I had a very disappointing experience at Ichiban Markham today. The food was good, but the customer…read moreservice was very poor, especially from the manager, Kitty.
When I called to make the reservation, the staff member was already impatient. I had several questions because I had two young children with me--one only one month old and the other two years old. I specifically asked for a high chair and space for a stroller, but she said she was too busy to discuss these details. When we arrived, our table was surrounded by sofas, with no space for a stroller or high chair.
We were late because we had two babies to take care of, and there was an accident and heavy traffic on the way. When we arrived, Kitty immediately blamed us for being late and told us that our reservation was at 6:00 PM and that we had to leave at 7:30 because another customer was coming. I understand that we were late, but her attitude was extremely rude, harsh, and unprofessional. She spoke to us in an accusatory way instead of calmly explaining the situation.
There were also several problems with how the reservation was handled.
First, the information about the reservation "sitting time" was misleading and inconsistent. When I made the reservation, I was specifically told that the "order sitting time" was 1.5 hours. I asked more than once to clarify, and I was told this meant we needed to place our food order within that time. I was never told that we would have to leave exactly 1.5 hours after our reservation time.
However, when we arrived, Kitty told us that because our reservation was at 6:00 PM, even if we arrived later, we would still have to leave at 7:30 PM. She also specifically said this policy applied only to customers with reservations. This was completely different from what we had been told over the phone.
Second, the reservations are scheduled far too tightly, with no reasonable buffer between bookings. It is unrealistic to expect every customer to arrive exactly on time. Unexpected delays can happen due to traffic, accidents, parking, or other unforeseen circumstances, especially for families with young children. A restaurant should allow reasonable flexibility and have some buffer time between reservations rather than treating the reservation time as an inflexible deadline.
If the restaurant intends to enforce a strict 1.5-hour seating limit starting from the reservation time, regardless of when the customer actually arrives, this should be clearly communicated at the time of booking. Customers should not learn about such an important restriction only after arriving.
Third, even though we were late, nobody called to confirm whether we were still coming or remind us about the seating time. We only learned about the restriction after arriving, and it was communicated in a very unfriendly manner.
When I asked to speak with someone above Kitty, she became even more upset, said she did not want to talk to us, and walked away. For a manager, this was extremely disappointing. A manager should be able to communicate calmly and professionally with customers, even when the restaurant is busy.
We were paying customers celebrating my father's birthday, with two very young children. We came to enjoy a meal, not to be treated disrespectfully.
Thankfully, another staff member, Lily (I believe that was her name, a tall woman with a braid), stepped in and helped calm the situation. We really appreciated her kindness.
The food and variety were actually quite good, which makes the poor customer service even more disappointing. I hope the restaurant takes this feedback seriously and provides Kitty with proper customer-service training. Being busy is understandable, but it is never an excuse to treat customers rudely.