drrevenue

You are an idiot! I don't know what you do for a living and I really don't care. You just don't get it! I'm a customer. That is a person who spends money for food, service, etc. in a restaurant. I don't know whether you have ever owned or operated a restaurant. My guess is that you have not. Customers are like little gold nuggets. Customers who know food, appreciate food and wine and respond to good service are few and far between. When you have one who helps you-when you have one who spends money with you--when you have one who dines with you 10-20+ times a year, you have a "big gold mine"...you don't do anything to cut off that gold mine. You seem to think that good customers grow on trees and come out every season. There is no issue here. We dined at a very good restaurant tonight. I mentioned the situation at Rockenwagner to the manager of this restaurant who used to work at several good restaurants--she could not believe the reaction from Hans. You seem to think that I need that restaurant. Frankly, I don't "need" any restaurant. I can afford to go any where any time--that means that I'm one of those customers that any every restauranteur wants... You are clearly totally mis-informed about what makes a business [which is what a restaurant is, in case you've forgotten or never knew!] work. So again I repeat--there is no issue here --I'm the customer. I handled the situation as a gentleman--remember I tipped the servers, left great wine for them and said, "don't worry about it". The problem started when the stupid owner became defensive and obnoxious...now I have to respond to stupid, obnoxious people who don't get it...this site is sort of fun because you see what stupid idiots out there are willing to do to defend people like Hans Rockenwagner who could have ended this whole thing by simply calling me--remember he has my number and has asked my help with his business more than once--so as I said, you are an idiot!

It is important to remember the sequence of events: 1. Manager and server talk to Hans and urge him to call us and tell us to make it another night. 2. No call - we arrive 3. Realize both chefs are not in the kitchen - order one appetizer - good 4. Order another appetizer - fair 5. Decide to give the restaurant a chance - order third appetizer - horrible. Decide to call it a day. Ask for check, insist on paying - they won't let us saying that they wished Hans had called telling us not to come. Manager says he will talk to Hans and knows Hans will get back to us. 6. Waiting for some type of response from Hans. Nothing. (Remember this is not a casual relationship. Patti, Hans' wife has joined us for dinner at the restaurant numerous times. I have also helped he and his wife with their business planning.) 7. e-mail Hans saying only "I am surprised I have not heard from you." 8. Finally on Wednesday, Hans sends the following e-mail "...I am disappointed in your reaction on Saturday night" 9. Only then did I send my angry response. My expectation was that given we were regulars and more than casual customers Hans would have replied "sorry we did not do a good job, let's talk" or "sorry you were disappointed, I'm disappointed that we disappointed you, come again, you know we can do better".

Suzanne... We walked out on Saturday night, by Wednesday I was shocked not to have heard from Hans Rockenwagner so I sent an eMail saying that "I am surpised that I have not heard from you." He replied with this short sentence: "...I am disappointed in your reaction on Saturday night" Below is my response. Dear Hans, I am shocked and disgusted with your attitude toward long term very good customers and supporters of your restaurants. You should be disappointed, but not with Liz and me. The fact that you left Rockenwagner in the hands of untrained kitchen help is disgusting. The fact that your staff even mentioned that you should probably call us and tell us to "skip it" that night is indicative of the fact that Jen and David were concerned about quality. The first dish, the spring rolls was fine, good, and normal. The second dish, some sort of crab floating in a green soup like stuff with cucumbers was sort of neutral--not bad but lacking flavor and style. You just hired a new chef from Tru, but then took him with you to cater an event, You then left an untrained kitchen crew to try and duplicate the dish. I ate at Tru a month ago and know what it is and how it works--quality all the way! The quail salad was absolutely disgusting. The dish would never have gotten out of the kitchen in your restaurant with a "chef" in the kitchen. There was absolutely no flavor and it chewed like shoe leather. I don't know what you expect experienced, frequent diners to do except, ask for the check and state that the food was "very disappointing!" We acknowledged the quality service with an appropriate tip for Jen and David and left substantial quantities of both our champagne and a very nice Alsatian Riesling. Clearly you do not value either our business, our referrals, or our friendship. I am totally shocked that you as a "professional" and "business owner" would go out of your way to alienate me. By expressing attitude in your "one liner below", rather than being conciliatory and friendly, you are simply closing the door. We know your food, your restaurant and thought we knew your sense of quality--obviously we were wrong! It is too bad, we have enjoyed the friendship and relationship with you and Patti. Good luck attracting quality customers with this type of attitude toward "a problem".

