outrageous service - told to get out. i never write bad reviews, but this would be my first and hopefully last...it was such outrageously bad experience, i have to write about this.
last night (02/22/2014), my girlfriend and i were craving for some tapas and wine so we decided to try satis. the place is literally 2 blocks from my new place (recently moved from manhattan).
not only did i not get to try your dinner menu - i was actually angrily told by your manager to "get out!" and that i was giving him an "attitude". we were escorted out the door as he was giving the hand gesture as if he's herding a cattle out the door. what in the world is going on with this gentleman who's supposed to be your maître d' - front of your restaurant.
i run a personal food blog and i've tried out some of the best restaurants in nyc and around the world, including several michelin starred restaurants. even at those places where i would actually not mind a bit of 'arrogance' - we've never been treated with such disdain.
here is how things went. we looked at open table (via your website) and saw that there were tables for 2 available for 7:45 pm and onward (including 8:00 pm and so on). since we live just 2 blocks away, we decided to just stroll down the street and walk in.
when we arrived (around 7:50 pm), we told your host that we didn't have a reservation but would like a table for two if available. he told us there is no availability and the place is "booked for the night" hmm...that's odd we thought. we told him that we just noticed on open table the seats were available - he again reiterated that there aren't.
we respectfully stepped outside the restaurant and looked at open table on our iphone again. and the seats were still available! so we booked for 8 pm and walked in again and told your host that we just booked it on open table and showed him our confirmation email from satis / open table.
he was visibly annoyed by this point. was he irritated because he was put on the spot? he told us the place is "fully booked for the night" - and it was a lie? that's what's really puzzling about this whole encounter.
the other puzzling piece about this is that the place was about half empty on the first floor. and right in front of us was a table for two clean and set for customers. we pointed at the available table and asked if that table would be available. he flat out said no. now there was another reservation for 7:45 pm for two people, which they are late to by this point.
we were slightly annoyed at this point. he then told us to wait for 15 minutes at the bar until a seat opens. i then pointed at him at other empty seats available (again, the place was surprisingly half empty). he was having none of it. he got all worked up - and try me shut me down right then. i told him okay then lead us to the bar. he angrily walked toward the bar and pointed at the back of the restaurant for us to sit.
by this point, we were just stunned as to what the hell is going on with this host. was he having a horrible day or is this how he behaves?
i had enough of this - i told him this is the worst service ever. then your host blew up on us "okay so get out!" and made this hand gesture as if he's herding a cattle out the door. then he told me "you are giving me an attitude"
what he shouted to us and did to us was absolutely and utterly outrageous.
look, i can't say anything about the quality of food at satis since we never got to try your dinner menu - i'm sure it's as good as others say on yelp.
but your host needs to be better trained - we felt like we just intruded on somehow's dinner party when we weren't welcomed.
if you don't except walk-ins, then say so. if you don't care for open table, then say it so. please don't behave this way to your customers, tell your customers to "get out!" and that we are giving your host an "attitude".
we ended up going to marco & pepe and we were instantly greeted with smiles and good service. the wait staff was energetic and very courteous. (no i don't get paid by them, i work in m&a and my girlfriend works in a hedge fund; we make enough money ourselves and we don't work for marco & pepe as a disclosure).
i think this place can make more money and create more returning customers if you can just train your godawful host better. maybe he was having a bad day, but that's no excuse for this nonsense.