Shari

http://www.ristorantecarmelo.com/

What a mess and what a terrible way to start the new year! For 10+ years, we have been eating at Carmelo's. Not because it is exceptional, but because it is in a nice location and the food was affordable. Things changed this New Year's Eve. Carmelo himself called us MULTIPLE times before our dinner and SCREAMED and hung up on us. Trust me, when I say he was making ZERO sense. We all were coming (a party of 15) and we all were on time. After his erratic behavior, we only STILL dined there because we had no other options in New Year's Eve. We arrived and he apologized much like an abusive husband. Anyhow, dinner was GOD awful. The food was clearly pasta from a box with some canned sauce. We waited 1 1/2 hours to receive our food. After trying to digest this sorry excuse for Italian food, we were ready to leave. As we were figuring out our check, he came to our table and started yelling at us that we were to leave because he had other people waiting for the table. Ummm. Yeah. Give us ONE second after your abuse and CHILL. He screamed. Made zero sense. threatened not to give us back our deposit, and he also overcharged us for CRAP that I could have eaten at a diner for 1/8 of the price. I have NEVER received this kind of CRAP from a restaurant owner. He is a sorry excuse for a human being. The food and restaurant is a joke. Oh, and clean the FRIGGIN restrooms!

Dukey

You people really are in a mess down there.

SusanSDG

What was he calling and screaming about before the dinner?

janisj

must be some more to the story. Unless he was having some sort of psychotic episode -- why would he be calling you and screaming before you dined there??

I'm w/ Susan - what was he screaming about on the phone?

fdecarlo

1. What Dukey said. Why on Earth would he call and scream at you before you even got to the restaurant? Just bizarre.

2. Deposit? Are you saying you paid this guy a deposit on your meal? Also bizarre.

3. In New Orleans there's no such thing as "no other options", even on New Year's Eve.

Really, it sounds like all parties involved were either drunk or are several bricks short of a load.

NJriverchick

There are two sides to every story...would love to hear the other side.

I addition, IMHO, I think people generally only scream at you when there is some reason to do so.

Waldo

Hey Shari- I plain just don't believe you.

tzarinna

*waits for a reponse*

NeoPatrick

I agree that the strangest part of this story is that he had some reason to call and scream before they went! Frankly if that happened to me, I'd stay home and eat Chef Boyardee out a can before I'd set foot in the place. If they screamed at you MULTIPLE TIMES before you went (and I DO suspect there had to be a reason), how on earth would you expect decent treatment once you got there?

But meanwhile there ought to be a law against rating any restaurant for dinner on either New Year's Eve or Valentines' Day. Even the finest restaurant is likely to fall apart on those two "amateur nights".

gail

Any chance in the 10+ years you have been dining there some sort of misunderstanding developed between you are Carmelo that would have prompted ill will on either side?

OO

No shows on New Years or Valentines or Mothers Day are a serious issue when reservations are tighter than a drum and more people want to be accommodated than possibly can be. With a reservation for 15, if there was a phone call beforehand, I'm sure that's what it was in reference to. But screaming about the need to cancel if you change your mind or the need for everyone to be on time? Nuh-uh not without some lip going both ways first. And a deposit on said reservation is not uncommon on those holidays. If you don't show, the money is kept and that's made clear from the outset--which may be another reason for the phone calls before dinner. It's a set amount per person and your credit card will be charged if you don't show. But once you've shown and eaten and paid...they can't keep that money! What the heck was that about??

And...I am sure they had a back up with other reservations waiting for those 15 seats if you lingered longer than average. Yes you paid for them, but they are not yours for the entire night, not in the US, anyway. How long were you there? If you lingered and lingered, you created a domino effect, with reservations until the end of the evening impacted and those people threatening to leave if they don't get seated!

AnnMarie_C

(OO, did you see the thread on hotel coffee makers? Am very curiuos to know what your take is--any insider info???)

