1 Star -- Even One Star Feels Too Generous…read more
I honestly don't understand how this restaurant has such a high Yelp rating.
My family loves Armenian food, and after seeing Asteria rated around 4.7 on Yelp, we decided to try somewhere new for Saturday lunch. We drove 1 1/2 hours expecting a nice family meal. Unfortunately, I regretted that decision almost immediately.
Parking was difficult, but that was the least of our problems.
The real problem started when we walked in.
No "Welcome," no "Hello," no smile -- nothing.
The woman working there simply stared at us. Her attitude made us feel like, "Oh great, more customers." We felt unwelcome from the beginning.
She was dressed very fancy, but looking upscale means nothing when basic hospitality is missing.
Her attitude was so cold that we didn't even feel comfortable asking questions about the menu. When taking our order, if she didn't understand something, instead of politely saying "Excuse me?" or asking us to repeat ourselves, she responded:
"Huh?" "Huh?"
I seriously considered leaving, but after driving 1 1/2 hours with my parents and wife, we stayed.
Unfortunately, the food didn't make things better.
Several dishes were extremely salty. My parents couldn't even finish half their meals. My father said the meat was tough but kept eating some because he didn't want to waste the money. My wife took only a few bites because her food was so salty.
I normally LIKE salty food, and even I thought it was too salty.
The service during our meal was practically nonexistent.
Not once did she come over on her own to ask if everything was okay or if we needed anything. Every time we needed something, we had to call her ourselves.
It was also close to 100°F outside, and the restaurant was extremely warm. I couldn't even tell if the A/C was running. Meanwhile, she had a fan blowing on herself near the counter.
Then, while we were still eating, she started taking one of our plates away. We had to tell her, "We're still eating," and she put it back.
Then came the check.
We were told that the tip should be left in cash.
I normally tip around 20%, and I'm happy to tip more for good service. But after this experience, I honestly didn't feel like leaving a tip at all.
I was so frustrated that I even considered leaving one penny to show how I felt about the service. My family told me, "Don't do that. Just don't ever come back."
So despite being completely unhappy, I still left a 15% cash tip.
To be clear, I didn't leave 15% because the service deserved it. I left it because I was done with the situation and simply wanted to pay and get out.
After paying, I walked outside before my family because I didn't want to spend one more minute inside that restaurant.
All I could think was:
"Why did I drive 1 1/2 hours and spend my own money to be treated like this?"
I don't know whether this woman was an employee, manager, owner, or connected to ownership.
But if she's an employee, management seriously needs to pay attention to how customers are being treated. If she's involved in management or ownership, then that would explain a lot about the service we experienced.
A restaurant can post beautiful pictures and present itself as upscale, but real class is shown in how you treat your customers.
We weren't asking for five-star luxury service. We expected the basics: greet your customers, take their order politely, check on the table occasionally, and don't take away their food while they're still eating.
Maybe the people leaving great reviews had a different server, came on a different day, or simply got lucky.
I can only review what my family and I personally experienced, and our experience was nothing like what a 4.7 rating led us to expect.
We drove 1 1/2 hours, received cold and dismissive service, ate overly salty food, had to repeatedly call the server ourselves, sat in an uncomfortably warm restaurant, had a plate taken while we were still eating, and were then told to leave the tip in cash.
Despite all of that, I still left 15%.
Would I come back? Absolutely not.
Would I recommend this restaurant to family or friends? Absolutely not.
If you're thinking about making a long drive because of the high Yelp rating like we did, I strongly suggest thinking twice.
If you still want to try it for yourself...
Good luck. Once was more than enough for me.
