Disappointing experience at Providence in Los Angeles, w/ worse service a month after!

Epicurean Exploits - Food and Recipes
1

Just wanted to get the board’s opinion on how to react on this recent restaurant experience.

A few of the burg guys and I got together at Providence in Los Angeles for dinner last thursday. The typical menu has the option for 3 tasting menu’s. A 5 course, 9- course at $125 and a “chef’s tasting” which is typically 13 courses at $175. We opted for the last option and prepared for our meal which is typically 9 courses of meat/seafood then one cheese and 3 dessert (why anyone would need 3 is beyond me). The restaurant was aware of one of the diet restrictions by one of the guys of “no food with a central nervous system” and have taken care of him before when we’ve dined there previously. He gets food that works with his diet, we get food that has no restrictions.

They also offered a “winter truffle” option from Australia as a special which we did not ask to partake in

Two issues (which I thought were pretty big issues in service and communication)

The somm was setting up our flights and along the 5th course let’s us know that he will be bringing the final 2 savory courses our with our red burgundy. Doing some quick calculations of the dishes, I noted that would leave us with 7 savory courses. I confirmed with the waiter that we were on the 5th course and asked why we were only doing a total of 11 courses if we were doing the “Chef’s Tasting”. The waiter stated that he took the liberty to substitute courses for a black truffle supplement. Mr. Curry and I were both unamused by this revelation as I think if you are ever going to do a reduction of expected courses you should at least inform them diners prior to the service of the food so they could make decisions right? What made it worse was the fact that they grated the black truffle with what looked like a cheese grater and all the truffle flavor was either completely lost or they had initially very little flavor (no offense to our Australian brethren here, but those winter truffles were nowhere near as good as the ones from the northern hemi).

Second issue: For a seafood restaurant that specializes in fish, we were served no fish. In fact we were served miniscule portions of shellfish, some that still didn’t conform with our dining buddy’s diet anyways so he was left wanting on certain courses. They decided that since his diet was there, we were to follow his restrictions on the menu. Another thing I wish they confirmed with us opposed to telling us at around course 6 when I was curious when we were going to be served some fish!

I just felt that at $350 a person after corkage/tax/tip we should be entitled so some information on what we are dining on, especially when they move away from the norm of the menu to our disappointment. Am I being picky by being annoyed by the lack of communications? The courses in fact weren’t all that great and I thought we would have had a much better experience if the menu was done without any substituions that were not asked by our party. I’ve left that restaurant before at half the price with a much better dinner with more/tastier food.

This isn’t the first time we’ve had an odd communication problem. After doing a 7-8 course meal last time, we were discussing how much we loved Burrata at the table. A waitress overhears it and asks “we have a burrata dessert, how bout I bring one out for the table to share?”. When we got the bill, she charged us for the dessert!?

Otherwise, apart from what I thought was a massive disconnect in communication, the wine service and standard service were spot on.


on the otherhand, we saw John and Mary there celebrating their 10th anniversary! Congrats :smiley:.

2

Hmmm…for that type of coin, I would expect 1st class service especially from a restaurant where reputation means everything. It seems all of the confusion could have been mitigated with simple communication. I’ve never been to a restaurant where courses were decreased in a tasting menu, in fact, almost always a restaurant will bring out something extra. IMHO, service is equally important as the food quality and it’s CS that keeps me as a customer cuz there are hundreds of restaurants competing for our dollars. I would email the owner and managing partners to try to make your experience whole again. Apart from that, I don’t know if you have any other options except to never go back and give them bad reviews on all the food websites you can find. Plus, I’m sure you’ll write about it on your blog. Sucks dude, especially at that price.

As an aside, I’ve never heard about your friend’s food restriction. What’s the logic behind it? Just curious.

3

I can’t believe you guys let that go while still at the restaurant, honestly. I would have made a pretty significant stink, and without question you need to talk to the manager and see what is offered, as they should have discounted each of your bills, or, now, they can send refunds. It’s a service industry - they failed.

4

I really wanted to, but I was talked down from it by some of the other members at dinner. I’m debating writing an email/ letter to them but one of the guys loves the place and they know him, so I don’t want it to impact his future dining experiences.

5

Just his moral standards for eating things with brains.

6

Bad job on the restaurant’s part. They should not be deciding things for you unless they want to, as a gift, substitute a black truffle course(s) but shouldn’t alter the number of courses or cost of the dinner.

I’ve seen them grate black truffle like that both in France and the US, so that wouldn’t bother me.

7

To what extent do you think would writing an email, politely and non-confrontational (I assume), impact your friend’s future dining experience? I’ve done it on a couple of occassions to 2 mid-level, but vey popular local restaurants here, and the chef’s/GMs took it upon themselves to thank me for doing so and committed to making sure that my next dining experience was better.

Regarding the cheese grater, I am with you that it shouldn’t be used. I’ve not had Australian truffles, but I can only assume that even then, actual truffle shavers should have been used. Even small restaurants that I’ve been to here in NYC use truffle shavers.

