One of my favorite places to get pizza has really disappointed me... again. With their salads, not their pizza (which has always been one of the best).
About two months ago I picked up a pizza and chef salad from the Ovid, Michigan Main Street Pizza location, about 20 minutes from where I live. At home I discovered the lettuce was not fresh, and was wilted with several pieces of rotten lettuce in it -- it smelled funky. I immediately called and was met with an argument over the phone. They wanted me to bring it back or they couldn't do anything about it. I didn't have time to drive back, I just wanted a fresh salad replacement at a future date. Grumbling, phone person agreed to give me one at another time.
Tonight I thought pizza and salad sounded good. Remembering my last experience, I asked if the salad was fresh. Phone person assured me it was.
Thirty minutes later, I picked up the pizza and salad, and opened the plastic to try and see how it looked. The generous toppings covered the salad -- I could only see part of the lettuce around the edges of the container. Standing at the counter with other customers around, and not having a utensil, I did not dig through it to reveal the lettuce, so I paid and left (they charged me for the new salad). At home, I started to turn the lettuce with a fork and was dismayed to find rotten and wilted lettuce -- again. And it smelled funky, not fresh. I took pictures.
I immediately called and was met with hostile argument and denial from the manager. I offered to text pictures as proof of my claim; she didn't want pictures. She insisted that the lettuce was not rotten; she had looked at the lettuce when she made it; and she had just opened a new packaged of bagged lettuce.
Therein lies the problem.
Until restaurants recognized bagged lettuce is not fresh lettuce, and because you "just opened the bag" it doesn't mean it is fresh or of good quality, patrons will continue to get bad smelling, poor quality salads. Bagged salad lettuce is not comparable to fresh chopped lettuce, it is just ready to eat (or so they claim). Convenience over quality. Restaurants assume it is okay because they "just opened the bag," when in fact they have no absolute control over lettuce prepared at another facility and at an earlier time. Add in storage and shipping, they cannot guarantee the freshness, especially when uncaring restaurant workers don't really look at, don't smell, or even taste what they are preparing.
At minimum, bagged lettuce should always be rinsed and inspected before serving. Preferably, restaurants should chop their own lettuce -- it really isn't that difficult.
Which brings me to how the manager handled my complaint tonight.
She would not listen. She would not apologize. She would not try to "make it right". She just dug in her heels, amped it up, rudely and angrily insisted I was wrong, their lettuce was fine, she made the salad herself, and "don't order any more salads from here if you don't like them." I was on speakerphone and my husband was listening. He assured her the salad was not fresh, why would we waste our time calling if we did not have a legitimate concern. Her answer... she hung up on us!
We have been going there for around 25 years. We have spent hundreds of dollars there. Rarely have I been treated to poorer customer service. Never have I been hung up on by a business owner or manager. I was not being rude or insulting, just firm in my disappointment and wanting a resolution.
I removed the toppings and chopped fresh lettuce from my refrigerator, but I was so upset, I had lost my appetite
I will not patronize their restaurant again. I will tell others of my experience and share the pictures of the salad I was given tonight on several sites. You can decide from my pictures if the salad looks fresh. AND I recommend to everyone... do NOT GET SALADS at Main Street Pizza in Ovid, MI. My experiences with the other employees there has always been favorable, the manager this evening was rude and hostile. She will cost the owner several hundred dollars of my future business with them. read more
