Comments on: Should you ever complain about your local pub or restaurant?

By: JC

JC — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 23:36:47 +0000

@Jenny - Thanks for taking the time to comment on my post. Unfortunately if the owners choose not to listen or do anything then there’s nothing you can do except show your complete lack of support for the establishment. If enough people leave then the place will either change or close. By staying and accepting you are endorsing the bad service.

Thanks for reading.

By: Jenny Morgan

Jenny Morgan — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 14:06:43 +0000

I agree that you should complain but what do you do if you are ignored. There were exactlyten diners in my local pub today. We were over an hour before we received our food. The couple behind us had their food taken away about five minutes after they started it becasue they were told it was someone else’s food. They still had not eaten when we left. My chips were absolutely stone cold - and I do wonder if they were the ones that had been taken from the other couple since they had salt on them. When I told the proprietor he just said’okay’ and walked away. No apology - nothing! He is new to the pub this summer and had made a real effort to begin with. We will not be going and nor will others who were there today. No wonder pubs are closing. You are right to say that we have an interest in ensuring that this pub continues trading - but if the onwer will not listen, what do you do?

By: Should you ever complain about your local pub or restaurant? Revisited… | JC - Technology and Stuff

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 16:39:46 +0000

[...] it’s been just about 3 weeks since I wrote my ‘controversial’ blog post about whether you should complain about your local pub or restaurant. I have had a lot of feedback, [...]

By: Jeff szuhay

Jeff szuhay — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 05:43:35 +0000

Since this has been posted — bringing these issues into sharp focus — the question keeps coming up in my mind: do I really want to support such a place?

Still, I love the people I meet there.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 17:19:36 +0000

Well done! I really enjoyed reading your blog and wish more “regulars” gave this type of feedback! I know for sure even some of our regulars have received bad service from time to time but keep coming back because of the atmosphere and the people. But agreed that stuff has to change at some point because people will eventually stop coming in.

By: Stephen Walli

Stephen Walli — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 20:15:06 +0000

Well said, John. Both from the social perspective and the list of observations. As Jeff noted, I’ll not pile on, but the wear and tear on the staff on busy nights is hard to watch and as the pub’s popularity has gone up by word of mouth, it’s getting harder to watch. (I’ve been tempted to learn to pour a pint just to help out, which would obviously be wrong.) It is very much my second home, and I’m probably not far behind you in spend, but I go there to relax with the regulars and not to be stressed watching the service collapse. They’ve lost some excellent staff of late and it’s a shame.

By: Amanda Goodwin

Amanda Goodwin — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 22:58:14 +0000

I agree completely! I feel that as a regular your opinion should count more, because it’s the regulars that keep a place going. They are the ones that make recommendations, and go out of their way to keep it afloat. With every word you wrote I felt like you were saying so many things that needed to be said. As a former staff member, I share your frustrations completely. Frankly it doesn’t seem to matter if the suggestions for change come from the customers or certain staff members. The hierarchy has been established since the pub opened and there is no desire to shift dynamics. It makes it hard to break into the pack, but after a closer look you don’t really want to. The only reasons I loved and still love that place was a cheeky English bartender and its regulars. I have countless stories about regulars making my day all the better, I wouldn’t have you any other way. So for me, your opinions mean more than any others, though new people should be heard as well. If they are stupid enough to ask you to no longer be their patron then they didn’t deserve you to begin with. Cheers to you John!

By: Jeff Szuhay

Jeff Szuhay — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 13:27:33 +0000

I think you have captured the essential points. I’m not going to “pile on” even though I have my own list of ‘nits that others probably wouldn’t care about and some of what you pointed out don’t bother me. I have made my issues known and basically been ignored. Ok, that’s their business.

It sounds a bit like growing pains for this venture. I found the bar only a few months after it opened and have been a regular there since then. Over that time, the popularity of the place has only grown. So, the question is, can they sustain that kind of popularity? Clearly not with the present policies.

For now, I keep going back mostly because I like the people there, patrons and staff. Unfortunately, the wear and tear on the staff has been too obvious.

My hope for the pub is that they take such criticism constructively.

By: Archway Vagrant

Archway Vagrant — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 00:04:04 +0000

Running out of potatoes on St Patricks day ??? !!!!

Poor planning as well as poor management… I know the establishment in question, and, like the place next door, I wouldn’t frequent it if there was a viable alternative. I’ll echo the comments about poor service, lack of staff on ‘busy’ days, no attention to detail (Stella Artios has been on the menu for the last couple of years I think)

Empires have fallen for less…

still, musn’t grumble

are you planning on asking the ‘management’ to read this blog ?