There was a group of 6 of us, in our late 20's, that chose Charlie's for the good reputation. It was a Sunday evening&the restaurant was probaly 25% full. Being that it wasn't a busy night, I would've expected more attentive service.Instead, our waiter was inattentive & was even CONDESCENDING. A person in our party is pretty knowledgeable about wine and was pretty inquistive with the waiter about their wine selection, as any wine enthusiast would be. I asked the waitier about their Kobe &American beef. The waiter seemed to think that my curiosity about this was unusual & commented,""Are you guys in the restaurant business?"" I said NO, why? He replied, ""well you & that guy asking about the wine just seem to know alot."" Do we have to be in the business to know about wine & food? Or is it possible that we are knowledgeable patrons that want to know what they are getting for their money? It was very insulting to me that he didn't seem to think it was possible that us younger people could know that much about food& wine unless ""we were in the business."" When I got the Kobe beef, I was unhappy with quality (the marbling was concentrated in areas rather than marbled well throughout the steak) & metnioned this to the waiter. He responded rudely, that it couldn't have been bad quality. So, I complained to the mgr about how unhappy i was with the service & just as I was speaking with him, the chef happened to walk up. I said how I felt about the Kobe & the chef responded very defensively. I said that I've gotten very good quality Kobe from Cut in Beverly Hills& he snapped back that he gets his Kobe beef from there too. Fine, but he could've at least acknowledged that maybe there was merit to what I was saying. I can at least say that the rest of the steaks we ordered (filet, rib eye) we're great quality. I believe that alot of restaurants are forgetting that the high prices they charge should not only be accompanied by high quality food, but by great service as well.
Pros: nice ambience
Cons: BAD SERVICE, defensive attitudes
more