BEST customer service experience in my entire life.
I'd like to share a story about a scary experience that was turned on its head thanks to the staff of Murray's Bar in Dublin. This is going to be a long post, but I promise it's worth the read.
My friend and I are from the Washington, D.C. area and have been backpacking through Europe the past two weeks. We recently graduated college, and as anyone can imagine, two young girls traveling through foreign cities can be intimidating, at times even dangerous. We have been primarily staying in hostels and air bnb's. When we arrived in Dublin yesterday morning and our taxi driver cautioned us about the area we were staying in, we started to raise our eyebrows. Still, our air bnb apartment was gated off from the street, and we initially wanted to give both the host and the place the benefit of the doubt.
That afternoon we walked to O'Connell Street, one of the most famous streets in Dublin, and stopped by a tourism center to ask some questions and buy tickets for one of our day trips. After the lady recommended Murray's Bar to us, we decided to walk over and sit down. The hostess was warm and welcoming, and we felt a positive energy in the restaurant, so we sat at the bar and ordered drinks and food so we could try some of their beers and get more of a feel of Dubliners in general. The owner, Chris, came up to us almost immediately and said Hi, asked us where we were from, and struck up friendly conversation. This was not the typical, forced and sometimes even awkward politeness that some restaurant owners exude, but rather a genuine, down to earth, and easy going person exchanging pleasantries with his patrons. He gave us a couple recommendations of bars and clubs to go to during our visit, and even wrote them down for us. I later reluctantly told him that I did not like beer, because I have an intolerance to any drink that is carbonated (I know, it's weird), and he said to me "Well you know Guinness isn't fizzy right?" Ashamed, I said no, and he told me he would fix me something he promised I'd like. It was a Guinness with black currant and it was so, so good! I have never, ever tried a beer that I have been able to enjoy, let alone finish, and let me tell you, I was hooked. I had three more over the course of the night.
For our food, I had the guiness and pie and my friend, Jasmine, had the fish and chips. Both were super tasty. Their dishes are traditional Irish pub fare, but definitely taken a notch up in terms of quality. As we sat and ate, the bartenders would mingle and the owner would come back and check on us here and there.
As we grew more comfortable, we decided to ask them about the place we were staying at, given their local knowledge of the area. The owner came around from behind the bar and helped us pinpoint our apartment on Google maps. He grabbed his bouncer, who I guess is a little more familiar with that direction. Once the bouncer saw that we were staying in Summerhill, he told us we should absolutely stay away from there. He said walking around there at night was unsafe and not to act too touristy, as it would attract attention. Of course, this really freaked us out, and we realized that we should try to find another place to stay for the remainder of our trip. The owner offered to make some phone calls for us to his friends around town that work at hotels, which was especially helpful given that this weekend is extra busy in Dublin because of the Euro Tour.
After we grabbed our things and cancelled our reservations in Summerhill, we went back to Murray's, with our big backpacks in tow, since we didn't have enough time to settle on a hotel before leaving the first time, and had nowhere else to go. The owner spotted us, re-welcomed us, and carried our backpacks around the corner and to the back of the bar. He named all the options that him and his bouncer had come up with during the time we were away, and it took us a while to figure everything out, between calling our parents, cancelling our old reservations, and finding a new place to stay that was affordable; but in the midst of this crisis every single member of the staff was patient and kind and did not once make us feel unwanted there. In fact, we were able to relax once everything got settled, and we stayed so long that we both ordered a second meal and stuck around to enjoy the live music and Irish dancing until around midnight.
Jasmine and I honestly do not know what we would have done if it weren't for Chris and the staff at Murray's Bar. What could have been a potentially dangerous situation turned in to a small hiccup that because of them, was smoothly resolved. What they did for us is immeasurable in terms of ratings or comments. We genuinely feel like we have a little piece of home now in the heart of Dublin!! read more