Treated like dirt in a well known bar/restraunt

dslamjack

Thank you Faith , I could not have put it better.

Sebastian Dangerfield

Faith wrote: »

Gotta say that I'm disappointed at the standard of responses .

I dont think anyone is defending the restaurant - a lot of people are just trying to establish what the OP is trying to achieve / looking to establish, which isnt really clear.

xlogo

I've not read all the thread but what is the name of the place?

saabsaab

As far as I see it you had a contract with the restaurant (booking) which they refused to honour and then behaved in a unreasonable manner. You could ask for full costs, travel etc. and try the small claims court. Cheap and you don't need solicitors. nothing to lose and they probably won't fight it due to the terrible publicity.

percy212

Always, and those reviews inform my decisions.

SB_Part2 wrote: »

Do Irish people really use TripAdvisor? I've never looked for a review of a food establishment in Ireland on TripAdvisor I've only used it to look up reviews of hotels when I'm abroad.

percy212

OP, you got good advice from SaabSaab and Faith above. You had a reservation and it should have been honoured. End of story. Sorry your day was spoiled.

imnorobot

I too would like to add that I also use trip advisor
Not to see whats best
But what is truly awful
I cant imagine any operation that frame bad reviews and post them in the jax never mind go there to eat
jesus how disgusting

Piss poor service should be highlighted

Sebastian Dangerfield

saabsaab wrote: »

As far as I see it you had a contract with the restaurant (booking) which they refused to honour and then behaved in a unreasonable manner. You could ask for full costs, travel etc. and try the small claims court. Cheap and you don't need solicitors. nothing to lose and they probably won't fight it due to the terrible publicity.

Can I ask what costs you are referring to? The OP got taken care of 2 doors down, he is at no loss as a result of the venues actions, other than inconvenience, frustration etc. I understand how annoying this could be, but I dont see how the OP could claim for compensation

cursai

Was it a cafe bar facing east?

Boskowski

Sorry OP for the bad experience and they behaved badly no doubt, but there is a but coming here...

Web and voicemail works for all sorts of stuff, but I would not get into my car and drive an hour or more to a restaurant I'm not 100% confident I have actually booked because I haven't actually spoken to anyone. Especially when I know they're busy, so busy in fact they won't even take or return my calls. I wouldn't naturally assume 'ah now, here's a web page and it says booking and that worked, grand' and assume this is sorted now for a big night no worries.

tinpib

Sebastian Dangerfield wrote: »

but I left there in no uncertain terms that they couldnt give a sh*t about my custom. Thats their call - its mine not to go back

Ya, they really don't. And why would they? They absolutely rake it in 7 days a week.

Poor customer service there means nothing. A worldwide chicken wing shortage however.....

catho_monster

Boskowski wrote: »

I would not get into my car and drive an hour or more to a restaurant I'm not 100% confident I have actually booked because I haven't actually spoken to anyone.

I have literally flown to the other side of the world to eat with only an online booking. This isn't 1995, it's not an unreasonable assumption that online bookings are reliable.

Faith

I almost exclusively use online booking systems for everything these days, from restaurants to hair appointments.

endacl

catho_monster wrote: »

I have literally flown to the other side of the world to eat with only an online booking. This isn't 1995, it's not an unreasonable assumption that online bookings are reliable.

WTF would you fly around the world to eat?!?

janmaree

All I ever hear is "the Irish never complain" and "if they don't complain, how can a problem be rectified?" I agree with that and so does the OP, as far as I can see. Imho, he had a lot to complain about that day and that's what he tried to do, where it mattered - in the establishment and to the person who seemed to be sufficiently in charge to be making decisions. I don't think it mattered whether he drove from Timbuktu or Terenure, he did everything he could to secure a reservation and as far as he was concerned, he had one when he had the online booking confirmation in his hand. It's not up to him to wonder if they're too busy to answer the phone or check their messages - they offer an online service and he availed of it. Let's face it, we're forced to rely on online service for so many things these days, from banking to Revenue to airline tickets, you name it, they don't want to deal with us any other way and if that service is offered, it better work.

He tried to reason with the front of house person and had every right to expect that she would make every possible effort to rectify the situation. His main grievance is with the level of discourteous and dismissive contempt that he received and since he tried very hard and they failed spectacularly, he absolutely should review the place, in a cool and factual manner. Not so much for the sake of the establishment as they clearly don't give a damn but for the sake of anyone else who might be thinking of dining there and might appreciate a heads up before they risk the same abuse. As already suggested, a positive review for the second establishment who treated him well, would be right and proper. Constructive criticism and deserved praise, in that order.

Thoie

As others have said, take all emotion out of any online reviews you put up, and stick to the barebone facts. No-one on trip adviser cares that this was your brother's first trip home in ages, or that you and your wife are unwell, or that you drove for 2 hours each way.

As far as a restaurant review goes the facts are:
-You booked a table for a large party for a specific time online
-You received a booking confirmation email and reservation number
-You had left a voicemail about the booking as well
-On arriving at the restaurant they had no record of your reservation and were unable to seat you. Staff members said that their website was useless and -they don't listen to voicemails.
-Your party had to try find an alternative at very short notice

If you write much beyond that the restaurant can start picking holes in things, and other viewers are more likely to discount the review.

