My family has been a loyal customer for over 20 years, and as the saying goes, "all good things must come to an end".
I have a large family and when we are getting together to celebrate an occasion we make reservations at the Lilac Blossom. We made our regular reservations in advance, requesting the back part of the restaurant which has a perfect spot to seat all of us comfortably. There were 13 adults and 3 very young children in our party and the restaurant was advised of this at the time the reservations were made. We were also assured that we were booked for seating in that back part of the restaurant. A phone call was also made to the restaurant the day of to confirm again that we were all set for our party of 13 adults and 3 children in the back section of the restaurant.
Unfortunately, upon arriving our party was moved to sit directly adjacent to the actual bar. Not just close to the bar but, directly next to the actual bar. We were understably not pleased that our twice confirmed reservations and seating area were seemingly dismissed but, we decided to try and make the best of it and stayed to have dinner.
We placed our large drink and food order. We literally saw our waiter 3 times after that.
-The first time was when he brought our drinks and food which was missing items thats we ordered.
-The second was when he brought the items that were missing.
-The third was when he came and dropped the bill.
Never once did the waiter come and check how everything was, if we needed anything or if anyone wanted a refill.
We tried looking for the waiter to ask him for some things we needed but could not find him. In fact, I observed other patrons having issues and overheard that when they tried to talk to the manager that the manager laughed at them.
I need to correct myself. The fourth time I saw the waiter was when he actually busted through the door and chased after me, my mother and my in-laws in the parking lot to aggressively question what we chose to leave for a tip.
Rewinding a little, between the reservation fiasco and the complete lack of service I decided I would bring my concerns to the attention of the manager. Surely, he would want to be made aware of all these things. I couldn't have been more wrong. I saw the manager and my exact words were "excuse me sir, are you the manager and may I talk with you for a minute". He looked at me and said "I do not have time" and proceeded to walk away. I think the only person more shocked than me was the couple sitting next to where this occurred. I could tell they were equally appalled.
Now, I like to give people the benefit of the doubt as I know we all have our off moments. I decided to speak with someone that was at the front desk. I explained to them everything that occurred and they were very empathetic and told me that they felt horrible but that there was nothing they could do. When I told them that I tried to talk with the manager and that the manager told me they don't have time, their response was "that does not surprise me, he is an ###hole." To me that is very telling, if your own staff has that opinion of management. This staff person continued to tell me that they wish they could do something for us but that they can't and that the only person that could is the man that told me he doesn't have time. They also told me not to bother trying to talk with him because he won't care. I asked what the man's name is and they told me, Harry.
Up until this evening I just kept thinking to myself wow, if only the owner of the restaurant knew that the manager they are paying to be the face of this restaurant is so incredibly pompous, rude and uncaring. Yikes, imagine my surprise this evening when looking up contact info to email the owners about our experience, the owner is Harry. Yes, the owner is the same man that didn't have time to address or even hear of a customer's concerns. Well Harry, I realize the loss of my family's patronage to your upstanding establishment will not have any impact to your overall business. With that said, I am also certain with your complete ineptitude at properly managing a restaurant topped with your horrendous attitude that you will no doubt lead your business to eventual closure. What you need to learn, Harry, is that you do not run the monopoly of the type of cuisine your business serves. The options for this type of food are endless and to end this review on a bright note, another local restaurant will now gain the thousands of dollars of business my family spends a year. Countless customer's will undoubtedly follow us in no longer giving any business to you, not because of my review, but rather because of your lack of even pretending like you care. read more