my friends and i had dinner
last week at vernon's speakeasy and it was easily the worst restaurant
experience i've had in my entire life. the service was horrendous.
we
chose to sit on the patio to listen to the music offered as part of their
summer nights on the patio series, and that's when we became second class
citizens. if you’ve never been there
before, when you arrive you knock on a solid door and a small window slides
open, “joe batters,” a mobster type
doorman asks if you have the password and asks if you’re a cop. assuming you give the password and are not a
cop, they let you in. as soon as we said
were there for summer nights, the speakeasy atmosphere, role playing and good
customer service ended. we were rushed
through a severely darkened maze of a dining room to the patio, and despite
having reservations they didn't have a table ready for us. they didn't even have a table that could accommodate us so we had to push two tables together.
staff did not offer to help. we were asked if we'd like to look at a menu and
said yes. it was the same menu inside
and outside, so i paid as much for my meal as i would have had i chosen to sit inside the dining room. not that you could tell from the service we
received. it took the server three trips
to the kitchen to find out enough information about the specials to be able to
explain them to us sufficiently. she never asked if we wanted anything to drink
other than water...even after i requested a wine list i had to tell her that i
wanted to order a glass of wine. my first steak was over cooked; my second
steak was under cooked and cold. when it started to rain and we moved our food
to a covered section of the patio, again, staff did not offer to help. the
server never came back to see if we needed anything. we were never asked if we
wanted dessert (i did, but was never given the opportunity to order it). we
waited for our ticket and it never came. after what had to be close to an hour
of waiting (while enjoying the music), we finally went inside and asked for it.
when the server brought the ticket, she actually stood there and waited for us
to pay it. then, to add insult to injury, we had to find our own way out of the
darkened maze, as nobody offered to walk us out. when we finally found the
door, “joe batters” asked us how our dinner was, i said nothing and my friend
said "eh." he didn't know what to say, but certainly didn't say he
was sorry we had a bad experience, or ask us what happened, or ask a manager to
come by to talk to us. he simply let us out.
they
may not care that i will never go back, however i love a good steak and i'm
willing to pay for it. my meal was more
than $72 not including tip…and i had to stop on the way home to buy the last
glass of wine and dessert that i never got.
they need to know that when i find a place i like, i tell everybody
about it and if they've never been there, i take them. at the same time, if i have an especially bad
experience i tell everybody about that as well…and i’m not alone. many people share their experiences with
others, good or bad, and if enough people hear about it, it can make a
difference.
it would have been nice to
be able to say that albuquerque has a local steakhouse that can compare to
ditka's in chicago or the silver fox in dallas, but no, it's not worth the
time, money or effort. my suggestion? go
to marcello's chophouse, the food is good and at least there you're treated as
a valued customer...no matter where you sit.