Burgers and Beer Downtown Willoughby
A place called Burgers and Beer should be pretty damned easy to figure out, right? Well maybe so and maybe not, but this place gets rave reviews from certain segments of society so my friend and I decided to give it a try on September 27th at about 1:30 in the afternoon prior to going to a movie which started at 2:20. That was the first mistake.
I want to let you know that, although this place is right on the main drag, it is not easily accessible. Unless you know something of the area, there is very little parking in the afternoon nor do you know how to get to the place from the public parking in the rear of the buildings. That said, we figured on a relatively quick lunch in that there were very few people there.
We were quickly greeted and seated, but then things began to go awry. Our server asked for the drink order and my companion decided on an Appletini, I, of course, ordered iced tea. Within a few minutes the drinks were delivered and, while mine was correct, hers was a Willoughbytini, which was, obviously, not what she ordered.
I will come back to this at a later time.
Now back to this... The drink was offered to my friend to taste. If she liked it then she would keep it, if not, then she would be given her original order. She asked to keep this AND have her original, at least one at 1/2 price, or, more customer centered, FREE! It was after all the mistake of the establishment not the customer. After much maneuvering and bullshit, the drinks stood. My point is that if my friend had tasted the Willoughbytini and had not liked it very well, it could not have been served anyway, so what was the use of asking her to TRY it? It should have been offered, but, in fact became a stumbling point through which everything else flowed. The server said everything was already half price to which we stated then the free one wouldn't cost them as much. Not being outdone, she continued to argue with us which was a horror to my restaurant patron soul.
Anyway, we then ordered two of the burgers for which this place is "famous." My companion ordered an Italian Burger while I ordered the Portabella and Swiss. These were touted as stuffed beef on garlic Parmesan bread. Even though I no longer eat meat regularly, I though I would give it a try. Hell, it sounded damned good!
I have already stated that we were going to a movie and figured that a couple of burgers shouldn't take too long. Well we were sadly mistaken on that point as it took over 1/2 an hour for those orders to make it to our table. AND, shockingly enough for me, mine came out incorrectly. I was asked by the server if I would like lettuce tomato and onion to which I replied, "Yes." It came with none of the three, though she noticed the lettuce and tomato herself. When it came to the onion, I actually had to ask another server because ours was no where to be found.
Now on to the food... My companion immediately thought something was wrong with the burger because it tasted, "off." I thought it was the bread, which was so ridiculously large one side would have sufficed for the burger, AND it had very little flavor along with being very grainy. I finally took the bread away so I could taste the burger. The meat DID have a slightly rancid flavor, which our server said was probably due to the stuffing. I beg to differ in that I have never had portabella nor Swiss that tasted like rancid beef. Nor had my companion had anything that was part of the Italian Burger that would make something taste like rancid beef. I believe the beef was turning.
To make matters worse, we tried to leave but our server was busy talking to someone who had come in even though we had told her we needed to get moving in order to catch our movie. She got a very bad tip because she was a poor server. As we were walking out she made a rude comment about the tip.
Here is my advice to you. Think about what you are doing and how you are saying it, as well as to whom. We did not ask for much but you were unwilling to bend nor think about what you were saying. And, believing that you deserved any kind of tip just because you are a server is what has made the service industry the joke it is today. We do not OWE you anything. If your service is shit your tip will be shit as well it should be. You never came to us to say the food would be up soon, you never asked if we wanted something else when told the burgers tasted odd, you, instead had excuses and argument. If I had been by myself I would have left period. Count yourself lucky because in many establishments you would have been forced to proverbially eat that order. I am hoping you were just having an off day, but a burger joint selling underwhelming burgers is just unacceptable in every way.
AND THE WORST PART, at least for the server, is that the tip, regardless of food quality, would have very easily taken care of the three dollar drink if she would have read the situation more intelligently and been more attentive.... Oh well, I guess you live and learn.
I want to let you know that, although this place is right on the main drag, it is not easily accessible. Unless you know something of the area, there is very little parking in the afternoon nor do you know how to get to the place from the public parking in the rear of the buildings. That said, we figured on a relatively quick lunch in that there were very few people there.
We were quickly greeted and seated, but then things began to go awry. Our server asked for the drink order and my companion decided on an Appletini, I, of course, ordered iced tea. Within a few minutes the drinks were delivered and, while mine was correct, hers was a Willoughbytini, which was, obviously, not what she ordered.
I will come back to this at a later time.
Now back to this... The drink was offered to my friend to taste. If she liked it then she would keep it, if not, then she would be given her original order. She asked to keep this AND have her original, at least one at 1/2 price, or, more customer centered, FREE! It was after all the mistake of the establishment not the customer. After much maneuvering and bullshit, the drinks stood. My point is that if my friend had tasted the Willoughbytini and had not liked it very well, it could not have been served anyway, so what was the use of asking her to TRY it? It should have been offered, but, in fact became a stumbling point through which everything else flowed. The server said everything was already half price to which we stated then the free one wouldn't cost them as much. Not being outdone, she continued to argue with us which was a horror to my restaurant patron soul.
Anyway, we then ordered two of the burgers for which this place is "famous." My companion ordered an Italian Burger while I ordered the Portabella and Swiss. These were touted as stuffed beef on garlic Parmesan bread. Even though I no longer eat meat regularly, I though I would give it a try. Hell, it sounded damned good!
I have already stated that we were going to a movie and figured that a couple of burgers shouldn't take too long. Well we were sadly mistaken on that point as it took over 1/2 an hour for those orders to make it to our table. AND, shockingly enough for me, mine came out incorrectly. I was asked by the server if I would like lettuce tomato and onion to which I replied, "Yes." It came with none of the three, though she noticed the lettuce and tomato herself. When it came to the onion, I actually had to ask another server because ours was no where to be found.
Now on to the food... My companion immediately thought something was wrong with the burger because it tasted, "off." I thought it was the bread, which was so ridiculously large one side would have sufficed for the burger, AND it had very little flavor along with being very grainy. I finally took the bread away so I could taste the burger. The meat DID have a slightly rancid flavor, which our server said was probably due to the stuffing. I beg to differ in that I have never had portabella nor Swiss that tasted like rancid beef. Nor had my companion had anything that was part of the Italian Burger that would make something taste like rancid beef. I believe the beef was turning.
To make matters worse, we tried to leave but our server was busy talking to someone who had come in even though we had told her we needed to get moving in order to catch our movie. She got a very bad tip because she was a poor server. As we were walking out she made a rude comment about the tip.
Here is my advice to you. Think about what you are doing and how you are saying it, as well as to whom. We did not ask for much but you were unwilling to bend nor think about what you were saying. And, believing that you deserved any kind of tip just because you are a server is what has made the service industry the joke it is today. We do not OWE you anything. If your service is shit your tip will be shit as well it should be. You never came to us to say the food would be up soon, you never asked if we wanted something else when told the burgers tasted odd, you, instead had excuses and argument. If I had been by myself I would have left period. Count yourself lucky because in many establishments you would have been forced to proverbially eat that order. I am hoping you were just having an off day, but a burger joint selling underwhelming burgers is just unacceptable in every way.
AND THE WORST PART, at least for the server, is that the tip, regardless of food quality, would have very easily taken care of the three dollar drink if she would have read the situation more intelligently and been more attentive.... Oh well, I guess you live and learn.
Labels: Burgers and Beer
posted by johnathan e at 2:01 PM
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