Earlier this week, I wrote about my recent terrible experience at Brandt's Cafe in University City. I also posted a review on Yelp.com.
I received an email today that I had a message on my Yelp account. I logged on, and found that the Executive Chef, Ben Welch, had responded to my review.
This is what he had to say:
As the Chef at Brandt's I take full responsibility for your less than appropriate meal on cinco de mayo. I had all intentions of trying to provide a somewhat "authentic" soft taco ( just providing onion, cilantro and lime). Unfortuanetly in this case it didn't go over well. I will make no excuses for the fat on the chicken or the "fragile" tortillas. We failed you miserably on those. I assure you that i took your comments (left on the bill, those repeated from the server and your blog) very seriously. Everything was corrected abruptly.
The menu has changed and for that matter gotten smaller with the hopes of providing diners a meal that can focus more on quality than quantity.
I hope that this meal won't keep you from returning to give the menu a chance. We at brandts take blogs, reviews and/or comments in general very serious as we continue our "rebirth" of Brandts. hope you understand that ours is a work in progess and we will continue to make mistakes but will do everything possible to listen to our guests to provide this community with the type of establishment that everyone knows and expects from Brandts.
thanks for your time and consideration,
Ben Welch
Executive Chef
Brandt's Cafe
_____________________________________
I appreciate that he responded and took ownership of their shortcomings - that, to me, says a lot about how they want to be perceived. But they stopped short of reimbursing me for the money I wasted on an extremely sub-par meal, or offering some sort of restitution. So, they're customer service is still lacking.
I think it's a smart thing to realize the power of social media, and how fast word of mouth can spread with help from blogs, online reviews, Twitter, Facebook, etc.
A couple things:
1. I liked the old menu, BECAUSE it had many choices. I will miss their Mediterranean platter, their variety of salads, and many other items. A smaller menu does not mean that the food gets better - case in pont, my latest dining experience. I'd never had a problem with the food from the old menu - it was phenomenal. Every season, they would add great new dishes, and never bombed. Why fix it if it ain't broke?
2. I had hoped they would address the fact that when a customer states that they've just had the most awful dining experience at their restaurant, the wait staff would be more proactive in solving the problem. While I'm not sure if my waiter was new, he didn't take any action until I spelled it out for him. And the action he took was to shield any future customers from that awful experience, but that does nothing for me...
3. I still think I should have been comped. Yes, it was a measly $7.89, but in this economy, every penny counts.
Will I go back to Brandt's? If they offered me a free meal and proved to me that it's worth going back, I will give them a chance. Otherwise, I'll think back fondly on all of the good meals I had there, and chalk it up to another good restaurant bites the dust.