Boskowski

catho_monster wrote: »

I have literally flown to the other side of the world to eat with only an online booking. This isn't 1995, it's not an unreasonable assumption that online bookings are reliable.

I believe you, of course, but thats not the point. You get a feel for a thing. In fact if it was 1998 I'd have more confidence in my email being read tbh. If I was the OP knowing this is a very very busy pub restaurant and couldn't get them on the phone on several occasions and they wouldn't return my voicemails, there is only one way I'd assume they treat emails and web requests. And the fact there exists some place on the other side of the world where you can rely on web bookings doesn't change this one bit.

Lovely Bloke

I use Trip Advisor, and review every restaurant I go into, good or bad.

I also use it to help decide where to eat, especially if I'm in a new place.

I usually ignore the more extreme bad reviews though, the ones obviously written by an entitled moron, they aren't usually representative.

What I do is scan the most recent 20-25 reviews and see what stands out. Is someone commenting on a specific dish? Did they visit on a week night, or at the weekend? Has the reviewer left other reviews, this is especially important for really bad reviews - if the person has left the same kind of comments on other places then they are the issue, if they leave fair reviews normally, but this one place has caused them to leave a particularly bad review then I'll take notice. I also ignore the overly gushing good reviews.

That kind of thing informs me when I want to choose somewhere to eat.

Lovely Bloke

oh yeah, I always need to have a real person tell me a booking is confirmed, whether that be over the phone or a non-automated email.

Dizzyblonde

I think the point here is that regardless of how the booking was made, the situation was handled very badly by staff when the OP and his group turned up. Nowadays we're used to a much higher standard of service and they should have at least apologised and done their best to accommodate them, even if it meant there was a bit of a wait. That's what would usually happen.

I would definitely contact the management, OP, and would be surprised if you didn't at least get a heartfelt apology. If not, then I'd certainly give a review on TripAdvisor.

dubstarr

I use Trip Adviser as well.It hasnt let me down yet.

The op got a conformation email,why on earth would you need to ring up and confirm it.

the beer revolu

I think some people here are having difficulty in understanding the meaning of confirmation.
They had a booking number!

Also why are people discussing the pros and cons of Elephant and Castle??

Regarding Trip Advisor (only slightly off topic), I use it all the time and I know several restraunteurs who take it very seriously.

kylith

endacl wrote: »

WTF would you fly around the world to eat?!?

Why wouldn't you, if you had the opportunity? And why are some people asking why the OP went to Dublin from Athlone, as if it makes a difference. If I wake up in the morning and decide to drive to Donegal to buy a bacon sandwich from a cafe in Gweedore that's my prerogative, and does not excuse crappy service on my arrival.

bizzyb

You should have stayed in Athlone and went to Thyme Restaurant, in my opinion one of the best restaurants in the country.

the beer revolu

bizzyb wrote: »

You should have stayed in Athlone and went to Thyme Restaurant, in my opinion one of the best restaurants in the country.

Very helpful!

Like Faith, I can't get over the replies here.

Why did/didn't you do this/that?
You should/shouldn't have done this/that!

The fact is that the restaurant behaved appallingly, having sent out a confirmation email.

I think a letter or phone call to upper management and a factual Trip Advisor review, as others have said, leaving out all the stuff around the event and just sticking to your dealings with the restaurant.

Deise Vu

I use computers in my job and have no problems with online shopping, banking etc but I wouldn't make a restaurant booking online in any circumstances. Michael O'Leary knows how many seats are on his plane but a restaurant's capacity is dependent on the size of group bookings and the time people book. Eg a room with 40x2 seats can take 40 couples at 6 Pm and 40 at 8.30 but you will never get bookings as handy as that. You get odd numbers and tables need to be shoved together, groups turn up with an extra body or two and a large group at 7.30 will most likely reduce those tables to one sitting. It definitely takes an experienced, human, brain to do the organisation. If anyone has industry experience of using online reservations I would be curious to hear how it works out.

As regards Tripadvisor, I would rarely use it. You are suspicious of the gushing reviews and the negative ones generally come across as a pompous bore, Tom Doorly wannabe. And wanting to be Tom Doorly should be a capital offence. (my phone wants to post that as Tom Dorky. Says it all really).

dubstarr

I dont take Trip Adviser as gospel.I dont believe all the reviews either.But its a good tool for a general feel about the place I have booked restaurants online before and they where grand.The fault lies with the establishment not the person who booked it.

If they so wish to dine in Timbuktu thats their choice.If so place sends a conformation email that to me is entering in to a contract.They broke the contract not the op.

weldoninhio

dslamjack wrote: »

but for me when you are parting with hard earned cash I expect the best service possible- simple

But you didn't part with any cash. Of you'd had a meal and they were rude of understand. It looks like they explained that the booking system wasn't working and you were clogging up the restaurant for other customers. Mistakes happen, you'd be better off accepting that and moving on.

xlogo

What was the name of the restaurant???

Lovely Bloke

xlogo wrote: »

What was the name of the restaurant???

this matters not, and is therefore an esoteric question the answer to which will neither confirm nor deny the agreement or the argument between the replier and the original poster.

In fact, the only answer to your question should be "It is ALL restaurants", for each eatery could take something from this person's experience, or nothing at all. Each potential customer of each potential establishment can learn something here, or not.