Orangerie - Innsbruck If there were a -0- star capability, I'd certainly use it.
We chose outside seating; fine until the waiter arrived, with attitude. We ordered drinks + 2 appetizers, drawing a sour look from him, but offered that we might wish to order mains in a bit. Drinks came; appies too, which should have given the hint. (they were 'tired').
But, tired & hungry as we were, we ignored his lack of hospitality & ordered a mixed grill meal for 2 + 2 glasses of red wine from their list. The wine arrived, I tasted only to find it 'corked' and non-drinkable. Once I was able to get waiter's attention, I told him wine was 'corked'. The reply: "Yes, we use cork(s)". Given the language barrier, since neither of us speak German, I clearly let him know the wine was 'spoiled' and that I wished to order a different one (which cost more), then did so. He removed the 2 rejected goblets, one untouched. I also told him that he should delete those from our bill as wine was undrinkable.
Our 2nd choice arrived shortly thereafter although dinners were still 15min away. (2nd wine was fine) When dinner finally came out it was dropped onto the table & waiter disappeared. We ate & sipped, the food was lukewarm at best. Vahlen, danke (check, thank you?) began with waiter simply presenting a total, which I rejected, asking for itemized bill. That drew a snarkier attitude but one was presented. I then reiterated that since the 1st choice of wine was unfit, I would not pay for it. Waiter claimed we'd drunk it so must pay. I reminded him that we'd NOT consumed it and that the 2nd wine was priced higher. He was adamant, as was I. After asking x3 to speak with his manager, he finally brought her to our table. He'd told her we refused to pay for wine we'd drunk, I called him a liar and, no big surprise, the manager believed him and directed him to summon the police. We agreed, which I do not think they saw coming.
However, after waiting about 15minutes, we decided to just pay the bill via credit card & contest the charges later. After we turned on phones recording his refusals to give us a check, he finally relented & I paid it. As we left, I again made it clear to waiter that he had removed the bad wine himself and had blatantly lied to his manager, to us and to the police as well when reporting us.
The server's attitude was horrible; the manager's was worse as she never spoke to us at all, despite speaking English, but only conversed in German with the waiter.
The entire evening was spoiled by the total lack of hospitality and moreover, that of honesty.
STAY AWAY FROM ORANGERIE!!! read more
