Since management from this business has publicly (Facebook) lied about the incident which I'll describe, I want to preface this with a TLDR version regarding credibility. I was part of an extremely unpleasant incident at the restaurant earlier this month; it began when the large group I was a part of showed up for lunch and couldn't be seated despite having a reservation, and we were told not only that they didn't have a reservation for us, but that they don't take reservations. This stance has been repeated on LL's Facebook page. Things spiraled from there, but before we go there, why should you believe my version of this incident? Two reasons.
1) I was part of a tour group with which I was traveling for the first time. I stand to benefit in no way from this review, and if there were any doubt in my mind that perhaps a reservation had not been made, I'd be just as upset with the company that handled my tour. I know, unequivocally, that LL representatives have lied about this incident; that's why I'm torching them here, and not the tour company.
2) How can I be so sure? Very simple; had the hostess said, "We don't have a reservation for you," I wouldn't know whether the restaurant or the tour company dropped the ball. But she didn't say that; she said, and management has doubled down on this one, that "they don't take reservations." We were initially invited to wait in the outdoor area in the back, and when we went out there, we saw three picnic-style tables (their Facebook says one table seating 4-6 people; reality: 3 tables seating 6-8, but that's beside the point). Here's the point: Those three tables each had "table tent" style signs reading "Reserved" on them! So it's unequivocally false that they don't take reservations; they lied about it when we were there, and they continue to lie about it because they don't like the negative reviews they've gotten. And as a trained attorney, I'm quite familiar with the "Falsus in Uno" jury instruction, whereby a judge will instruct jurors that if they conclude that a witness has lied about one thing, they can conclude that that witness is unreliable and his/her entire testimony can be disregarded.
So here's what happened: Although there were empty tables (the ones marked reserved), we were told that they only had three servers on duty, and they couldn't serve us at those tables. I believe (speculating here) that when they took the reservation, they either forgot that it was for a holiday (this was Memorial Day Monday), or they forgot about the reservation. Either way, they were woefully understaffed and unable to meet their professional obligation.
We were told that we could wait around and be seated a few at a time as tables emptied out, so we began to wait. Some members of the party sat at those picnic tables, because they had umbrellas and it was a hot day. One of the members of the party was watching TV in the bar area and was told he had to leave. He was watching a sporting event, and when told to leave, he exited the bar area and told the server that he'd watch through the window. I believe (it's been just over 2 weeks now) he made some comment under his breath, which was somewhat understandable, as in addition to the unprofessionalism (and lie) about the reservation, staff (by which I mean the manager and the hostess) had been rather rude to us. Very shortly thereafter, we were abruptly asked to leave the premises, and told we had five minutes to do so. The server had alleged that our party member had shoved her. There was one witness to the interaction between him and the server, and that witness backed up our party member, saying that there was no physical contact.
This was the second day of our tour group; I went on to spend a week with the guy who was accused, and he is among the most calm, level-headed people I've ever met. Moreover, he is a local with a law enforcement related occupation that he has held for years and would be in jeopardy of losing should he be involved in any assault/battery sort of incident. It's simply inconceivable that the event happened the way the server described it.
As most of us left the premises immediately and peacefully, the accused member of our group calmly explained his version of the event to the manager, who sided with his employee.
The following conversation took place with the manager and a different member of our party:
"He didn't touch her!"
"I've got security camera footage of that area."
"Great! Let's see it and clear this up."
"I don't have to show you."
So who sounds like the liar?
Hey M - $1000 to your favorite charity if you produce security cam footage that backs up your story.
Zero professionalism, Zero integrity. read more