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A restaurant needs to be prepared for larger-than-normal crowds and the lunch and dinner rushes that come with lots of new people coming for the first time. |
 | By Andy Tarnoff   Publisher E-mail author | Author bio More articles by Andy Tarnoff |
| Published June 3, 2009 at 2:41 p.m. |
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Downtown Dining Week, of which OnMilwaukee.com is a sponsor, can be an awesome promotion. When a restaurant gets it right, like the lunch I had at Kil@wat on Monday, it has the power to bring in new customers and make them repeat patrons (see Maureen Post's review of our exquisite service here).
On the other hand, when a restaurant isn't set up to handle the event, things can go horribly wrong.
Today was such an experience. It was so bad that I won't even reveal the name of the restaurant, since it's not my job to help drive a place out of business.
The debacle unfolded from the moment we arrived, when the hostess seemed utterly confused despite our noon reservation (why take reservations if you can't accomodate them?). We sat for 15 minutes before anyone took our order, and waited 20 minutes between each of the three courses.
When our orders arrived, all separately, the team of several, equally-confused servers, had one of them wrong -- and was strangely adamant that she got it right. I won't reveal what we ate (since that would give away the restaurant), but the first course tasted like it came from Wendy's; the second burned dish tasted like it came from a company picnic. No one refilled our drinks until we asked, 40 minutes into our visit, and our dessert took an eternity to arrive, even though the place had largely cleared out.
This was not only the worst experience I've ever had at Downtown Dining Week; it was one of the worst I've had at a Milwaukee restaurant.
Downtown Dining Week can be so great, but a restaurant needs to be prepared for larger-than-normal crowds and the lunch and dinner rushes that come with lots of new people coming for the first time. Every year, I visit a few places that make me want to come back, and I tell my friends.
But every year, I visit a place that makes me never return -- and I tell my friends that, too.
I'm not sure if the restaurant list needs to be more selective for this week-long event that ends tomorrow, but if this was my only experience at Downtown Dining Week, I'd never give it another try.
Which would've been a shame. Most of the 40 places participating are delivering excellent food at an amazing price, and they're working incredibly hard to pull it off.
As I digest my sub-par lunch with my three co-workers who joined me today, we're all left with a bad taste in our mouths. A few places, unfortunately, are bringing down the reputation of an otherwise brilliantly executed event.
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25 comments about this article. Post a comment / write a review. |
Recent Talkbacks ...
Posted by Shorewoodian on July 29, 2009 at 11:22 a.m. (report)
I agree with the person who asked that this restaurant be named. Part of the role of this blog and of this site is to make Milwaukee a place that people want to visit. Without honesty there is no ability to trust the recommendations within. I strongly advise that the site take time to reconsider its decision to refrain from saying anything bad. That will prevent the restaurant from correcting its problems and in the long run will put potential diners at risk for a similar bad experience. Not good form to have this site turn into a propaganda piece for the retail establishments.
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Posted by MilwaukeeMichele on June 8, 2009 at 11:36 a.m. (report)
I totally agree with this blog. If a restaurant is going to sign on to do this, prepare your staff! If you think your staff is going to just "endure" the week while giving sub-par service, then a) don't do DTDW and b) maybe you should re-think your staffing choices. Personally, I love DTDW, not because it's amazingly cheap, but because it gives me an excuse to try a new place and try a wide sample of food they have to offer. Normally if I go out with my boyfriend, we'll maybe order one app and share it; a couple of entrees and hardly ever a dessert. During DTDW we can each get our own appetizer, our own entrees and our own desserts, which all lend themselves to sharing. This year I did Louise's (a co-worker's choice; it was awful, the lunch menu was pathetic and the service was rude and slow even though we were there late and there wasn't much of a crowd), and Capone's Grotto which I thought was fantastic (great service, delicious food - even though it may not be "authentic Italian" it was definitely yummy comfort food. And awesome Italian dressing!).
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Posted by Broner on June 5, 2009 at 12:14 p.m. (report)
I obviously didn't lay the sarcasm on thick enough (but that's okay, I had a big sarcasm miss myself earlier this week). I'm not scared of Milwaukee - I lived on the east side for 12 years. I just thought it was strange that bfer was blaming suburbanites for the poor service and food at some restaurants.
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Posted by OCMEX on June 5, 2009 at 12:03 p.m. (report)
Well Broner maybe I should do some of my own typing and explain that the suburbs have nothing to do with this. It's the people , maybe like yourself who are afraid of our fine city and only venture into downtown looking for a deal. Try patronizing some of these and the other great resturants more than once a year. I'm sure you will find that you have been missing out on the bigger picture, which is "Dining Out".
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Posted by alba on June 4, 2009 at 12:53 p.m. (report)
I also went to Kil@wat for dinner on Tuesday. The food was good but the service below average. Kil@wat has 2 beers on tap. They told me the keg just ran out right after I ordered the first one. When I switched to the second one that keg also ran out when she tried to pour it, and bartender gave me the idea that they weren't going to swap out the kegs for full ones any time soon. At that point they were 0 for 2 and some bars would have offered a free bottle of something else. I really wouldn't care if they simply installed a new keg in the next 5 minutes.
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