This past Friday evening I went to Taps & Apps-Mililani Mauka brewpub with a family member and I found seats outside with no umbrella (This brewpub is open seating only, no reservations and no one seating customers). I ordered some drinks and appetizers from server Courtney. Once it started to rain quite a bit, I decided that I would rather be inside the establishment than outside in the rain like an idiot. I looked around inside for a couple seats and was able to secure a table for me and my family member.
After I secured the table inside, server Julia (White girl with colored cross tattoo on neck) told me that I had to move since she wanted to move seat a couple at the table I secured. I told Julia that I did not know there were reservations for the table I secured and that I wanted to speak to her manager about the seating arrangement. Needless to say, Julia was not happy because she knew I was right and that since it was open seating, I had every right to be at the seat I secured.
As a result of this situation, Julia served everyone in my area except my party and my party was assigned to server Jordan (short Filipino guy with earrings). Like Julia, Jordan was less than professional and Jordan even told me that I should not have left the outside patio because it was raining. I placed another order of drinks with Jordan. Around the same time Jordan brought my drinks to me, Courtney came by with the order I placed earlier when I was outside on the patio. I apologized to Courtney and explained that I did not want to be outside if the rain continued to pour on us. Courtney said that she definitely understood and that I was right in securing my seat inside since it was open seating. Courtney was professional and she is probably the shining star at this brewpub that is making the customer experience awesome.
At the same time I received my order from a helper via Courtney, I told the helper that I hope they did not spit in my food. When I received the drinks from a helper via Courtney, Jordan was annoyed. I told Jordan the situation with wanting to sit inside instead of outside in the rain (with no umbrella). Jordan responded that there are people in the patio in the rain and that I should have sat in the rain too. I was outraged but I had more restraint that night. I probably let it go since I was enjoying some quality time with my family member but I knew if I engaged Jordan, I would not have any quality time with my family member. Subsequently, Jordan informed me that he needed to close out my tab since it was the end of his shift. I eventually closed out my tab with Jordan. Since that time, there was no assigned server to me, especially since Julia did not want to serve our party.
Because my party had no server checking on us at all, especially with empty beer glasses, I eventually ordered from bartender Tianna. Tianna was reluctant, indicating that my server should be helping me. I told Tianna that I did not know who my server was. Tianna took my drink order.
After my party finished that round of drinks, I again had no server responding to us at all. I went to the bartender Tianna again and at that moment, server Julia asked me if I needed anything, even though she ignored my party the whole night while we were in her area. I told Julia that I thought she was mad at me and reluctantly placed an order with her. Julia's mood lightened probably because she knew that her manager would be mad at her for alienating a paying customer. After I closed out my order with Julia, I was happy to leave this brewpub.
I think this place needs to have a host for assigned seating, more seating inside and outside, all outside seating should have umbrellas, among a number of things. Most of all, the servers need to be properly trained or let go--servers and bartenders make money with tips. The servers need to concentrate on delivering a better customer experience because that is how they make more money, bring back customers, bring in new customers and elevate the profitability of the brewpub as a whole. Based on my experience, I would not come back to this brewpub, I would not recommend this brewpub to anyone and it will surely fail as a result of the problems I mentioned if left status quo. read more