I've always believed that a restaurant's support should be based on the quality of the food, the service provided, and what they stand for. They represent themselves inside and outside of the facility. For these reasons I can no longer support 205 Dry, and would not advise others to either.
The day after my college graduation, my family and I were very much looking forward to continuing our celebrations. I had been to 205 Dry before and thought my family would really enjoy it, so I called the restaurant at 8:30 to see if they happen to have any availability for the evening. The person who I spoke to said that they could seat us at 10:30. We were still full from earlier, making this music to our ears. After we confirmed with such excitement, they informed us of their graduation weekend policy that if we cancel or do not show up there would be an outstanding charge and they would need our credit card information beforehand. This was very understandable and having no intention of missing this dinner, we gave the okay.
My mom had not been feeling too well so we went back to my house for her to lay down and the rest of us to talk downstairs. Just before 10 we got the heartbreaking call that my grandfather had passed away. Amidst waking up my mother to tell her she just lost her father, calling my sister who was not with us to tell her she lost her grandfather, and trying our best to fathom this news, I wanted to do right by the restaurant. Our reservation was in a half hour and on what is probably their busiest night of the year I felt it was the right thing to tell them as soon as I could that we would not be coming in order for them to give our table to someone else. I also did not want my family to have to deal with the charge and give them one more thing to worry about, as I figured the restaurant would understand the circumstances and courteously waive the charge. Unfortunately, on such a devastating night, I was reminded that there are people without kindness in their hearts and run their businesses without any care for their customers. The call was picked up rather quickly and while holding back tears I apologized for the last minute cancelation. I explained how we had just made a reservation not even 2 hours prior for 10:30, and sadly we just had a death in the family and would not be able to make it. Immediately, and in the most chipper voice, I was responded with "okay! We are still going to have to charge your credit card". That was it. No I'm sorry for your loss or even the hint at sympathy in her voice or words. At first I questioned this, and repeated the situation to make sure she had heard me correctly, but she was insistent that "that was their policy" and they would still have to charge us. Trying to maintain my composure, I began to say that I understood they were probably so busy and I should go be with my family, therefore I was going to let them go, but that ultimately this was unacceptable and at a later point they would be hearing back from me. Without a hesitation, the person I was speaking to then said that they were actually the owner so I would just be talking again to them. Still remaining calm, I simply said I looked forward to it, have a good night, and sorry again. Between the two of us and the positions we were in, I was the only one to utter any sort of apology and did so multiple times. That is just to show what kind of person not only works at this establishment, but owns it. They are the face of 205 Dry and made it blatantly clear they have no sense of morality, principles or regard for others.
Shortly after the call, I received this extremely insensitive text from the restaurant:
Hey Mia/it's 205-we didn't realize you made the reservation a few hours ago then we spoke. We won't be charging you, sorry about your friend!
Of course it was nice that they were dropping the charge, but one right in no way takes away from all of the wrongs of the phone call or the rest of the message. They didn't even address me by the correct name! Since then I have tried to follow up with the owner and confirm both the removal of the charge and that it was in fact the owner I had spoken to, and have since received nothing. This experience was very disheartening, just making a devastating situation that much worse. I will no longer recommend this restaurant to friends and family as I had always done so in the past. I would not advise anyone to go here and support the ways in which 205 Dry chooses to do business. If you find yourself in Binghamton, please go to the many other local restaurants who have much more to offer their customer in both food and respect. read more