During the holiday season, I brought an out of town friend to Joel?s for dinner. I am sad to say how embarrassing the entire experience was for me.\r
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We arrived for an early dinner at 6:00 pm and were informed the Wine Steward was late coming to work, so we would be required to wait to order our wine until he arrived. We waited over 50 minutes for him to arrive to work. We were informed that nobody else, including the management, could serve the wine. Once our tardy Wine Steward came to work, we were able to proceed. There were 3 of us in our party and we ordered appetizers and entrees. The appetizers came in a timely manner; however the entrees came over a staggered period of 45 minutes. Thus, the food was cold once all entrees had been received. After the entrees, we ordered our deserts. 2 of the 3 deserts never came to our table.\r
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After this experience we asked to speak with the manager. After 20 minutes of waiting we asked to speak with the manager again. 10 minutes later he finally came over to the table and after we explained our experience asked ?What do you expect me to do about it?? and then asked ?I suppose you expect something for free??.\r
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I was very surprised and embarrassed (in front of my guest) to receive such a rude response from the management. Additionally, the meal was only fair in quality. This level of performance would be unacceptable for a more economical restaurant, but was shocking for a restaurant of Joel?s supposed level.\r
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I have dined at restaurants all over the world, but the Joel?s experience must rate as one of the worst dining experiences I have encountered.\r
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Additionally, I found a review of this restaurant by ?I?m confused...? posted by nikki24 on 03/12/2007 to be inappropriate as that individual had not yet dined at Joel?s.
Pros: Ambience, Wine List, Trendy Scene
Cons: Service, Overall Dining Experience
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