OO

When I read it AnnMarie, the last comment on the thread was "We want FREE coffee!!!". I happened to be sitting in my DH's office playing on the internet while he worked (Alamo Bowl day and we were going) and just prior, some je--uh--guest got put through to him who was demanding he arrange transportation for him to the Alamo Bowl from the hotel. ("WHAT...there is no SHUTTLE??") and dh used the sir word and went to talk to one of the cabbies parked out front. I think I'm reaching critical mass in the hospitality industry and it's not even my job. LOL As I was relaying the above story to a friend, I commented that I'd last about two minutes in his job, then someone would be dead and I'd be in jail.

Seamus

OO -
We would send you freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, along with a tape of P_M's best yodels.
;-)

fdecarlo

> And a deposit on said reservation is not uncommon on those holidays. If you don't show, the money is kept and that's made clear from the outset <

Wow, I learn something new every day. I've been going to restaurants for 35+ years and have never paid a deposit in advance, except for super large groups (wedding receptions, large banquets etc). Is this really common practice for a dinner party of 15?

follow_your_bliss

I suspect there was a problem with the credit card used to pay the deposit.

Cassandra

"Call for Gordon Ramsay. Call for Gordon Ramsay."

Even if Shari's whole party were a collection of pompous boors, ya don't have it out with them in a crowded restaurant in front of other guests. Would like to hear the details, but obviously something happened -- possibly with fault on both sides but still up to the management to manage.

Cassandra

And PS: Why on earth would Shari go to the trouble of posting a link to the restaurant she hates?

Shari

We sure could have used Gordon Ramsay on that night. People, feel free to make your judgments. I have traveled the world, and am only known as polite and respectful. The reason I posted this because it was the MOST insane thing I have ever witnessed. (Nobody was drunk in our party. We are not heavy drinkers. Nobody was rude, either.) Carmelo is psychotic. He CALLED us prior to the dinner and started screaming and nothing was making sense. It was like a person having a total meltdown and gibberish was all that was coming out of his mouth. He said that our reservations were for 6:30. (At this point it was about 5:45.) We thanked him and said we would see him at 6:30. he THEN FREAKED out and yelled that he was so busy and we had to promise to leave my 8:30. Stuff like that but really creepy. He would literally hang up the phone (as we were saying,"Why are you upset? You must have the wrong number. Everything is fine.") We all went to the restaurant and his wife and our waitress apologized to us for his unprofessionalism. He came to the table and said he was sorry and stressed. We all said would would forgive and forget, but also said that it was quite disturbing and odd. We sat there until 7:50 without a crumb. No problem. We were happy to be around friends. We got our food (and it was terrible--truly boxed pastas and canned sauces)and he came back to the table and yelled, "You MUST leave my 9am." We pointed out that we were finished and that it was 8:25. He yelled that it was NOT 8:25. It was. His wife told him to chill out because he was causing a scene to SUBDUED customers for no reason. This continued for 5 minutes. (Carmelo running between the front and the back and freaking out and threatening to charge our card extra.) At this point, we told him we would spread the word because NO restaurant owner should behave like this. I don't care WHAT night it is. The man is the craziest person I have ever met. Feel free to "doubt" what I am saying. Waste your money and dine there. See for yourself. This is a travel forum and I thought I would share my first negative review of a place.

OO

fdecarlo, yes it is common practice in high demand restaurants that may well sell out weeks to a month or more in advance of the holidays I mentioned, and especially for a group that size.

Click on the link Shari provided too. Although a group of 6 or more could eat off the regular menu, for less, they had a special New Years menu at $115 pp with patio dining with the promotion stating: "Enjoy the spectacular fireworks show while enjoying a delicious meal."

If they were knocking other reservations out by not showing, or by lingering long after the meal was finished, the restaurant would be out a fair amount of money per person. And who knows if he was "yelling" in the restaurant, really?? He might have been, chefs have been known to be volatile people, but when I also read about screaming into the phone earlier...I wonder if there isn't just a smidgen of exaggeration going on here.

Seamus...yes, but do they have free coffee in jail?

I'd like to hear the restaurant's version. Why doesn't someone email them? LOL