Monday, February 22, 2010

When Good Restaurants Go Bad

What happens when your favorite eatery makes a misstep? Complain to the manager?? Do you go back? Or just move on to more delicious pastures? This has recently happened to me and frankly I don’t know what to do. As a foodie and a customer I’m going to say forget them and move on. As a loyal fan of their other wise good dinners and creative cookery I’m tempted to stay on. However I am wondering about another goof up.
It’s a problem all of us foodies face at one time or another. Our favorite restaurants disappoint us . Food comes cold or greasy. Waitstaff is snippy. The noise level isn’t what it used to be. What do we do? Move onto the next best thing and take our custom there? Write bad reviews? Tell friends and family not to go there either? That would be the proper thing to do yet it’s not always the right thing. Right now any business needs us and it would be foolish to leave a favorite place in the lurch, especially one that’s suffering during tough economic times. Besides it’s always difficult to find a new favorite.
The next step is what do you do? I think for myself I’ll just let the incident pass. I could easily chalk it up to a bad night and the fact that the food was old. This particular place, despite it’s location (and also celebrity cachet) has not been getting the business it used to receive in past years.. This small Village restaurant was not filled up on my last visit meaning certain ingredients and meat cuts have been there a long time. I’m hoping that on my next visit for Easter, everything will be just as it had been in the past with delicious food and fresh ingredients.

It’s a tough situation when a good restaurant goes bad. The best bet , I feel, is to give them a second chance. Maybe they were just having an off night. Maybe there was as light glitch in the preparation or refrigeration. Yet if it happens again then I know what to do. Leave. For good. There are no third chances in my book

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