Quote:
Originally Posted by skisox24
Dining out is sometimes a convenience, sometimes a gourmet extravaganza, and sometimes a social event. Last night my party of three sought a quick dinner out prior to attending a concert at Meadowbrook. We were seated at a table on the deck at the Lobster Pound at Weirs Beach at 6:55PM. We told our waitress that we had concert tickets and would like to be given attentive service.
We ordered promptly, one round of drinks, an appetizer and an entree. The service was outrageously slow. There was one period when our waitress was not in sight for what seemed like one-half hour. Our drinks arrived within a reasonable time, but certainly not promptly. Our appetizers took forever (peel-and-eat shrimp should take a lot of time)? What really ticked us off was that, incredible as it may seem, we encountered peel-and-eat shrimp that were literally inedible. They were chewy and tough, like cardboard. We chose not to complain and left the shrimp uneaten, and instead focused on getting our entrees.
Another arduous wait for our waitress with the three of us craning our necks trying to locate some sign of her. We asked a bus boy, and then another waitress, to please locate ours and send her to our table. It was now after 8PM and we still hadn't seen our entrees. Eventually the waitress came to our table and informed us that there was a 30 minute wait between the placing of our order and the delivery of the food, and she announced that our appetizers arrived 28 minutes after our order. She also informed us that our entree order was sixth in line at the kitchen. She never informed us of that timing when we first ordered, and when we told her of our need to make the concert. She spoke with the manager and they were able to advance our order, and the entrees did indeed arrive five minutes later.
My cajun grouper was so dry that I left more than half of it uneaten. And I am an inveterate "clean plate" kind of guy. My son's ahi tuna was of inferior quality and was tough and tasteless, although the risotto was passable.
We paid our bill of $113 for the pain and suffering that we endured and left a 10% gratuity and vowed never to return.
We had dined at the Lobster Pound two or three time previously and enjoyed the ability to dine outdoors, and accepted the fact that their fare was not goumet quality....but we never had an experience quite like this. Last night was, without any close competition at all, the absolute worst restaurant experience of my entire life. Congratulations Lobster Pound.
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Skisox, I'm sorry to hear that you had the "worst dining experience of your life , by far" at the Lobster Pound. These are tough words for my family and my staff to swallow. I feel I am obligated to respond to such, harsh criticisim.
Let me start off by saying, if you want a quick meal before a concert, on a Friday night, in season, at 7pm, you definately picked the wrong restaurant. We have never claimed to be a fast food restaurant. Everything we make at The Lobster Pound is made fresh by hand, and cooked to order. From the chicken fingers and french fries, to our daily specials prepared by chef Dog Moyer (formerly of abondante). Our deserts are made in house by our pastry chef. We bread our own fresh clams and calmari. We do not consider The Pound to be a gourmet restaurant, we are upscale/casual. By this I mean our food is a bit upscale with items like sushi grade ahi tuna, prime steaks, and steamed lobsters, but feel free to dine in a bathing suit and flip flops. The average cook time for any of our meals is around 30mins, from the time it is placed by our server, untill it reaches your table.
I would like to talk about your experience more specifically. The server you had that evening was Amanda. She has been with us a year now, and we have never had any complaints about her service. To the contrary, she has been praised by many customers, and has a lot of regulars who request her. I printed out a copy of your complaint and sat down with Amanda to ask her what had happened with your table. She said you never informed her before ordering that you were in a rush to get to meadowbrook. Amanda asked me if I remebered expediting your entrees to the front of the line that night so you could make the concert, and I did remember as I was floating from the front to the back of the house to make sure the evening was flowing smoothly. I remeber asking her at that time, both of us standing in the kitchen, did they tell you they were in a hurry, they were headed to meadowbrook before they ordered? She replied "no."
28 minutes for your peel and eat shrimp is unacceptable. That was a mistake on our part. But you said they were like cardboard and unedible. I asked Amanda if you said anything about this to her, and if the shrimp had been eaten, and she said every shrimp on the plate was eaten. No complaints. Our waitresses are trained to bring any food that isn't eaten by a customer to a manager before it is disposed of, so the manager can check and see if the food was ok, Amanda said there was nothing but shells on the plate.
Your entrees were out in less than 35mins. On a night where we servered over 400 meals, I think that is very reasonable. You stated that the cajun grouper special was dry, we served 48 cajun grouper specials that evening, yours is the only one we recieved a complaint on. The ahi tuna your son had is a sushi grade ahi tuna, and is a staple on our menu. I apologize if it wasn't too you liking but we never get complaints on that dish. When I asked Amanda why she didnt bring the uneaten meals to a manager, she told me that the food had been completely eaten. You failed to mention the mussels and ceasar salad that you had, I hope those were ok. I was told the plates wear completly cleaned so I can only assume they were. This brings me to one obvious question, if things had gone so terribly wrong, why didn't you ask to see a manager? The worst dining experience of your life, yet you chose not to say anything to anyone, including your server?
I chose to respond to your complaint because of it's inconsistancies, and the malice with which it was written. I appreciate feedback and constructive criticisim, but to say "worst dining exprience of my life, congragultions Lobster Pound" is not warrented. The internet has made everyone an overnight, expert food critic. Words like your can damage a restaurants reputation. I wouldn't mind if the words were accurate, but they are not.