8

I would send a polite letter or e-mail. I’ve done it a couple times and found that GMs etc at top-quality places are eager to please and remedy customer concerns. Give the restaurant a chance to make it right – I bet they will, and I don’t think in a million years it will negatively effect your friend’s future experiences. Just lay out the facts in the letter, say you were disappointed, and say that you thought the GM would like to know so that future disappointing experiences can be prevented.

9

I have a rather jaundiced eye about most of these types of posts, as they often are more about the diners’ shortcomings and lack of experience rather than a bad job on the part of the restaurant. Your experience, based on your summary, was a bad job on the part of the restaurant. Rather than email, I’d call or meet with the manager. What you described is unacceptable. Especially by a restaurant with as lofty a reputation as Providence.

10

I’d put it the way you did here (in person, phone or email, whatever). It certainly sounds like they screwed up and at that level, they should have at least informed you and more likely not made those decisions at all.

11

I think you should suck it up because I was only 2 hours away and you didn’t tell me to just keep driving and meet you there rather then me spending the night watching Charlie’s Angels on HBO at the Lompoc Holiday Inn Express. [middle-finger.gif]

12

I enjoy Providence and have had some great meals there; but I’ve also had some meals where there seemed to be execution issues/communication issues. At the price point you’re discussed, you should have an “oh my god” kind of dining experience. To the extent it falls short due to problems on the restaurant’s part, it’s worth mentioning to them in a polite, just the facts kind of way.

Bruce

13

Wow, I guess our meal that night went better than yours, though they do know Mary well. We ordered the five-course, wihich was on “special”, then supplemented in three more courses. It was all really good.
Thanks for the white burg tastes. Obviously they went well with the early courses. Hopefully Drew brought you a glass of the 01 Pichon la Lande, as we requested.
I would email Donato (GM/Partner) and Michael (Chef/Partner). I find them very approachable, especially MC, and they are both concerned with the restaurant’s performance. The tricky part about doing so, even when you are correct, is that it is just reality that criticism is not always taken well. Right or wrong, one does have to be careful if one does plan on going back.
I would be complimentary in part and make sure they know that you are not writing them off or looking for specific compensation. I would also mention all of your points but highlight the most indisputable issues. For example. I don’t know that a critique of the truffle grating carries much weight. Perhaps most people would prefer a standard shaver, but there is no doubt that chef is competent and has decided upon the practice. I can also see the rationale behind the idea of not eating animals with a central nervous system, but there is a bit of challenge in knowing where a squid or shrimp fall along that line. Even though one would hope the restaurant would grasp what each diner desires, it isn’t a shock that they had a mis-step.
There are two clear complaints which seem the least defendable, and most worthy of complaint. First, that they wouldn’t serve a different menu to you and the “restricted diner”. I know for a fact that they can do a veggie menu for someone at the same table as someone else with an unrestricted menu. Secondly that they would reduce your number of courses without consulting you, even if they did intend to substitute in a “premium” course. Unless you instructed them to just cook for you, you should have been asked.

14

He could have a feeding frenzy on members of this wine forum!

15

Stayed here earlier in the week. It’s a very nice property.

Charlie, I emailed http://tocquevillerestaurant.com/ in NYC after a bad experience. We’ve eaten here multiple times, but this time took out of towns friends. Service was awful. My e mail response (very nice of them) was to say they were sorry. I would have been happy with a next time you come in, the first round is on us response. The coldness of the I’m sorry put the place on my s… list.

16

Hey john,

You and mary always get treated right :p.

My chief complaints are what you highlighted, everything isn’t really a complaint, just something I noted.

I’ll shoot them an email. I’m not looking for compensation but just peeved that spending that much money results in a poor dining experience.

Btw, drew mentioned the 91 but forgot to bring it :frowning:. Glad you enjoyed the 77!

17

[quote="Charlie FuBtw, drew mentioned the 91 but forgot to bring it :frowning:. Glad you enjoyed the 77![/quote]

Mary knows MC and Donato from their days at Water Grill which she calls on. (BTW, have you tried that recently? I haven’t, but heard they are actually doing fine since Amanda [who looked mediocre on TopChef] took over the kitchen.)
I guess I have a (minor) issue now too. Not that it’s a big deal, or that you fella’s didn’t seem to have plenty of vino. But we were maxed out and left at least a third a bottle of the Pichon and instructed him to have a glass and pour some for you. C’est la vie, it was actually very good, but not great, so you didn’t miss a show-stopper.

18

I went to watergrill last year (early) and was pretty disappointed by the food. Also took them one hour to bring out the raw seafood platter.

Come to think of it, wu was there too… Connection!?! :stuck_out_tongue:

19

I’ve been to Providence once with someone who knew the sommelier well. They did a veggie tasting menu for me on the fly… it was good, but not great. The killer for me though was that the sommelier poured us wine from other people’s bottles. These were people we did not know and I’m sure they would not have been happy to have shared their wine with us. If I ever went there again (not likely), I would never let wine I brought out of my sight. This was probably 5 1/2 years ago, so I don’t know if that female sommelier is still there or not.

20

That’s called serving wine “family style.” [snort.gif]

Bruce