Before anything I should say this: I am a very easy-going customer and I tend to not post negative reviews even when I'm not happy with the service. After all, people may have bad days. However this time I felt like sharing my experience, because I was extremely disappointed: both with the service and with myself for not having stood up for myself. I hope the relevant persons read this and change their ways if this is how they usually treat their customers.
I wanted to have a nice meal today so I was willing to pay for an actual lunch rather than a sandwich or a snack. I picked Daniele because the reviews were good and it seemed like a nice restaurant.
I walked in and asked with my broken German if I could sit outside since the weather was nice. I was told by the not so smiley lady that I couldn't, because it was reserved. Totally understandable, I went inside and seated myself. I waited a long while to be given the menu, at which point I was debating whether to leave because it was getting annoying, but I stayed. A very friendly gentleman asked me if I was waiting for the menu. He brought me the menu and then left.
It took another long while for them to ask me what I wanted to order. Thoughts of just leaving and finding another restaurant appeared again, and still I stayed.
After a while, the same lady caught my glance from over the counter and in a not so pleasing tone of voice asked "Yes?". Since it was a nice looking restaurant, I was expecting for someone to show the decency of at least coming to my table to take my order so I said "I wanted to order." She replied: "Yes?". Wow. This actually meant that the first "Yes?" translated to "May I take your order." I was absolutely annoyed, but didn't say anything about this weird treatment.
The food was prepared quickly. The same lady brought the food to my table with no smiles at all. It was tasty despite the fact that it was over salted. No worries, still ate and didn't say anything. I was thinking to myself that this place probably treats their customers this way so I didn't take anything personally.
However, while I was still eating, an old German couple walked in and sat right next to my table. As soon as they were seated, a young waiter, who was very friendly, brought them the menu together with bread and olives in olive oil, then took their order. I didn't understand why I wasn't brought free appetizers even though I also ate a full meal there.
I am very disappointed with this double standard and am unable to find a reason why I was treated so differently than another customer. The only thing I could think of was that it may be because I was foreign (which makes absolutely no sense, especially since the lady herself didn't look that German, but I may be wrong) since there was nothing wrong with my behavior.
I just wanted to share my experience, because all day I was pissed off at myself for not having said anything to the lady. I hope she reads this. After all, my whole reason of picking Daniele to eat was because I wanted to treat myself and feel special. If the whole point was to fill myself with food, I could have gone to a cheaper place or had a falafel for a couple of euros. Paradoxically, if I went to a fast food chain restaurant such as a Burger King or Mc Donald's, I'm pretty sure I would have been treated way better and with respect. Just sad. read more