Who Likes Molasses?

I visited a trendy, newer Minneapolis restaurant last Friday night with a party. The service went from barely attentive to completely disinterested. Granted we were a large group; however, we had reservations and we called ahead to confirm that they a) had no problem accommodating us, and b) could easily facilitate separate checks.

The wait times between server visits and to even receive our meals grew steadily. By the time we received our dinners, we had no choice but to finish them promptly to abet the now persistent hunger pains. The server was not concerned with how we enjoyed our meals, and at the end of the meal (which came about rapidly), when many in our group would have liked to order espresso or even a dessert (or several), she completely vanished for almost half an hour to work at the arduous task of settling our checks.

It was a bummer on several levels. For our group, it was frustrating as we would certainly have liked to order additional drinks or after dinner add-ons, such as dessert. Additionally, for the restaurant, they had 18 captive diners to impress that night at a single table. In one fell swoop (and in spite of the stellar food quality), I doubt a single person will return due to the poor service. Not only did the service prevent the restaurant from repeat clientele, but they also completely ruined their own chances at higher check amounts that visit, since they did not check back to refill drink orders or inquire at the end of the meal.

The final icing on the cake involved when the checks were presented. All of them had a 20% gratuity tacked on. I know mandatory gratuity is standard for large parties. I'd consider myself a generous tipper with 20% being my standard, but we really would have appreciated the heads up from staff that the gratuity was added to avoid mistakenly adding one's own, as well the opportunity to compensate for the level of service commensurate with our experience.

This experience is reminiscent of a post from last September, where we debated the likelihood of returning to a restaurant if the food quality and/or service was lacking. To read that post, click HERE. I argued that I'd be hard pressed to revisit a restaurant at which I received lackluster service and a great meal, but would give a restaurant a second shot if I received great service and a less than stellar meal.

How about you? What are your biggest dining pet peeves? Would you give the restaurant I visited another chance on the basis of their food quality, chalking it up to an off-night on service)?

(An interesting aside is what diners consider acceptable for tipping. Our sister restaurant, Chez Daniel, had a lovely discussion about that on their blog, Bienvenue. To read: Tipping, Tipping, Tipping).