We went to Eter Rooftop & Lounge to celebrate two birthdays and had a very alarming experience with management. This was actually our second visit--our first time was amazing under different management.
Our waiter was great--kind, courteous, and patient. Our reservation was at 9:00, and we didn't get our food until after 11:30. Looking around, no other tables had food either, and several groups ended up walking out upset.
We were about to leave, but the manager insisted we stay and said he would take care of us and comp most of the bill. A few minutes later, he came back and said, "at least you got your appetizers." We told him we hadn't even received those, and he walked off huffy, rolling his eyes.
When the food finally came out, every single dish was cold--cold steak, cold snapper, cold lobster tail, cold shrimp--and the mofongo was brick hard. We were starving, the kids were tired, and we didn't want to keep complaining and ruin the night, especially since we were told most of the bill would be taken care of.
The bill came out to just over $1,000 and was adjusted by less than $100. When we brought up what he told us earlier, he said he "changed his mind" and walked away mid-conversation. One of our guests tried to follow up, and the manager became very unprofessional. We told the guest to leave, but as they were walking away, the manager started getting aggressive and yelling.
Through all of this, our waiter stayed patient and continued to apologize. He even went back to the manager to try to work something out for us. When the second bill came, the waiter's tip had been removed. We were shocked. We made sure to pay the bill by card and give him a well-deserved tip in cash.
As we were leaving, the manager continued yelling and even said he was "from the hood" and that we "don't know anything about that," which, while true, had nothing to do with the situation and was completely unprofessional. It honestly left us confused because what does that mean?
It felt like we were convinced to stay so they wouldn't lose the sale or have to throw out food that may have already been sitting there, based on how cold everything was. We came to celebrate birthdays and didn't even get to do that. We still paid the bill, but this experience was extremely disappointing.
Never again. read more