Burns My Bacon: Excuses

Apparently some restaurants are better with their words than with their food and service. This weekend, my girlfriend and I went to a place on the beach with a great view for a casual dinner. We got our seats on the deck, got some sub-par cocktails, and looked over the menu. We picked the “casual” section of the restaurant, so most of the food was sandwiches and fried food, which was exactly what we were looking for.

Enter the waitress: clearly already frazzled by a section of six people. Before taking our orders, she explained, “we want to let you know right now that the food comes out fresh as it is made, so she may get her meal before you get yours.” I’ve heard it before; that’s fine. We ordered fries, chicken tenders, cheesesteak pizza roll things, and soup.

After 30 minutes, I realized that they are so clever at Coconut Cove that they’ve figured out how to have an excuse for the food and service before it’s even ordered. If you set people up to expect a wait for “fresh food,” they can’t be disappointed, right?

Nevermind the fact that just about every item we ordered is thrown into a fryer for a matter of minutes, then taken out. Nor the fact that my soup came in a to-go cup, after the rest of the meal (they must have JUST caught the crab and shrimp). Nevermind the fact that I couldn’t have  had more than one sip of the soup and when the waitress was told it wasn’t very good, her response was “you’ll have to try our other ones some other time.” Finally, nevermind the fact that even though all the meals “come out fresh,” half of the food was COLD.

Apparently the people at this restaurant believe that operating under the facade of “fresh food” will bring them good business. I really have no tolerance for making up excuses, and the fact that they felt the need to create an excuse before the meals were even ordered burns me up more. If you own a restaurant and your food or service sucks — own up to it. Don’t come up with a fake reason why it’s not great. Good riddance.

(Photo: corporatelifecoach)

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2 comments

  • erica June 7, 2012  

    the funniest part is that pizza and fries aren’t even “Fresh” food.

  • snebbu June 7, 2012  

    Don’t forget the wings and the soup! unless they were plucking the damn bird!

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