I ordered a chai latte to go with my meal. After 15 minutes my meal arrived, but not the chai latte. I asked if it was ready and they said they had forgotten it and would make it right away. Another 10 minutes went by and I asked again and was told by the manager they are making it right now. I waited another 10 minutes and I was told they are still making it.
By that time, my meal was finished and the hot items I was saving to have with the chai latte were cold.
I spoke with the manager and they rudely stated the chai latte was already prepared and that it did not matter if it was late because at least it was prepared.
I explained that having to wait 30 minutes for a chai latte and ask three times was the root of the issue, not if it was finally done or not.
The manager was very defensive and rude. They did not seem to have a clue that it was a problem, first, that a basic chai latte could not be made on time; second, that a customer had to ask three times for it over more than 30 minutes; or finally that the overall customer experience at the restaurant was negatively affected by all of this and just made even worse by an attitude of rudeness and lack of awareness or accountability.
I will not be taking my family back here to this location. This occurred today on this morning shift.
I would ask that the managers in charge of the shift manager educate that shift manager about basic customer service, including
—taking ownership for mistakes,
—being committed to correcting these mistakes to improve the customer experience, and
—to avoid under all circumstances, arguing with the customer or trying to defend poor service.
Additionally, they were only five customers in the entire restaurant when I arrived and placed the order. So this cannot be written off as during business heavy hours.
There were 80% of the tables free and available to sit out but 90% of these tables were dirty. We had to clean a table in order to sit down.
Clearly management of this shift is beyond the skill and experience level of that shift manager, and it led to a dirty environment, despite having very few customers.
And the entire customer experience was made all the worse by poor service, incompetent ability to prepare basic items, and an inability to provide customer first positive and friendly service.
What a disappointment.