experienced the worst customer service of my life at this restaurant today. We are three older women traveling through the Basque region and, as foodies, one of the highlights of the trip was to be lunch at Choko Ona. We made reservations in July and showed up for our 1:30 pm time and were told we had been cancelled because we did respond to a email or call this morning to confirm. As many people do, we left our flat before 9 am to follow the Rick Steves guide through several charming towns before arriving for lunch. We were in the foothills of the Pyrenees and from out of the country and thus had no WiFi or phone service. I produced the original reservation (our only communication with them) which said not one word about confirmation. The manager said that didn't matter because their apparent top priority is to make sure there aren't any no-shows. I responded that they easily could have included in the reservation a requirement to reconfirm within a certain time period or even asked for a credit card deposit, like some other popular restaurants do. But she continued to insist that a restaurant has to protect itself. No concern shown at all to the customer whose plans are ruined. In fact, she pointed to my July 7th reservation accusingly as part of the problem for booking so far ahead, saying they had no idea if I would show up. I was dumbfounded at her total lack of interest in or concern for the patron and left with a very negative attitude toward Choko Ona and the Michelin Guide which has rated them so highly. read more
