkin! The food was decent and the drinks were ok, but the service was beyond terrible. It sounded like the manager Kristen was new, she did not know what she and her staff were doing. They seemed overwhelmed with so much people and just decided to be completely rude and disrespectful because the story does not end here.

The bill came about to $284.00. They were very quick to give us the bill not even apologizing or at least giving us a discount for all the terrible experience. We were leaving and a man next to us came up to me and told me one of my friends had left her purse, I went out there and a man was cleaning up our table and literally yelled at me "what's this?!". Apparently, there were a lot of napkins in one chair and I told the man, those napkins are not ours because in the first place we never got any, it's the people next to us who probably put them there. I walked away and saw another manager told him what happened that I never got my water, napkins or Utensils. And he had the audacity to look at the table and tell me this "Mam I see waters and napkins I am sorry" remember we were 6 in a table of 4!

This was my first time here and all we wanted is to have a cheerful goodbye dinner for my friend, since she is moving out of state. Customers come to your restaurant for more than the food. They come for an experience. And if their experience offers more negatives than positives, then I guarantee that...

Don't even know where to start. (Yes, I do). Walked in, and BOOM! It sounds like the intro before you walk into heaven, lol. I hear the jazz melodies, the ambiance of a modern gatsby like dinner; people sitting, standing, walking, snapping, talking, dim but not too dim lighting, a small stage with a live musical band singing and playing jazz/blues music. Straight out of a movie, if you ask me. And then I get to my seat, seats are beautiful, almost home like, but you still feel the ambiance of a smooth starlit restaurant. The servers were elite with response times, very accommodating. And the food came out promptly, the drinks were professionally crafted. I had a old-fashion my 3rd time having one and this one was PERFECT. Ordered the brussel sprouts for an appetizer and the beef and chips with a cheese sauce. Man listen! The chips were like a thin steak fry, fried crisp with soft insides and chili powder and salt lightly coating it. I wanna say it had chives sprinkled atop too. The beef was a braised short rib very delectable. I was leery on the cheese sauce but it was so mild, and semi nutty flavor, creamy and very cohesive to the beef and chips. The sprouts were air-fried like with a balsamic reduction mm mm mmmm. Had the right amount of char and crisp and then you get to the heart it's tender. Sop it up in the sauce or eat em dry, they didn't disappoint.

My entree was a pan seared mahi mahi with a mash and mango slaw atop. I'm sorry I can't really describe it like I did the others because I INHALED IT...IMMEDIATELY HAHAHAHA. I was very very pleased. The flavor profiles were meshing very well. I had little doubts of the slaw but the slaw wasn't as sweet as I assumed but that's because the mash and the fish blended very well. The mahi was alllmost cooked perfect. Just a tad bit over-cooked on like the smallest piece of fish (which is understandable) so it didn't really take away from the dish because I can imagine what it'd be if it was perfect. Afterwards we walked over to the seating area close to the stage where the harbor greets you with a beautiful bright smile glaring thru the window. The singer was amazing, the band was magnificent! The drummer and the trombone player pssssh bravo! I had a great experience man. I'll...

I have been coming to Tantalum for over 15 years, and have even had friends who worked there. The waitress was amazing, the drinks were okay, but I don't blame the restaurant for that, since I chose their recipes that I didn't care much for. The food was decent.

We enjoyed a great time with two other families. It was six couples and three kids.

What totally ruined the evening, was the manager Christopher. None of the six of us is going back as long as Christopher is working.

The three families arrived at different times and eventually moved to one table. We also had very different orders. One family came for a full dinner, one for appetizers and one for drinks. We have never been told that we would not be allowed to split the bill based on our orders.

When the waitress told us that, we told her that she was wonderful and that we knew it had nothing to do with her, and if she could call the manager.

Christopher arrived a few minutes later, with a smirky attitude. Zero customer service, and a healthy dose of arrogance and condescension.

I acknowledged that I now knew the restaurant's policy and that no one told us, and also explained how the three couples ended up at one table, and that they started at different times and their orders were very different.

Christopher let us know with his posturing and a smirky smile that he was above all of us, and did not even try to explain or apologize for the inconvenience.

Since I did not feel I was getting anywhere with my attempt to appeal to his better side, I asked him flat out, if he preferred to provide good customer service or receive a bad review, and to my astonishment, he chose the latter, and let us spend 15 minutes with our bill and a calculator to figure out something that would have taken his waitress couple minutes. We even had to calculate the sales tax! The split was by the way along the lines of $35, $90, and $120.

We ended up leaving our regular generous tips since the waitress was great, and I am really hoping they don't pool, and that Christopher did not get any of it, because he truly did not deserve a penny of that tip.

If I was Christopher's employer, I would send him to way more...