good post...this is what I had in mind when I wrote about our situation...I'll be more specific. The restaurant is Rockenwagner on Main Street in Santa Monica. Hans Rockenwagner is, in my opinion, one of the more talented, truly professional chefs in LA. LA is a town conspicuously lacking in fine dining establishments. There are a lot of middle of the road restaurants, but very few if any that approach New York or San Francisco quality. I dine in many good restaurants in the US and Europe. We are about to leave for 25 days of fine dining in France. I do not "need" any restaurant. I don't feel that I'm giving up anything when I cross a restaurant off the list. This happens rarely. When I say we dine in many good restaurants I'm talking about at least 150 significant restaurant meals in the best restaurants in the US and France annually for many years. I travel over 150,000 miles in my work and vacation in France for at least a month each year. Fine dining and drinking fine wines are our hobbies. We entertain and are entertained by many of the top chefs. I have generally had positive responses from chef/owners when I provided "feedback". I once wrote a scathing letter to John Sedlar, then the owner of Bikini, at that time one of the very best restaurants in LA. Bikini in the beginning was worthy of national notice and could rival most restaurants in NY or SF. We had an absolutely awful meal at Bikini. In this case the service was lousy also. I had brought a party of 6 for a special occasion. John was out of town. Not only did Sedlar respond appropriately to my letter with a call and an invitation to return ("I'll make it up to you" was the attitude. ) I later found out that he personally read the letter to his entire staff and posted it on the refrigerator. What a difference! The bottom line is that we, as customers, have to vote with our feet. I'd hate to not go to Pierre Gagnaire or L'Ambrosie in Paris or not return to Georges Blanc or Troigros, but if the owner's attitude were like that of Hans Rockenwagner, I would vote with my feet. There is no other way, in my opinion, to express dissatisfaction when it is clear that the owner doesn't care what you, the paying customer thinks. Thanks for your comments. Your La Palapa comment is right on. We all have limits.

You gulleters are interesting... The whole point is that we were not nasty, we did talk to the manager, we offered to pay the check, we like the people, we felt like very close friends to the chef/owner and his wife. If I were being nasty I would have named the restaurant. What some of you don't get is that a business person, in any business, but especially the restaurant business, should value repeat customers who are not only loyal but who also bring in other business through referrals and introducing customers to the restaurant(s). Communications is difficult--we all know that. But, in my opinion it doesn't matter what the communication style of the customer short of nasty--saying the food was "terrible" is totally honest when it is truly "terrible"...remember I had dined 12 times in this guy's restaurants this year--that is 8 months, 1.5 times per month, spending good $$. The bottom line in my opinion (and I'm pleased to see some of yours) is that all the chef/owner had to do was call or write (eMail) saying "sorry we did not do a good job, let's talk" or "sorry you were disappointed, I'm disappointed that we disappointed you, come again, you know we can do better". I did not want anything for nothing. Actually, I offered strongly to just pay the check and leave. The GM and server know us very well. This was not an angry, hostile situation...yes, the word "terrible" is loaded, but there are times when a business has to recognize total failure...we had a fairly large family business manufacturing a product, my father started the business, he handled all the complaints for 31 years, he always said, "it is the complaints you don't hear that hurt you--regardless of how the "problem" hurts handle it and it is like a broken bone it is stronger when it mends than it was before..." Thanks for your responses. I was interested in seeing how a fairly sophisticated group of "professional diners" would react to this topic.

Bull shit!!! If you run your business with the attitude that the "customer is wrong" good luck!! All this guy had to do is say "sorry" in stead he was "disappointed" in me. I think you forget that we, the consumer/customer are the ones making the choice to visit a restaurant. If the owner is not even as smart as an airline where they say "thank you for choosing United , we know you have a choice of airlines", then American business is really in trouble. If you run your business with the attitude the customer is "wrong"...good luck having a business one of these days...what goes around comes around, sometimes sooner than you think. DrRevenue

BACKGROUND: Last Saturday evening we went to a restaurant we frequent. The chef is one of the better chefs in our town. He and his wife are "friends" of ours. We have spent considerable money in their two restaurants for years. So far this year over $ 4,000. We arrived and found that the Chef/owner and Executive Chef were not there. They were doing a 200 person catering event. The waitress and manager said that they had suggested to the owner that he or they call us and suggest that we pick another night, but the chef/owner said no. To make a long miserable story short--the first dish was good, the second appetizer fair, the third absolutely awful. We asked for the check. The manager said what's wrong. I replied "the food is terrible!" and pointed out the shoe leather, flavorless quail salad . He said "no check". I tipped $ 40.00 (generous even if we had enjoyed a full dinner) and left an open bottle of champagne and an open bottle of very good Alsatian Riesling for the server and Maitre d' to enjoy. By Wednesday of this week, I still had not heard from my "friend" the Chef/Owner. I sent an eMail saying I was disappointed not to have heard from him about the terrible food on Saturday night. He replied that he was "disappointed in your reaction Saturday night". I was angry, disturbed, etc. and sent a return eMail suggesting that I thought I was the customer, etc. TOPIC: It is my experience that most restaurants and restaurant owners have a very hard time dealing with honest feedback that is negative. They don't want to hear it. And, they don't recognize the value of a customer. In this case, not only have I spent decent money in this guy's restaurant, I have also brought many people to the restaurant who had "forgotten" it and who then visited more frequently, I have also helped he and his wife with their business planning. For now, I won't name names, but you can be sure I won't be spending my money or recommending this chefs two restaurants (at the new one I went out of my way to do dinner for 25 the third week it was open to give his staff some experience in their private dining room). I guess restauranteurs just don't remember the rules of business. 1. The customer is always right. 2. If the customer is wrong--remember rule # 1 The only thing we experienced, concerned, "professional" diners can do is vote with our feet! and tell the world... Thoughts?