Owner Said He Did Not Care My Family Had a Bad Experience
I would not recommend that anyone visit the Lilac Blossom on East Dunstable Rd. in South Nashua, New Hampshire. We were long-standing customers, but from how rudely I and my family were recently treated by Harry (the owner), and worse yet, what he said to me when I called to calmly explain my disappointment at our bad experience on Christmas day, it is clear to me that he does not care about his customersâŠI will not be returning. Here is a transcript of my conversation with Harry (I wrote it out before calling so that I could clearly state everything I wanted to say) and his response. I think itâs appalling, but you decide. By the way, I spoke calmly and never once did I speak rudely to him, use any colorful language or raise my voice.
âHi Harry. I believe it was you that I spoke with last night. I wanted to call and speak with you about a bad experience my family and I had at your restaurant yesterday evening. We came in and did not realize that you were taking reservations last night, so we came in as walk-ins and were told you were unable to seat us until after 6:30p, which was fine. We understood and decided to wait. When we were called, we were taken to a table near the entrance on a busy isle. We told the hostess we did not care for the table location because of the traffic and cold air from the door. Looking around, we noticed no fewer than 10 open tables near the table we were given and by that time, it had cleared out and we saw no one else was waiting for a tableâ. Asking the hostess and you to change our table several times, we were met only with resistance, and finally, angry at that point, we just walked out after having waited nearly an hour."
"We live right around the corner from you and have been loyal patrons since you opened. It is not uncommon for us to dine there or take out a couple times a week, but I can honestly tell you that when we left, we were not happy with the way we were treated and were not sure that we would be coming back. I am a small business owner as well and wanted to share this with you since I am not sure you understood how upset we were.â
Harry started arguing with me and telling me that the restaurant was busy, it was Christmas day and that the waiters wanted to go home and that the waiters could not take any more tables. I tried to respond but was cut off. Finally, I asked him whether there was a waiter for the table I was given. He responded, yes, he was standing right there. I told him that with so many tables open right near the table I was given, it would have been nice and simple for them to accommodate our request by moving us to one of them and then having the waiter serve us thereâŠHarryâs response was to argue more and tell me that my family should have been more accommodating to him. I reminded him that I was the patron and that I only had a simple request.
He kept arguing and I finally said to him, âYou are just arguing with me. It really seems to me that you donât care that we had a bad experience at your restaurant.â He said, youâre rightâŠI donât. I was floored. I told him that I did not feel that he was a good businessman and ended the call.
I donât know how you all feel, but when a business treats me poorly or unfairly I do not feel compelled to give them my money. When a business, that is there to provide a service for patrons, mistreats patrons, I believe it is the responsibility of the patron to bring this to the businessâ attention, because many times it is just a misunderstandingâŠthis is what I tried to do. I was not asking for Harry to give me any kind of compensation mind youâŠsome understanding and an apology would have been enough to keep us patrons. His sheer lack of concern for me or for my concerns sealed the deal. Do not give this man your...
   Read moreI never post reviews but it is extremely disappointing that I just returned home after picking up an order and when I opened the bag, realized that they had gotten half the order wrong. Of the 6 things I received (and I only ordered 5), 3 of them were wrong in some way, as in either I didnât order it at all, or it was missing the main ingredient. I had driven 30 minutes away to get this, so I called the restaurant to let them know about the mistake and ask for some kind of compensation. They said they couldnât do anything unless I drove back⊠I had obviously ended up paying for dishes I didnât order, and I was not about to pay more in gas and an hour of my time there and back. When I asked the woman on the phone if I was supposed to have opened the bag in front of them to check everything, she responded âit is your phone number associated with the order right?â What kind of response is that, as in what does that even mean? Is she saying that because I was associated with the order, that somehow them getting the order wrong was my fault? I then informed her that I am very surprised by their lack of flexibility when the fault was theirs and she said âokayâ quite matter of factly. Then after another moment of stunned silence, I said that I canât believe they werenât going to do ANYTHING and that I hope she understands this means there will be a bad review, to which she responded âthatâs fine.â
If you are reading this, please just check your order before you leave because they will not take responsibility for their mistakes. It is just sad that we could have avoided this review if only they offered ANY small credit or maybe even just a more apologetic tone on the phone. The sad thing is, I actually like their food so may be tempted to order from them again in the future, but will have to be...
   Read moreLilac Blossom: Where "Clean" is a Suggestion and Hygiene is a Myth My recent lunch at Lilac Blossom was a complete letdown and absolutely disgusting. I ordered the orange chicken luncheon special, which came with soup and rice, along with a side of boneless spare ribs. The soup arrived first, with piping hot broth but ice-cold wontons, as if they'd just come out of the freezer. This was an immediate red flag. Then came the main entree. As the server was bringing out my boneless spare ribs, the metal serving tongs fell onto the ground. To my disbelief, she picked them up and placed them directly on top of my boneless spare ribs. She then placed my orange chicken down, and as she reached over it to set down the spare ribs, her shirt sleeve dipped entirely into my orange chicken, getting sauce all over the sleeve of her shirt. When I pointed out the issue with the tongs, stating I didn't want the boneless spare ribs, she dismissively replied, "No, no, that's fine. The floor was just cleaned; they're not dirty." I insisted they were dirty because they hit the floor, and mentioned her shirt sleeve went into my orange chicken. Her response? "Only a little bit, it's fine." At that point, I didn't even want to waste my time waiting for my food to be remade. If this is how they handle serving, I can only imagine the state of their kitchen. I'm extremely disappointed, especially after hearing so many good things about this place. After what I witnessed, I will not be going back, and I don't recommend anybody else going there either. My biggest regret is I can only give this...
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