A Legit Complaint

Some time ago, my friends and I had a rather mind-jolting experience at my fave sushi restaraunt, which was UBER sad, but prompted me to write the following letter. I have high hopes that this would never happen to you, however it recently happened to a co-worker of mine (at a different sushi restaraunt, no less!), so it inspired me to share my letter with you :)

To Whom It May Concern:

 

On Friday, December 17th at 6:00 p.m., I visited Umi Sake House for dinner with three other girlfriends. We had made a reservation one week in advance and were told that the time and number of guests for that date would be fine. Being a more than frequent visitor of your restaurant for over 3 years, I was looking forward to this evening in celebration of the holiday season with three of my closest friends. Upon entrance and check-in to the restaurant, one of my friends was told that our table was ready, however we would need to be “out of the restaurant by 8 p.m. due to another party’s reservation.” My friend not only found this odd, but extremely un-professional and rude. Being in the service industry herself as a marketing coordinator for a major food cooperation, my friend takes customer service very seriously. Although this comment put her off, she attempted to brush it off and have a nice meal with the rest of us.

My friends and I had excellent service and the food was delicious, as always. We had not seen one another in a long time and spent quite a while chatting, while ordering drinks and copious amounts of food. Upon the arrival of 8:00 p.m. our waiter informed us that he “knew we were supposed to be out of the restaurant by 8:00, and wanted to let us know that the time was indeed 8 p.m.” All four of us gave him a somewhat funny look, as we still had half of our drinks left and just finished dessert. Though the waiter was obviously embarrassed about this situation, he remained composed and said he “did not want to rush us” and that we “should finish our drinks.” Indeed, we did. And inevitably around 8:20 p.m. a hostess from the front of the house came over to our table and quite rudely stated that we “needed to leave, because the party for 8 p.m. was here and had been waiting.” Never mind the fact that we had just spent over $200.00 on our meal, or that there were two other tables available for seating in our area. She was extremely unhelpful in our situation and made us feel both enraged and embarrassed.

I was personally outraged and disgusted that someone would ask me to leave a restaurant that I was entitled to both visit and enjoy. Never in my life have I had such an experience. I urge you to provide your staff with a fierce ‘talking to’ in regards to this practice. It is unprofessional, rude, and a poor reflection on your establishment as a whole. Quite frankly, it makes me want to never visit your restaurant again.

Sincerely,

A very dissatisfied customer