Tell Your Friends — Restaurant in Scottsdale

I hate leaving bad reviews, but this was far and beyond the worst service I have ever experienced and it needs to be voiced. My friends and I had a 6:30 reservation to celebrate a birthday. I was aware of the 90-minute limit on the table. I had messaged the them ahead of time to see if there was any way we could be stay on at the bar afterwards so we could experience the live music for a bit. They indicated they would do their best to accommodate us. When we arrived, we were very impressed by the richness of the decor and the swanky vibe…very well done. That is where good vibes ended. When our waitress approached, I made her aware I had been in contact with the restaurant about staying later and she said she was aware and would be no problem with us remaining after the 90-min and we could stay at the table. We received our first round of drinks, then did not see her again for literally 45-min (in her defense, they were clearly short-staffed). We finally had to go and track her down to order our food. Within 5 minutes of placing the food order, the hostess approached us and said we had 20 minutes more and then we had to leave. We told her the waitress had said we could stay and she rudely said the waitress was wrong and the table was committed to someone else in 20 minutes. We explained we had just ordered our food and she said that wasn’t her problem. We, then, asked to speak with a manager. Kevin came to our table and we told him what had just transpired and he said he had the next party already waiting for the table, but he would try to see if he could get us a table upstairs at Americano. Not ideal, but at this point, we were starving and just wanted to eat. So the food arrived, then Kevin comes back to the table and says good news, we could stay long enough to eat our food, but then we need to quickly wrap it up and go. We had to quickly rush through our meal so we couldn’t even really enjoy it. The food was just average, but at least the live music was started by that time and I have to say they were amazing. When we finished the food, we noticed there were empty seats at the bar and we were told by Kevin we could move up to the bar until 11:00. The actual general manager then approached me (I did not get her name) with her iPad showing the reservations and said we would need to leave the bar by 10:30, not 11:00. Okay, that was 40 minutes, so fine, we could have one more drink and go. Not 5 minutes later, here comes the rude hostess from earlier and tells us we have to leave immediately. When we said we were told we could stay until 10:30, she pointed out we had already been there 3 hours. My friend told her she needed to go speak with her manager to figure out why.

Sorry for the dissertation here but the details are all relevant. First off, if you are going to put a 90-minute limit on a table, especially if you’re serving food, you need to allow a buffer because things happen. Along with that, you should make sure you are sufficiently staffed to to be efficient with getting everything executed in a timely manner so the stress isn’t put on the paying customers of having to quickly choke down their food and leave. Thirdly, staff need to be appropriately trained in the importance of customer service and maintaining effective communication between staff members.

At the end of the evening, Kevin made a small concession on our bill, a free glass of champagne for our birthday girl, then he also offered a free round of drinks at Americano (which only 2 of us took advantage of). Not even an apology from anyone except the poor waitress. I did not feel that was adequate compensation for what we had just been put through. We all work hard all week and we were looking forward to a fun evening celebrating a birthday and friendship. We all left feeling stressed out and traumatized. I get that all start-ups have kinks to work through, but they at least need to take ownership of their shortcomings, make things right and not blame the...

The experience was somewhat paradoxical: My husband and I went on a Sunday, and I’m not sure if that had something to do with it. The place is undoubtedly beautiful, with a great atmosphere and live music at the perfect volume to have a conversation. It’s an intimate spot, highly recommended for a date rather than for a night out with friends, at least from my very interesting point of view. However, there are spaces to go with a larger group.

We only saw one waiter working all the tables, Ozzy, who was extremely kind. He even bent down to speak to us at our level, which I found to be a very thoughtful gesture. He was so busy that it took him a while to take our order, but as a courtesy, he gave us two glasses of sparkling wine. Once again, Ozzy was fantastic.

I first ordered a Cosmo, which was by far the worst I’ve ever had in my life. It didn’t taste like vodka at all, and the color wasn’t what you’d expect from that cocktail. I decided to order another cocktail, this time one from the menu, assuming those were their specialties. Very disappointing—the flavors weren’t balanced. Usually, you can taste the ingredients described in the cocktail, but this one just tasted like pineapple juice.

We also ordered oysters, which were quite average, and it took a while to get the utensils to eat them. I asked for horseradish, but what they brought looked more like Caesar dressing.

The place gives you two hours to enjoy your time, but we left much earlier—probably due to the slow service. Otherwise, we would’ve left even sooner.

The venue emphasizes a cocktail dress code, yet there were people wearing caps, jeans, and sneakers, which I found absurd. I don’t understand why they stress it if they don’t enforce it. Had I known, I would’ve dressed more comfortably, honestly.

The prices would seem fair if the cocktails actually tasted good. The ambiance is lovely, and I’ll say it again: Ozzy was very kind and attentive. But I...

I am a big proponent of leaving feedback for excellent service and in rare occasions, I do leave a review for not-so-good service. On May 24th, my group was excited to find out about Tell Your Friends especially being part of The Americano which I had been a long time customer. The ambiance and the speakeasy entrance was amazing and seemed like a great new place to lounge, hear the band and have a cocktail. The band was great that evening and the decor/ambiance as well. Where Tell My Friends fell short was the mixology, food and service. We had to return a drink order (Margarita); and our filthy Classic Martinis was just okay; expecting this speakeasy offers amazing cocktails with terrific mixologists on staff. Second, the charcuterie board was lack luster in both taste and presentation. Third, the service was questionable & long wait for drinks and food. Had to check with the waitress multiple times, when the finger foods were coming.

Manager (Jill), came by our table to ask for feedback that evening, and we explicitly provided honest feedback to her. She mentioned to us that I will receive a call & would love for us to give them another try - being new, she had to figure out what she can do for our party to get us back. It’s now, June 7th and gave Tell My Friends management ample time to recover from our experience knowing they are part of The Americano.

North Scottsdale does need more lounge mixology bars/restaurants however, with the price tag and affiliation they have with other prominent restaurants, the level and quality of service should have been there. I understand, the lounge just opened & there are expected hiccups however, there’s a level in which Tell My Friends should have been operating on and if management asks for direct feedback after your experience, they should follow-through with...