My sisters and I ordered a $500 punch bowl that ended up freezing from the bottom up within 15 minutes... it couldn't be dispensed once frozen, so they told us they would remake the punch bowl from scratch. My sister overheard the staff saying "they hadn't made this drink in awhile" so it was likely just a mistake.
When they returned with the new punch bowl, it was quite obvious that they either poured into it only the juice above the ice of our original punch bowl... or else made a new one with no champagne/water/etc in it to dilute the juice. It tasted like disgusting sugary syrup and was unpalatable. The staff offered to add more champagne... more vodka... etc. but the punch bowl still tasted like ass no matter what they did. We tried to handle things as politely as we could and the staff seemed like they wanted to help, but then they returned with the full $500 bill for a drink we never even got to enjoy (we each only had 2 flutes of the original punch aka 6 flutes for $500?!). At this point, we wanted to leave and go elsewhere but we also did not want to pay full-price for this fiasco. The staff could have offered us completely new drinks and we would have been happy (even just some cocktails!)... but they clearly wanted their $500 fish bowl charge and never offered alternative drink options to us. They only kept "adjusting" the punch.
Eventually I paid the bill just wanting to GTFO. The manager flashed a sheriff's badge at me, as if to threaten calling the police and accused me of not signing the bill. Not intimidating whatsoever, considering they had already swiped/returned my card and could have signed the bill themselves!! They even charged 20% automatic gratuity. I won't be returning and have told all of my girlfriends this story - some of whom work in bars serving high-end customers and had a lot to say about the way this was handled. My advice?
1) Learn how to properly incorporate dry ice into drink recipes.
2) Taste-test some of the punch bowl yourself before serving it to customers.
3) Brush up on your customer service skills.
It would have been an amazing girl's night out, if it weren't for the way the staff/manager handled the situation and treated us like criminals. Customer service is everything, and we won't be coming back.
PS: Why did the manager have a sheriff's badge anyway? Does he work for the police department? Is that why these drug accounts aren't being addressed? read more