We arrived and sat outside on the patio for Karaoke. It was our first time and it seemed like a nice place. At the outset, it took about 15 minutes for our server to take our drink order, not a big deal as it appeared our server had tables both inside and outside. My wife ordered a bottle of wine, Prosecco, and the server indicated they didn't have full bottles of that brand but did have splits, equivalent to one glass. My wife ordered 3 of the splits because 1) A full bottle is equivalent to 4-5 splits and 2) our server seemed busy-thus it would be less work to bring a few refills out at once. Our server brought out the 3 splits along with a soda for myself. We enjoyed our drinks and ordered dinner. At this point our experience was very good. Then, after about an hour, my wife ordered another split, the server went inside and came back looking perplexed stating "Umm...I can't serve you anymore, the bartender said you have been cut off" in front of our friends who were sitting with us. My wife was absolutely mortified. Up until this point, we had sat outside the whole time, had no interaction at all with the bartender, my wife was not being loud, was not drunk, we had sat quiet at the table and had not even participated in Karaoke yet. Additionally, my wife and I go out to dinner often (about 3-4 times per week) and we are middle-aged, so we have been doing this a long time. We have never had this happen to us in our entire history of going out to dinner. We were obviously taken aback. My wife asked the server quietly "Ok...could you tell me why? Is it a 3 drink limit?". If that was the rule, we completely understood. The server said she did not know what the rule was but that if we wanted, we could go inside and speak to the bartender (who also appeared to be the manager). Our friends even spoke up for us and stated that my wife does not drive, that I am the designated driver, but to no avail. Now at this point we stopped eating, my wife was completely embarrassed and just wanted to leave. I went inside to try and speak to the bartender/manager and waited..and waited..and waited. After a few minutes she did acknowledge me and said "Will be right over". However, I continued waiting and the bartender still did not come over. I would have understood if the bartender was busy making drinks and serving other patrons but she was not; she appeared to be talking and laughing with a group on the other side of the bar. Still, I waited and she did not come over. I finally gave up and ended up just flagging down our server and asking politely for the check. (Note, this was not our server's fault, our server was friendly, courteous, and appeared to be trying to make the best of the situation that the bartender/manager had put her in). We quickly boxed up our food and left. I should note we went to another establishment nearby after this and were able to enjoy drinks and food there without any issue.
I have 2 problems with the way we were treated:
Clear Rule or Reason-An establishment should have clear rules or reasons in this situation, and the staff should know what the rules or reasons are so they can be clearly communicated to the customer. For example, if there is a 3 drink limit and that is the rule then we understand. But no one could tell us a rule or reason. Why were we served the 3 drinks and then, an hour later, abruptly and arbitrarily told no more? What is the rule or reason here? No one seemed to know.
Accommodating the Customer-The burden of seeking out the bartender/manager to talk to them should not have fallen on the customer. The bartender/manager should have come out to speak to us. For example, she could have brought out our 3 drinks initially, observed us, and warned us that this is it if she felt there was something amiss. (She could have done that in much less time than it took for me to go inside, try to talk to her, and be ignored.)
It is unfortunate as I could have seen us becoming weekly regulars here up until we were mistreated. read more