A Nice Restaurant Spoiled - Cranial Apocalypse

A Nice Restaurant Spoiled

If you are a caterer, and the name of your establishment is J.B. Rivers, in Bedfordview, you obviously already know how to piss people off. I seated myself there on Sunday morning, and waited for nearly ten minutes before leaving, disgusted with the complete lack of service. At least three staff were standing around chatting, so they weren't too busy, just too complacent.
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Published 18 January 2005 01:07 PM by bkelly
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Comments

# Matt said on 18 January, 2005 09:21 PM
Good on you for leaving
# Justin Lovell said on 19 January, 2005 08:38 AM
Ermm... when you find something not to complain about, blog it please. It seems like you are concentrating all your blogging activity on complaining about anything, including how mouse droppings look like.
# Brady Kelly said on 19 January, 2005 10:20 AM
Funny you didn't see the other three of my last four posts, because none of them were complaints.

Funny you don't get upset when you receive appalling service, and shame on you for not complaining when you do. In that case you deserve it.
# Justin Lovell said on 19 January, 2005 08:38 PM
Funny that out of the last three, only one of them were yours - the complaint. Of the other two, one was an extract on what someone said and the other is probably a thought that was passed around in the office. Ok, nevermind... let me go on about the very ironic thing in your response:

"Funny you don't get upset when you receive appalling service"

I do get upset but I *control* myself -- I don't let emotions rush in and take control of what I do.

Maybe when I get "pissed off", I actually look for solutions; not more problems.

"and shame on you for not complaining when you do"

What do you call my last comment? I consider that a compliant.

"In that case you deserve it."

Deserve what? You make absolute no sense here.
# Brady Kelly said on 20 January, 2005 09:51 AM
Of those three, one was a technical solution discovered by myself, one a light-hearted look at a faux-pas, without any negative emotion, and the other was quoted because I found it quoteworthy, i.e. not to be complained about.

However, you do have a point and in future I will still have my rant, but offer a possible solution as an epilogue.
# Justin Lovell said on 20 January, 2005 11:11 AM
Great. But as I said, that was a minor thing about your post history :-). Just one additional thing that I want to mention (but I'm sure you picked it up as well) is that you must voice your complaint to the people concerned. For example, I pointed my compliant directly to you about your actions. The same must be done... for a better change.

(PS: you could've got a free meal from this restaurant if you played it well ;-)).
# Brady Kelly said on 20 January, 2005 11:43 AM
I only bring it here after voicing it to the people concerned, or when I can't. The only listed number for the restaurant is in Hyde Park, and I couldn't get a reply on the phone. The kulula people at the airport gave me an email address to complain to, but it was invalid. All the waitron complaints I've had I've voiced to them and their managers. Some have listened.
# dd said on 10 February, 2005 02:01 PM
ff
# Dylan Born said on 21 February, 2005 12:38 PM
I would like to share my experience at Debonairs Fordsburg with you. Last week I ordered 2 pizza's. A small piece of metal wire was discovered while my boyfriend was eating a piece of pizza. I called the outlet to advise them of my finding. The manager of the outlet promised to send over a replacement pizza which did not arrive. She also gave me 2 excuses for why the pizza has a piece of metal wire in it: 1. This could have happened when they were cleaning the "screens". 2. The meat supplier could have been the problem (United Butchery). The manager had tried to brush me off with these excuses and did not intend sending a replacement! I then looked at the Debonairs pamphlet and called Famous Brands the company that handles complaints etc for Debonairs. I lodged a complaint with them. They advised me that the area manager will be in contact with me in a matter of a few days. On Friday the area manager Andrew did call me apologising for the unfortunate incident and asked me whether I would like a replacement meal or a refund. I accepted a refund and asked for it to be delivered to my residence. I am still waiting for my refund.... The money does not concern me that much. The justice and fairness to all is the foremost in my mind. My appeal is that more of us should stand up for our rights and not be defeated by those that want to give us excuses for not delivering the service we pay for. Something for you to think about: What if this was your little son or daughter eating this piece of pizza?
Would you take it standing down?
# Brady Kelly said on 21 February, 2005 01:10 PM
I have had two very positive experiences with Steers and FishAways, members of the same group, but on both occassions I complained via the specific franchises web site.

Several managers phoned me on several occassions, and every effort was made to assure me the incident was isolated and would not happen again.

However, friends and acquaintances have had bad experiences when complaining to store managers personally, and my policy is always to take the complaint straight to franchisor level.
# Debbie said on 09 March, 2005 12:23 AM
This new restaurant called Salvatore in Honeydew Square Is a disaster waiting to happen. The view is magnificent from the top balcony the potential is all there but the food is atrocious and the service is well nonexistent. The furniture is old and useless as for the concrete slab erected for the balcony its still just the screeding no tiles or anything This is a great spot and it’s spoiled by a bad restaurant. No one else will want to purchase this spot if this restaurant folds, which is likely in a few months as the patrons are dramatically thinning out. The number of cars parked outside on a Friday night show the change of curious people as word gets out about the sad situation. Waiting 10 minutes to be served is good as one only gets served if you go and hunt down a sleeping waiter. And then you have to as k two or three times where your food is. BAD, BAD, BAD
# Debbie said on 09 March, 2005 12:25 AM
This new restaurant called Salvatore in Honeydew Square. Its a disaster waiting to happen. The view is magnificent from the top balcony, the potential is all there but the food is atrocious and the service is well nonexistent. The furniture is old and useless as for the concrete slab erected for the balcony its still just the screeding no tiles or anything. This is a great spot and it’s spoiled by a bad restaurant. No one else will want to purchase this spot if this restaurant folds, which is likely in a few months as the patrons are dramatically thinning out. The number of cars parked outside on a Friday night show the change of curious people as word gets out about the sad situation. Waiting 10 minutes to be served is good as one only gets served if you go and hunt down a sleeping waiter. And then you have to ask two or three times where your food is. BAD, BAD, BAD
# Brady Kelly said on 09 March, 2005 09:50 AM
Debbie certainly wanted to get her point across. I hope they do fold, I hope they go bust and all their staff end up unemployed, BUT employable. If you worked for an idiot, it's only your fault if you did it for a long time, but if you were an idiot employing others it should be the end of the line for you.
# Heidi said on 25 April, 2007 10:44 AM

I have been a loyal patron of Salvatore since we moved to Jhb in 2001.  TONY and GRACINDA are the best hosts you will ever find & the food has ALWAYS been fantastic!  I have not found a pizza any place in SA that is close to Salvatore's.  They make THE best pizza in SA!  The rest of the menu is great as well.  Their cocktails have won them prizes.