Here is a discussion from 2006 regarding large reservations at Bistro 33. Other comments left in 2006 can be viewed on Bistro 33/2006 Reviews and more recent reviews can be viewed on the entry.
Extremely verbose but germane discussions
WARNING TO ALL READERS: On Wednesday evening a group of four girlfriends and I went to the Bistro for a friend's birthday with dinner reservations at 6:15. Arriving on time, the hostess told us there would be a 10-15 minute wait for a table outside; it took 25 minutes while a large party of 10+ and a party of 2 (all of whom arrived after us) were seated. Once at our table our waitress got us our drinks and took our order, however ONE AND A HALF hours later (at 7:45) after making 2 inquiries with a hostess who ignored us, we were told our dinner would be out immediately along with the manager per our request. When the salads, sandwiches, and my small appetizer of fries finally arrive along with the manager (Kurt) we explain how rude it was to have such a long wait for seating, attention, and food at 6pm on a Wednesday. Unapologetically he cuts my friend off with, "I don't get it? What are you trying to say?" What my party and I were trying to communicate was that we have never been treated so poorly in any other establishment in Davis and we deserved no such treatment; we will be pursing this matter through the proper channels. So therefore I would like to warn all readers that this second rate, poor excuse for a restaurant does not deserve your business, the management was rude, the service inept and I hope no one else will have to suffer such treatment. STAY AWAY. —LisaBeth
- WHAT MS. BETH FORGOT TO MENTION: I am a server at Bistro 33 and was working during the incident Ms. Beth has described. While I regret she did not enjoy her dining experience at Bistro, it seems a bit trifling that she has gone out of her way to leave out several key details in her comment, which I wish to clarify. To begin, when Ms. Beth's party arrived at Bistro we had our VIP table (overlooking the bar) prepared and we were ready to seat them immediately. However, upon arrival, her party requested a table on our patio, something that wasn't immediately available for them due to parties already dining on the patio and reservations which had specifically requested tables on the patio (which would also explain why two other parties, both with reservations and pre-made requests for patio tables, were seated). Furthermore, Ms. Beth's party was able to, and in fact did, wait at the bar where they enjoyed cocktails and the service of our bar staff until their table was ready. There is no dispute that, through absolutely no fault of the people mentioned (hostess, server, and manager) there was a slight delay in the delivery of food. Firstly, however, besides notifying the pertinent server of the inquiry, which was done twice, the hostess is obligated to remain at her station and has done nothing in her career at Bistro to suggest she would ignore a patron. Next, I have never dined in a restaurant where you could start counting the time it took to receive a meal from the moment you are scheduled to walk in the door. After deducting time for a short wait, a trip to the bar, and the formalities of being greeted by the server, the actual wait time was far shorter for the 1 ½ hours quoted. I would also like to point out the inconsistency in times mentioned (6:15 and then 6), as well as the fact that the management obviously has no control over the weather and its ability to draw an unusually large Wednesday night crowd. Finally, Kurt is well known by staff and patrons alike as a very gracious and helpful manager. He did, in fact, communicate with the party to try and understand the problem (it was, after all, the first he’d heard of it), offer an apology for the unusual, but in my personal opinion not unbearable, wait time, and proceed to discount the party's entire bill to $0. In conclusion, I would like to sincerely apologize that, in what is becoming a far less frequent occurrence at Bistro, mistakes are made. However, I happen to know that the staff on the night in question, and Kurt specifically, went out of their way to accommodate the party’s requests and did everything possible to rectify the situation that ensued, including comping the whole meal, and to no avail. It was unfortunate but completely out of the staff’s control. A mistake was made (unfortunately they are human) and we did out best to fix it, bottom line. I find it hard to believe anyone could feel that one mistake, coupled with a short wait due only to the party’s seating preference, could justify such a vicious attack on Bistro in such an unjustified and uncalled for way. Having worked at several restaurants in Davis, I dare you to find one where mistakes aren’t made. Drew Kyler
- Thanks for the response, Drew. The wiki would definitely benefit from more business-side feedback, especially on user comments. heh, this exchange reminded me of Paul Harvey's "and now you know the rest of the story." CraigBrozinsky
It should be noted that Drew Kyler posted an extremely offensive Bistro ad on myspace against a backdrop of near naked women to promote the restaurant. BTW, don't delete this comment again, I will re-add it.
