Good food, but horrible service
by allysonb (1 review)
March 07, 2011 - Doesn't like it
I'm still a little upset by my experience at Soup Plus today.
I entered the restaurant with my son, needing a quick lunch for him before returning him to school. Another person entered immediately behind us. As I faced the counter to order, the couple who runs the cafe faced me and, while the man greeted us warmly, the woman appeared to be actually glaring at me! Then, she turned to the man waiting behind us, and started to serve him. This man stopped her, pointed to me, and said, "She was here first". I thanked him and started to ask a question about the lunch special, but the woman completely ignored me and continued to take the other customer's order. I had considered just leaving the cafe after the woman's downright rude behaviour, but the male cook/owner had been very friendly and my son was using their washroom, so we stayed.
Finally, I placed the order: A sandwich and soup for my son. I had noticed that there was a special soup price if the order was placed with a sandwich order. We were in a bit of a hurry, but I agreed to eat in. Bad idea.
When it came time to pay, I noticed the woman, who literally GRIMACED at me when I faced her (not great for one's self-esteem!), was charging me for the regular price for the soup instead of the combo soup and sandwich price. When I pointed this out to her, she abruptly told me, "That price is only if one person is ordering". So, because there were two of us (I had helped my son eat his soup), we had to pay a higher price. Now, I'm not cheap or anything, and this was a matter of only .50 more, but it was more than a bit off-putting to be told this in such an unfriendly manner. I challenged the woman: "This isn't the advertised price!" Then, she turned and pointed to an area of very small writing on their menu board which stated, "Soup prices will be charged at the higher rate if more than one customer is ordering". At this, I stated, "Well, this doesn't seem quite fair. And no one told me either!". Then, the woman began to argue loudly with me, stating, "If we didn't do this, then we would be on the streets instead of in business! We don't want poor people coming in here together and sharing orders." I got the feeling that she was classifying me as a somehow undesirable person in her establishment. Did I look poor? I don't think so, but even if I were, would rude treatment be okay?
Anyway, at that point, I was angry. I said, "You are being incredibly rude and I will never be back here". At that, she said, "Okay, I will give you the lower soup rate, but just this once. I would go out of business if I let you do this again!" Very dramatically, with a raised voice. By now, I was also thoroughly embarrassed by this confrontation. At this point, the debit machine appeared to not be working and the male cook/owner came by.
He adjusted the machine and the woman then said, "I told her about the soup rules." I then said to the man, "If you want repeat customers, I suggest that you rethink that rule and the rude way that it was conveyed to me!" The woman then began to go on again about "people who come together and expect to pay the special price, how they are trying to stay in business". I looked at her and said, "I'm not going to argue with you". She kept talking, and I repeated, "I'm not going to argue with you anymore". The man, at that point, said, "We've been in business for 8 and a half years, and we've got lots of customers". I stated, "That's good" and then was finally able to pay and leave.
Cover charges for lunch? May be reasonable, folks, but not informing people immediately upon ordering ISN'T reasonable. But the worst part? The rudeness, of course.
This was good food, by the way, but I'll never be back. The bizarre behaviour of the woman throughout our experience there (did I remind her of someone she hated?), has left such an unpleasant taste in my mouth. read more