Kobe Steak House Rant

[Pappy]

For our anniversary, I took the wife to the local Kobe Steak House for dinner last night. The experience ranked somewhere between a disappointment and a disaster.

We have eaten at Kobe several times but were badly disappointed this time.

Service by the waitress was good, but that was about the only up side. She asked about complimentary cheesecake in honor of the occasion but told us the manager refused because it was late ad we were the last diners there. Two birthdays were recognized this way while we were eating.

Part of the attraction at Kobe is the entertainment factor of the grill chef and it was lackluster at best. The food was mediocre. I had filet mignon and lobster tail and she had Kobe steak and lobster. Her steak was over cooked and both were tough, especially for the cuts. The lobster was about half the size we were told and almost had a rubbery texture, to the point that the pieces couldn't be cut with a fork. The manager was complacent when she complained.

She plans to contact their corporate offices today. As it stands now, we won't be back to this one.

[twistsol]

Pappy,

Sorry to hear about the bad experience. It sucks when a special occasion is ruined by something like that. Congratulations on making it to forty years. That's quite an accomplishment and you don't get there without a fair amount of effort from both of you.

We had a similar experience at Ruth's Chris in Minneapolis. After years of going there and having great service and food, the waiter brought a sirloin instead of a filet for my wife and then argued with her about what she ordered.

Try either Texas de Brazil or Fogo de Chao. Both are Brazilian steakhouses and I've been to many of them in various cities across the US. We've never been disappointed with either, but until last spring, I could have said the same about Ruth's

[Bruce Cohen]

Hey Don,
What do you expect from a country that we nuked. Anyway, happy anniversary and to many, many more. Except celebrated at a different restaurant.

Bruce

[Denco]

Maybe a "Honey, I'd like to take you to another restaurant tonight because you deserve a proper anniversary dinner" is in order. Good experience might help diminish the first experience.

[Black wallnut]

While you are at it find out where the cheerleaders are working.. just saying.

Congrats to you both; sorry to hear of your bad service.

[gerti]

Maybe a "Honey, I'd like to take you to another restaurant tonight because you deserve a proper anniversary dinner" is in order. Good experience might help diminish the first experience.

Sounds like a smart plan to me! Unless all those roses killed your budget.

[Pappy]

There are several excellent, locally owned restaurants in town that will entertain out of the norm requests for special occasions such as reserving a table of my choosing or having flowers delivered for presentation at the table. Most will also offer free perks such as drinks or desert in honor of the occasion.

One of the most unusual perks we have ever experienced was at an Embassy Suites in Corpus on our 25th anniversary. They closed the pool at 10:00 PM, dimmed the lights, and made it available for our private use. During a conversation during the manager's reception, the manager had asked what champagne was served at our wedding. About 15 minutes after we went into the pool area we were interrupted for the only time when the manager came in with a ice bucket and 2 champagne glasses, opened the bottle, poured our first glasses, again offered his congratulations, and left to enjoy the rest of the evening.

When I thanked on of the assistant mangers for the gesture I found the manager had gone out after he got off work, bought the champagne out of his own pocket, dropped it off to be chilled, and came back in at 10:00 for the sole purpose of presenting/serving it to us.

That is customer service ABOVE AND BEYOND!

The same year we had dinner at the Republic of Texas Bar and Grill atop the Omni Hotel. They were the only higher end restaurant I could find that had lobster tails available. (We had steak and lobster tails, a first for her, the night she finally said yes.) We were seated alone in a raised section of 3 tables with a beautiful view of the bay. Only one table was occupied on that side of the restaurant and they left shortly after we were seated. The service and attention from our waiter rivaled or exceeded any I have ever received. All our drinks were complimentary as was the tropical fruit topped cheese cake dessert.

When I asked to speak to the manager to thank him and offer my praise for the waiter's service, he walked down one set of steps, back up the steps on the other end and said 'You asked to speak to me?" He had had 2 waiters call in and opted to serve us personally to insure we had a private dining experience and service that was exclusive and uninterrupted by the need to take care of other diners.

[Pappy]

While you are at it find out where the cheerleaders are working.. just saying.

Get it right, Mark. They are calendar models that do car/bike washes at various events, not cheerleaders.....

And I'm CRAZY, not STUPID!

[Rslaugh]

First of all - Big congrats! Obviously that's the important part.

It is so hard to find that elusive quality called customer service anymore. I would tell my wife we're going to keep going out to our anniversary dinner until someone gets it right. And then have fun doing it.

I've almost stopped complaining to corporate offices because they don't seem to get it and their canned lackluster responses are almost worse than the original insult. If your wife gets the response I think she's going to from corporate than I would post the info here along with an email contact.. Maybe if we blow up their in mail with responses from BT3'ers who also feel affected by your experience it might start to seep through.

[Pappy]

Maybe if we blow up their in mail with responses from BT3'ers who also feel affected by your experience it might start to seep through.

I posted a reply here from an online company several years ago that wasn't a 'canned' reply. It was more along the lines of 'we have your money so deal with it'. I don't even remember what the company or product was, but it wasn't an expensive purchase.

Although that wasn't my intent at the time, I got another email from them several weeks later stating they had received numerous emails about their response to my problem and offering to 'make it right' with a replacement. I told them I had already found another, REPUTABLE company to deal with. Since the only place I posted it was here, I can only assume the 'numerous emails' came from fellow BT3 members.

[Rslaugh]

I posted a reply here from an online company several years ago that wasn't a 'canned' reply. <portion snipped> Since the only place I posted it was here, I can only assume the 'numerous emails' came from fellow BT3 members.

Great story. Poor customer service just should not be tolerated. In the digital, instant story world we live in, companies who do not train their employees to provide at least good service will not survive.