A Brisbane restaurant, Casa Flemenco has earned itself some unfavourable publicity by rudly replying to a patron who had emailed through some feedback after dining there.

Insulted by the restaurants response, Lorraine Pacy forwarded her original email along with the restaurants reply to several friends who in turn emailed it on to other friends which has resulted in the email gaining international notoriety. The Courier Mail has even covered the story!

We received the email this morning - read Lorraine’s feedback followed by the restaurants response below. I don’t understand why the restaurant responded so immaturely as Lorraine was providing valid, constructive criticism.

From: lorraine_pacey@hotmail.com
To: casaflamenco_restaurant@hotmail.com
Subject:
Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2008 11:18:04 +1100

Hi

I saw your ad in the city news last week and dined with 8 friends last
night. I wanted to pass on some feedback regarding our experience at
your restaurant. As someone who has experience in restaurant marketing
I applaud your concept of 50% off the total bill - it will certainly
get people in the door to try the restaurant. However, if you are
going to retain them as regular customers who will not only return to
the restaurant but tell all their friends and family to go to your
restaurant you need to make the first visit memorable. Here are my
suggestions;

1. Staff. We were the only table dining last night so the fact
that there was only 1 staff member working should not have been a
problem. The waiter was a sweet, friendly guy but he was not properly
trained in waiting. He was unable to explain the menu when questioned.
He did not regularly check back on the table to take drink orders, he
left the menus on the table after we had ordered and didn’t bring out
the cutlery before dessert arrived. He was obviously a little nervous
which didn’t help the cause either.
2. Food. The food was good, we enjoyed it but it was not enough
and it took far too long to arrive. We had ordered the chef’s tapas
selection which the waiter said was good. It was good. However, it
took over 1 hour to arrive on our table after we had ordered and the
dishes that were meant to be served hot were cold by the time they arrived.
Also, I would consider paying $36 or so for the size and contents of
the platter brought out but if I was paying $55 I would have been very
disappointed (in fact I think I would refuse to pay!). I had assumed
that the ‘chef’s tapas selection’ would also have included at least a
salad and some breads for the price so we didn’t order any. After we
had devoured the food in a very short time as we were starving we
decided not to ask for breads or salad as we assumed they would take
too long to arrive also. We actually assumed that the platters
brought out were going to be followed by a second platter based on the
quoted price on the menu. Really, for $55 I would be expecting that
platter to be supplemented by 1 salad, some bread and perhaps some
olives, calamari and prawns also. We also ordered dessert (cr?me
brulees and cr?me
caramels) because we were still hungry after the tapas- the cr?me
caramels were okay but the cr?me brulees were lumpy and inedible.
Again, if we were paying $15 each for them we would have been very
disappointed. I was disappointed enough paying $7.50 for them. Also,
the coffee was brought out after dessert was served and was not good coffee.

3. Value for Money was awful. We ended up paying around $30 per
person for our meal which was okay for what we got. However, should we
have been paying full price I would not have been happy at all. There
simply was not the variety or amount of food served for the money that
the menu quoted.

I am afraid that my experience at Casa Flamenco was very disappointing.
I am not seeking any recompense here - I think you have a good
concept in the restaurant and your website shows you are passionate
about what you do. The fact that you are offering diners a 50%
discount to try the restaurant out shows that you are keen to attract
new customers. I do hope you take my feedback into account and use it
constructively to improve your customers’ experiences. You are doing
the right things in your marketing to attract customers. However, the
key is to retain these new customers and keep them and their friends
coming back for more. To do this you will need to improve your service
levels and your value for money substantially from what my friends and I experienced last night.

Thank you for your time,

Lorraine Pacey

The restaurants reply:

From: casaflamenco_restaurant@hotmail.com
To: lorraine_pacey@hotmail.com
Subject: RE:
Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2008 19:50:38 -0500

Dear Lorraine,

your are an idiot we dont need your feedback.

Technorati Tags: restaurant feedback, brisbane, casa flamenco, brisbane restaurants

I’m a bit behind with this story as it came out last week but the Courier Mail  published an article regarding online restaurant reviews and food blogs in Australia.

For obvious reasons (being that Gold Coast Food Guide is a restaurant and food review site) I always take interest in reading these sorts of articles and it’s always the same thing. The chefs/restauranteurs lament the fact that ‘unprofessional’ and ‘unqualified’ people comment and review their restaurant. Often they come out saying something like ‘Just because you like food doesn’t mean you are qualified enough to review food’ which always shocks me because people that frequent restaurants are normal ‘unqualified’ people. Sure people who dine out may not know what molecular cuisine is and they may never have even seen a real truffle before but I don’t think you need to be a certified food journalist to know when you’ve received bad service or substandard food.

I think restaurant review websites and blogs provide a balance to what you read in bought food guide books or what has been written up by a resaurant reviewer in a newspaper. In the past I’ve visited restaurants after reading a raving review only to be disappointed by either poor service or the food wasn’t as great as it was described. Other times a restaurant that has only received a mediocre score I think is fantastic.

