jroth

Can't really believed this happened to us -- but: dined at Flex Mussels - E. 82 St. We ordered (besides food) 2 glasses of wine and I selected a Carneros Chardonnay shown on the menu @ $10 per glass. The bill comes and it shows charge for wine (and it has a different designation of the wine) - $28 -- $14 per glass. I call the waitress and she responds that they were out of the Carneros so she served us this wine which goes for $14. I note that she should have told me that she was changing the wine (and the price). But she is insisting I have to pay for that wine. I informed her I would not pay for that since I did not order it. Manager comes over - he sort of apologizes and says he would change the check. At this point I am a little upset for having to sort of argue with the waitress for a very clear serving mistake on their part. So - he brings the new check - and this time the charge for wine is $24 -- but the argue was out of me and I just paid it. Anyway - I sort of felt that not only should they have charged me the original $20 but thrown in some sort of appeaser - like cookies or whatever. Not a good way to run a business.

vjpblovesitaly

WOW is all i can say. That was really wrong on her part.

doug_stallings

The inexcusable part is that they made a substition in the first place without telling you. So I'm definitely with you on this. Depending on my mood, I would have made a bigger fuss or simply deducted the excess from the tip, which in this case would have been a well-deserved deduction since it was the server's fault.

Of course, the real inexcusable part is that the $14 wine was probably a $14 bottle of wine, so they could easily have made the amends and not lost you as a future customer.

Skiergirl

I hope you didn't leave the waitress a tip - I don't care how bad the economy is - she sounds like a b****. It's $8, it wouldn't have killed the restaurant to change the bill!

Gretchen

You should not pay for it. They are totally wrong--they subbed soething for more than you "contracted" for. Totally out to lunch restaurant. Be glad you are done with it.

Anonymous

I would have given up the argument sooner, not involving the manager, and just taken the $8 out of her tip.

Aduchamp1

They handled the whole situation poorly. I will never understand why businesses treat people in such a manner. A consultant I used to work with would often say, companies spend billions to get a customer and nothing to retain them.

On the other hand Joe, I am shocked you could not discern the Cameros from the expenisve imitation.

bspielman

So, uh, Joe, when will you be dining there next?

jroth

Thing is - we liked the food. A gazillion types of mussels, a good raw bar (oyster selection) and - a crab cake that actually had lots of crab meat in it - a rarity in this town where chefs think that bread crumbs are the main ingredient of a crab cake. And - yes - I left a normal tip - I just don't have the heart to take it out on a waitress who needs some help from management. It was the management that needs some help. But I did tell the manager that this incident will be seen all over the internet - so I'm living up to that promise.

suze

That is just plain WRONG & you should not have had to pay any more than $10 per glass like you ordered. I don't care what wine they decided to pour for you as an unannounced substitution.

I would not have given up the argument, until the bill showed $20 for two $10 glasses of wine like I ordered. I'm usually a very understanding customer (as I worked 'the business' myself for years) but that is just plain BS.

nytraveler

Once the waitress refused to fix the problem I would have just taken the money out of her tip - and told her why.

If you really like the food and go back make sure you get a different one - and do check on the wine when they bring it. the fact that the manager didn't handle it better makes me think this may be a ploy they are trying to up their profits.

suze

I also agree, it sounds like perhaps standard procedures at this place. To bring a more expensive wine than what you ordered. Wouldn't be the first time!

Centralparkgirl

The mistake is bad enough, but how they handled it is absolutely terrible. I would not have paid for it. Failing to disclose it was stupidity on the part of the waitress.

So, was the meal really good? I live in the neighborhood. LOL

DMG

It was the waitress' fault but the manager was really stupid too. Look at all the bad publicity he is receiving as a result of this.

annesherrod

I really go over the bill where DH never looks at it and just pays. I find errors about 1 in 10 times.

The fact that she said she would not change it would lead me to walking out without tipping her ....even a penny.

Did you leave a tip!

annesherrod

oh I see where you did leave a tip. YOu are generous.

The economy is rough, but that would be a hard lesson and one not easily forgotten by waitress.(if she reccieved NO tip)

mclaurie

I hope you will post this on menupages.com It's fine to get it out of your system here, but menupages will have lots more local customers who need to be alerted to this practice. This is just inexcusable and BAD customer relations.

Anonymous

And unlike some bad experiences, this one is likely to be repeated due to underlying sneaky restaurant practices. Thus IMHO it's more deserving of wide publicity, compared to rare or accidental situations.

Aduchamp1

Joe=

Do you think it was a form of age discrimination or they are equal opportunity abusers?

jroth

Adu - no - I do not think it was age discrimination. They do not discriminate against young people. Anyway- I note a number of comments about tipping this waitress and I am aware that she was not deserving of an adequate tip - but I have to tell you - these people are the low ones on the totem pole in restaurants and they shlep out a living. But a well run place gives careful training to its staff and one result of that - is how to handle this particular situation. Management was at fault here and spreading around this sort of thing on the internet is what they deserve.