Sun 3:30p: Order the usual when we do takeout at Tavern 42. Asked for "floppy chips", waitress says "oh you mean when their slightly undercooked?" and i confirmed.
Sun 3:50p: Wife returns home with food for family. No obvious issues with anyone elses order, but my "floppy chips" instead are potato slices that sat in a fryer just long enough to become grease sponges. The Salmon BLT wrap looks through and through like its been sitting in the same grease, so much so i cant even tell if the salmon is undercooked or its the grease.
Sun 3:55p: After trying to quick fix by tossing the chips in a fryer and removing the grease saturated lettuce, i decide to call down to get it replaced. I only live 5 minutes away and have done many takeout and dinein orders, taken out of town guests here, never had any problems so at most this should be just a short trip for my order to be replaced... youd think.
On the phone after explaing the issue she puts me on the phone with the manager. I explain the same thing to him. He tells me ok "let me call the owner and ill call you back". to maybe the less savvy theyd just go along but to me i went "???" because of the giant red flag standing in front of me. i explain to him how to handle the situation, "ill be there in 15 minutes, so use that time to start the order and call the manager and ill be there in 15 min". i dropped one F-bomb over the dog food they tried to serve me and who the owner doesnt trust her employees to make right. mainly out of frustration that was exacerbated by the fact that her staff probably did understand the problem but werent empowered to just make it right.
Sun 4:10p: I arrive with receipt, food order, and wifes card in hand. i notice one unusual thing. call it another red flag. there are signs ALL OVER the place saying "BE KIND OR LEAVE". gotcha. i know the code here. its a virtue signaling zone. they must have had some unkind customers come thru. keep my cool. Im seen right away and indicate i called down for my order to be replaced. (at this point im still not quite believing what the store mgr has told me). The manager then comes over and he says "ok and you said you want to swap out with the blackened chicken sandwich?" and i say yes then he says "ok let me call the owner and get her ok" and i said "you should have done that already, just refund the whole $38 order." i should add that he lets me know everytime he has to call the owner he has to wait for the owner to call back. i quietly ask "do you think everyone here would be happy to know it could take yall up to 30 minutes to even be able to decide if you can make an order right?" about the refund, the mgr says "yes but i have to call again for the refund". i ask isnt there a mgrs override? he says "the owner is probably watching everything right now on camera". then the owner calls and apparently wants to talk to me. i say "well hello CEO-in-chief", amazed that this much of the business structure is involved in a $38 messed up order. she defends the transaction by blaming me for ordering chips undercooked. the same chips her waitress communicated she understood, the same chips they made me tens of times, the same chips that never made me question the food safety of my order.
Sun 4:15p: im issued the full refund and the staff informs me the owner has asked me not to return. i say "sure thing, thanks" and leave.
This is bittersweet for me cause even tho im moving to a nearby town i still wouldve driven here occasionally and continued to host visitors and date nights, or maybe even just to get my paws on some of them tasty chips... but they dont want to be special anymore. they have signs all over their restaurant that indicate something's happening over at Tavern 42 to cause an unkindness epidemic. since i dont see these signs anywhere else, is it really that your clients became less kind? or maybe its the owner.... if this is how they want to run their business, all theyll be is a glorified dive bar. dont...
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