Best Response To Horrible Service At Acquaintance's Restaurant?

[fxm88]

We went to eat at an acquaintance's new restaurant. Not really a friend, just someone we know.

The service was awful, we waited over an hour to get any food at all. (I thought maybe they weren't used to having customers, but when passer-bys saw they had customers decided to give it a try, which made the restaurant unexpectedly busy.)

We received a slightly discounted bill at the end of the meal.

Culturally speaking, should we say anything to her? Or just ignore it? What if she asks?

I don't plan on ever back, but what if she invites us again?

Thanks!

[gotlost]

Tell her in a pleasant way that she needs to go back to her previous job. But on the other side by the sound of her business she won't belong.

[MisterFingers]

I think not going back will speak for itself.

I doubt she'll invite you again, knowing that you've been there once and haven't returned.

[473geo]

The place was unexpectedly busy......so you had to wait longer than you would have expected.....was the food good when it did arrive?.....why not try and look for the positives......if the food was good then try to go at a less busy time if invited again.......or perhaps turn up and have a drink an hour before before you are hungry...

Edited December 27, 2009 by 473geo

[caf]

473geo's post hits the nail on the head, he clearly understands the culture here.

b epositive and certainly don't start making suggestions of her goig back to her own job ( though that would be a western viewpoint)

[thequaife]

The place was unexpectedly busy......so you had to wait longer than you would have expected.....was the food good when it did arrive?.....why not try and look for the positives......if the food was good then try to go at a less busy time if invited again.......or perhaps turn up and have a drink an hour before before you are hungry...

i really love the way you think. I hope someday i could think they way you do. you could make your day beautiful from worst situation.

[stolidfeline]

I hear this all the time from my Thai friends too. Please everybody, stop making excuses for really bad service, because Thais hate waiting for 1 hour just as much as we do. Unfortunately they are so used to being dumped on and most believe there's nothing much they can do about it. Your friend probably knows her service is terrible, but she has not got the guts to reprimand her staff and so they will get even worse. It's down to her own bad management. If she is to survive, she must learn fast.

Edited December 27, 2009 by stolidfeline

[plasticpig]

Blow the place out for 6 months if it was crap food, then try again.

if still crap name the place on here and never go back untill someone says its good food.

Up To you, as they say.

[ihunnieibee]

Usually in "new" restaurants they might not have everything set up the best for service, they have to work on it to become good. If the food was bad try again on a different day and time, I'm sure they have more than one person cooking...

sometimes consistantcy is hard because it isnt always the same person and people are stubborn and wanna do things their own way.

If you had a problem with the service, try again and if it still happens, just mention to ur friend that the staff wasn't very alert, and offer friendly suggestions..don't call them lazy ...just suggest techniques or suggest extra napkins and refillable sauces/drink containers close by so that if you really needed it you could reach things yourself....

i dunno >.<

[Jingthing]

Unless I really like the food, I don't give places a second chance. There are so many restaurants here. They need to deliver the goods for our baht, or forget them. On the other hand if I really like a place's food, and the price is right, I will put up with almost anything! The reality is the food standard overall in Pattaya, Thai and not Thai, is rather low. That is because so many places are tourist traps, they don't care, they don't think they have to care. So good food goes a long way.

Edited December 27, 2009 by Jingthing

[torrenova]

I had a friend, sadly now departed, who opened a restaurant in Pattaya and we, his friends, supported him by going ourselves and taking some customers for lunch there. His food was top qualify but his service was very slow and he even asked us to ring ahead on occasion so that those we brought with us would not have to wait so long !

After a while he improved and we agreed to having Christmas lunch there that first year. It was a shambles. Booze flowing partly hid the poor service but we were somewhat embarrassed.

The real problem was with the staff. He wasn't the best man manager in the world (but I've know a lot worse) but they didn't care and he couldn't motivate them to pick their game up. The chefs could cope with the Thai food as you would expect but they couldn't get their head around the fact that western food isn't expected to be dumped at the table in a random order and hot. It improved with new staff but the damage was done (reputation wise) and he changed the set up to a difference, one style cuisine. That worked well until his death.

I actually learned a lot from his experience both as a customer and as an owner. He'd hired bar staff to do a waiting job and the mental attributes are not the same, nor are the customer service skills or attention to detail. His first chef should never have been hired either but the worst mistake he made was in trying to get open fast enough to get some cash coming in. He was under capitalised, looked to save on kitchen management and staff skills by paying near Thai wages when the skills he actually required cost more in the open market. He should also have had a soft opening and run through a number of dining scenarios with his potential chefs to accurately judge their skills before hiring one or two.

Basically, he ran before he had learned to walk and the restaurant in that guise never recovered. Had he been able to run it for a month or perhaps less in test mode, inviting people like me to try it out for free or at a token cost, then he could have ironed out most of his problems before unleashing it on customers.

So to answer the OP, perhaps appreciate that things may have been rushed in order to open and generate income rather than bleeding rent and salaries. Bad management, but we all have to learn somewhere. I would not necessarily throw it to the wolves so swiftly but perhaps after a month or two ask whether they have ironed out some of the teething problems and give it another try, presuming that the food was good enough for you to want to eat it again.

[NanLaew]

Unless I really like the food, I don't give places a second chance. There are so many restaurants here. They need to deliver the goods for our baht, or forget them. On the other hand if I really like a place's food, and the price is right, I will put up with almost anything! The reality is the food standard overall in Pattaya, Thai and not Thai, is rather low. That is because so many places are tourist traps, they don't care, they don't think they have to care. So good food goes a long way.

You've got that right. Not so much culinary 'competition' here but more like 'short attention span dining' in Pattaya. Most people are thinking about what they just did or are going to do next that food and service has to be really exceptional to make the average punter actually think beyond filling an empty belly before whatever is next on the agenda.

[caf]

Usually in "new" restaurants they might not have everything set up the best for service, they have to work on it to become good. If the food was bad try again on a different day and time, I'm sure they have more than one person cooking...

sometimes consistantcy is hard because it isnt always the same person and people are stubborn and wanna do things their own way.

If you had a problem with the service, try again and if it still happens, just mention to ur friend that the staff wasn't very alert, and offer friendly suggestions..don't call them lazy ...just suggest techniques or suggest extra napkins and refillable sauces/drink containers close by so that if you really needed it you could reach things yourself....

i dunno >.<

Good post. You understand the practicalities and the thai way of dealing with things.Some of the other points in the thread are obviously looking at it from a western viewpoint. Thais suck it and see rather than plan. They avoid direct conflict with workers and deal with staff relations in a different way from the west. Generally their sense of urgency and seriousness is less acute than ours.

Edited December 28, 2009 by caf

[clickblade]

Tell the truth. If the service and food was not up to a reasonably standard you should tell them friends or not BUT (did you eat the food) if you did you cant expect a discount if you didn't ask for your money back.

[simon43]

Has this person ever managed a restaurant before? Imagine having a new restaurant for the first time and then a 'burst' of customers come in, all demanding their food at the same time. It could be a 'headless chicken' experience for the restaurant staff

I'd give them a few months and then go back again. If the service still sucks then that's one restaurant to strike off your list

Simon

[whatchamacallit]

The place was unexpectedly busy......so you had to wait longer than you would have expected.....was the food good when it did arrive?.....why not try and look for the positives......if the food was good then try to go at a less busy time if invited again.......or perhaps turn up and have a drink an hour before before you are hungry...

... and the glass is half full