Poppy,
Drew Langley is the current somm… He is pretty talented and experienced, and my experience is that his wine service is among the best in town. IIRC he was the 2nd somm. at Bastide, and has been at Providence for at least four years. I doubt he’d pour your wine to anyone else. In fact, he is a tad formal for my presonal preference, but everyone knows I’m very casual. The other night he poured us a glass of rose, but I’m sure it was from the restaurant. I don’t know what the circumstances were in your case, but I have been poured tastes of other people’s wine. In a couple of cases I know that they were sitting near us and saw that we were into wine. I’ve also had some pours of wines that other customers had left for the somm…
Too bad about your veggie experience. I will say that it SEEMS that chef has improved his red meat and vegetarian offerings over the last four years. during their first year or two, the place was much more one-dimensional. I think you have met our friends Chet and Bella. They are big diners and Bella (not Chet) is a vegetarian. Providence is one of her favorite places to go for a vegetarian tasting menu. I also sat in the chef’s room for lunch once with a vegetarian and the menu they received looked really good.
Charlie, I guess I figured Water Grill might have dropped off after Lefeve left. Which is why we have not been in a few years other than an occasional appie. Btw, which Leflaive did you have at Providence?
Sorry to hear about this Charlie. In your situation, I would place a phone call. A letter is too easy to ignore; a phone call is not. Even better than a phone call would be to discuss with the manager in person, but that would be a waste of your time. I posted about a nice meal I had at Providence a while back – I thought it was good, but overpriced – and I seem to recall you saying you had the same opinion ---- maybe it’s time for you to write them off if they don’t share your opinion when you let them know your feelings about the other night?
We have had several from Tasmania and from WA recently, and they have been the best we have ever had, and pretty much every bit as good as anything out there…
The various guests who also tried them (and been to France and had them there as well) would also attest to this. This is great for us now, as we finally can get a decent truffle fix…
Well Donato (the GM) and I talked on the phone for roughly half a hour on July 29th. Apparently he thought my complaint was in regards to the “cost” of the meal and that next time we should make it clear the amount of money we want to spend. After explaining to him our problem wasn’t with the cost of the meal, it was with the service he seemed to lighten up. I discussed the above and basically read from my email I had previously sent him. He told us he’d send some gift certificates for us to come back and try the food again
It is now August 15th with no gift certificates. I shot him an email on 8/11/2011 to see if per chance the address was incorrect. No reply to the email as of today 8/15.
Great service Providence! Based on all the other “service” horror stories I’ve heard about the restaurant, I’m curious how it ever got two stars.
How did I miss this thread… Charlie what a bummer! For that kind of coin I would expect better communication and dishes as per your request. I have been to providence twice now most recently in May of this year and I vow to never go back.
I went in May for a wine dinner a friend organized who had wine friends coming from out of state and shipped their high end wines prior to their arrival in LA. A car service picked me up with their wines still in shippers and transported me to Providence. I arrived at the restaurant 10 minutes prior to them opening and my driver carried the 6 pack shipper to the restaurant. He put the box on the floor in there entrance area and left. I realized at that point that the staff was having a meeting with Mr. Cimarusti at the bar area so I went ahead and opened the box and started seeing what wines were in there. As I was inspecting every high end bottle of Burgs/Champagnes Donato came (eyeing my bottles) and asked if I needed help and I politely said I’m ok and I was waiting for my friends to arrive. Then Mr. Cimarusti came over and rudely conveyed to me that this wasn’t my restaurant and I needed to take this box and move it elsewhere, mind you not one customer in the place. My mouth dropped!! Donato was bewildered and helped me carry the box into the bar area while I waited for my friends. I was blown away by this behavior and really wanted to leave but I stuck it out and said never again. While the food was good (nothing blew me away) I will never go back there again as there are too many other places here in town…
Personally, while I see the initial complaint as valid, I wouldn’t have been too bent about the final solution. In the the end you got a decent compensation and probably wouldn’t have been itching to run back and use them during the couple of weeks’ delay in getting them. Once Donato said he would get them to you, I doubt there was any chance that he was going to renegue.
Leah’s encounter with Michael/Chef/Owner is really out of character for him. We’re pretty familiar with him and know a bunch of others that are as well. He is typically held in regard for his graciousness and approachability.
I don’t doubt your recount in the least. Only that I know a dozen others that really like him. I’ve spoken with him at almost every meal for years and he’s been really genuine every time. There’s no excuse for being rude even once, but in respect to going back or for others considering it, there is a difference between someone being routinely disagreeable and someone having an anomalous moment.
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