Everyones opinion is different and a restaurant who received a 13/20 score in a food guide may have been having a bad night when the food critic visited and a restaurant who received 16/20 might six months down the track now have an ego and has become complacent. Online restaurant reviews share many peoples different opinions allowing people reading the reviews to see an overall trend. I seriously doubt that one or two negative reviews amongst many positive reviews will stop a person dining there.

Review websites and blogs help restaurants get noticed.  That small unassuming neighbourhood restaurant might be making unbelievable food and if a restaurant has received negative feedback well at least they know what people are unhappy about and can take steps to remedy the problems instead of wondering why they are losing patrons.

Technorati Tags: restaurant reviews, food blogs, review websites, gold coast, food guide, reviewers

This week, Brisbane’s Courier Mail came out with an article titled ‘Assessing Restaurant Standards’ which delves into the world of mystery dining.

Mystery dining is done by professional companies who restaurants hire to dine at their restaurant and then score their experiences. Lots of things are rated from service and quality of food to the state of the bathroom. Fine dining restaurants often employ mystery dining companies as they’re typically more cashed and often have hundreds of thousands or millions poured into them so they have a lot to lose if they go under up but smaller cafe’s and restaurants should do the same, even if it’s just asking some friends or acquaintances to report back (though they may not be as brutally honest as a professional company would be who has no personal connection with the restaurant.) Or by reading reviews written about them in the press, dining guides or on peoples blogs.

It’s so important for restaurants to get feedback about the customers dining experience so that they can act on issues straight away before it’s too late and they’re out of business. An article by chef Benjamin Christie states that restaurants established and trading have only a 30% chance of surviving the first 12 months and then less than a 5% chance of surviving 3 years.

Traditional marketing methods for restaurants are also losing their impact. Press ads, radio and TV are not only expensive but people are becoming so bombarded with advertising they’re tuning out. They’re also becoming more cynical of advertising and quickly recognise an advertorial or biased review written by a magazine or newspaper which a restaurant has paid to have an ad in. Word of mouth and publicity is more important than ever for a restaurant. A real, non-biased review will hold more credibility than any paid for advertisement ever will.

So even though complaints from customers, negative feedback from a mystery diner or a bad review can hurt the feelings of a restaurateur, it’ll hurt a lot less than having to close and never realising what went wrong.

Technorati Tags: gold coast, foodblog, customers, complaints, mystery dining, restaurant marketing, brisbane restaurants 

The restaurant industry is highly competitive. According to Restaurant & Catering Australia, low profit margins coupled with a lack of business skills and experience by the owners sees many restaurants, cafe’s and other food businesses quickly come and go.

Why is it that one restaurant can be positively bustling, while the one next door remains completely empty? What makes a restaurant one of your ‘locals’ or favourites and what sorts of things do they do wrong that makes you vow never to return.

Often you can just walk past a new restaurant and sense it’s impending doom. The swanky new fitout and eager staff soon turns to placing an A-frame with a huge list of ’specails of the day’, two for one deals and then they start desperately modifying their menu to cover every conceivable cuisine.

I’ve compiled my own list from my experiences on what restaurants do wrong and I’ve listed some tips on what they could do right. I’d love to see your suggestions!

1. As soon as people arrive there should be someone to immediately come out and greet them or at least have a waitress say ‘Won’t be a moment’ as they walk past. Too many times have I been to a restaurant only to stand at the entrance awkwardly for several minutes unsure of whether we should wait to be seated or just seat ourselves while waiters walk past.

2. Give customers a menu straight away along with some water. It’s not a good start if customers have to flag you down right from the start just to get a menu or some water.

3. Once they’ve ordered you should give them a little something for nothing. My favourite indian restaurant always brings out pappadums with our drinks and some restaurants bring out bread and butter while fine dining restaurants often bringing out a pre dinner appertiser. Get people in the right mood with a warm up snack. How much is a couple of baguette slices and a bit of butter going to cost?

4. Take orders promptly - have staff trained to constantly scan the dining room. Even dedicate someone just to stand there and watch the dining room and meet and greet customers. How many times I’ve had to utter ‘excuse me’ as a waitress streaks past my table (most of the time they don’t hear you) or wave my arms in the air just to catch their eye. Sometimes it feels like I practically have to do a handstand just to get their attention! Restaurants lose potential $$$ if people find it too hard to order another round of drinks and it’s VERY annoying when the staff are clustered together behind the bar chatting ignoring the customers.

5. When staff deliver the mains they should double check to see if this is all that was ordered. Very often a side dish, rice, sauces etc aren’t delivered and then it’s annoying when you have to flag down a waiter yet again to get these delivered. Half the time you’re already halfway through your meal when it finally arrives.

6. Check how everything is going. If they’re not happy with their meal then do something about it quick eg if the steak is undercooked, it’s cold etc. If it’s all good then restaurants might get another drinks order or side order.

7. Another little freebie with the bill always goes down well. A couple of chocolate mints and refresher towel is great or even some fruit (Chinese restaurants are big on this.) 

I’ve forgiven average food but never bad service.  If restaurants and cafe’s really focused on giving great service then good word of mouth and loyal customers will soon flow. The staff will also get better tips!

Technorati Tags: Gold Coast, restaurant blog, gold coast food, restaurateur advice, restaurants fail,