I went to Chive for Restaurant week last night and had a very bad experience service wise. The food was great, but the service spoiled the dinner. It wasnt the waiter, he was great. It was everything else. First they lost our reservation for 4, which was no big deal since there was NOBODY else in the restaurant. But somehow they made a big deal out of it until they eventually sat us. Then after sitting for 10 minutes, the Manager comes to us and says they found the reservation but asked us to move tables. Once again no big deal, but why did it matter? NOBODY was there. We ate, food was great, then we get the bill. The menu stated they ""recommend"" a 20% tip, yet the bill didnt recommend anything, it was automatically charged. I didnt care much since that is what I usually tip anyways, I just dont like the fact that I didnt have a choice. But this is the worst part. The tip was above the tax line which was odd. I got out the cell phone calculator to find that they taxed the 20% tip! Are you kidding me? This is not only illegal, but is totally unethical. I will be reporting this to the City today as this must amount to thousands of dollars if this has hapenned to every customer that has eaten there. I expressed all of my displeasures to the Manager and she seemed to not really care much. Great food but Ill never go back there after that. Ive had better service at Applebees.
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