- Not affiliated with the restaurant or the wiki, just a "citizen editor" that has taken it upon himself to tone down the font above post by LisaBeth from acres of CAPITALIZED bold-face screaming down to something that is not a poke in the eye. LisaBeth can rant and rave all she wants, and use whatever language. But I draw the line at attempts to gain attention through visual technique. Her words are no more and no less valuable than any others on this page, and therefore should compete for your attention on the usual merits of ideas, logic, sentence construction and grammar, and not on the wiki equivalent of the HTML BLINK tag. In order not to single her out, I have also made changes to other posts, such as the one above by DrewKyler. In the unending pursuit of civilized discourse, I remain, yr humble servant, H. Toppe HughToppe
WHAT MR.KYLER FAILED TO ACCOUNT FOR: First and foremost I would like to say I am pleased to know that employees from the establishments in the area read this website and try to account for the opinions posted on this site. However, Mr. Kyler’s account of the evening was faulty and blatantly false in many points. Although, I am sure Mr. Kyler was at the restaurant the evening in question he was neither at my table, nor present during the inquiries with the hostesses, waitress nor with Kurt. To begin, this was the first time any of our party had been to the Bistro 33 and when we made reservations we were never offered or told that patio seating was even an option, thus when we arrived we did make a change. Second, although the manager Kurt may be gracious and helpful to others he was everything but so to our party. After speaking twice to the waitress and hostesses, Kurt came to our table and offered no apology (a fact to which I have four people attesting to) and where Mr. Kyler was not present. My party and I were willing to stay had we been offered an explanation or an apology from management, but our final decision to leave was based solely on the fact that we were treated rudely by Kurt. Kurt did not go out of his way to accommodate us; again he offered no apology, cut us off during our explanation, failed to see our point (I quote verbatim, “I don’t get it? What are you trying to say?”) and offered us no compensation what so ever. He never offered us to compensate the price of our meal as Mr. Kyler states, because had he done so we would have stayed due to the fact that is was a friend’s birthday dinner. Finally, although I understand that due to the reasonably warm weather that day a restaurant like the Bistro might experience an influx of patrons wanting to sit on the patio, but waiting till 7:45 pm (the time my party finally received our food before leaving) for two sandwiches, two salads and an order of fries is ridiculous. Our request for good service, or in this case any service, is neither unreasonable nor unjustified and the comments I made were neither vicious nor uncalled for, they are honest and just. I stand by my opinion, and while I appreciate Mr. Kyler’s attention to this matter and his general apology, I maintain that the service was poor and that we were treated unfairly. In all fairness, I do concede two points; 1) the reservations were in fact made for 6:15 pm, I was told 6 pm so that was my mistake (however the wait time was 25 minutes not 10-15 as we were told), 2) the waitress did apologize, but offered us no explanation, or compensation and did leave our party unattended for an hour until we sought her attention (which was when we asked to speak to the management). Having worked in restaurants and in customer service in and outside of Davis I can also understand that mistakes are made, however my point is that I have never experienced bad service of this magnitude (between the hostesses, waitress and management) and I would like to keep others from having their evening ruined by poor service. At this point nothing short of an apology from the management would rectify this situation or change my opinion of this restaurant, however based on recent history I will not hold my breath.
- I'm confused. Did you actually pay your bill on the night in question?? — DrewKyler
- Finally, someone else is as horrified by the poor service and even poorer management as I have been. As I stated above, this place borders on the need to call the health department. I also find it offensive that the employees who read these pages spend so much time attacking the patrons instead of listening to their comments and taking them to heart. I cannot wait until someone else takes this place over, or they lose their lease, or they go under because people start to boycott. I look forward to when the NEXT restaurant opens in this fabulous location. -DisgustedDiner
- It should be noted that DrewKyler deleted the above comment by DisgustedDiner, obfuscating the edit with a replacement by his "I'm confused..." comment, either intentionally or unintentionally. — jw
- I would like to point out that if I did, in fact, delete the disgusteddiner comment it was completely accidental and I apologize. However, since it has been brought to my attention I would like to respond to the disgusting comment and its author. Firstly, I am extremely curious as to what gives you the notion our restaurant "borders on the need to call the health department"? That comment is so extremely erroneous it voids most of the author’s credibility. Do they work for the health department? Are they familiar with local health codes? Also, when was the last time a patron was allowed in the kitchen (the area the health department inspects)? Furthermore, part of our kitchen and our entire bar are in plain view of diners and obviously well maintained. Next, I began commenting on this forum for the sole purpose of clarifying misunderstandings in different posts. I have not, nor would I, attacked a patron through this forum. Finally, the Bistro concept has been around for 11 years with huge popularity, major growth, and there will be no NEXT restaurant because we're not going anywhere. — DrewKyler
I think if you decide to change your reservation when you get there and request a different table with a large party, you've forfeited your right to a quick table. If you were in a hurry you should have taken the available table. She said 15 minutes and it took 25? Boo hoo. If you've worked in a restaurant then you know all too well it's not an exact science. People camp at tables. Likewise, IF your entire bill was comped you have no right to complain about the service, in my opinion. Free food and drinks for a bunch of people, but you had to wait for it? Boo hoo. Please take a step back and realize how spoiled rotten you must be to complain about such treatment. —JeffSpeckles, NOT an employee of Bistro—
