Front of house an absolute farce

Joined: Feb 27, 2016
Posts: 2
Review of The Taco Bar
1

I booked a table for 8.00pm last night, we turned up at 7.40 to be told our table wasn't ready yet. No problem, the place was packed and there were people standing around inside waiting for tables. At 8.00 we reminded a waitress that we were here, and told her which was our reservation. She then went off to the back of the restaurant, we assumed to clear a table for us. She came back around five minutes later and looked at us blankly and asked "Do you have a reservation?" (I know we foreigners can sometimes look a bit 'samey' but...)

When she remembered that she had spoken to us and we did indeed have a reservation, she flapped around a bit and then tried to seat us on the edge of a table occupied by another group. Right in the doorway. Where there were perhaps 10-12 people stood up, literally crowding around tables, waiting for tables of their own (the Taco Bar really need to look at this, and provide a proper waiting area instead of cramming even more tables into a small space). So we told the server we didn't want the table and were leaving.

But here's the most annoying thing: Taco Bar then rang me 13 times after we left. I'm not sure why. Maybe to tell me they still don't have a suitable table? Maybe to tell me they will deliver? Who knows? I ignored it until I returned from the bathroom in another pub and saw the 13th call, so I rang them back to ask them to absolutely cancel the reservation and please stop calling me, to which the waitress said "sorry, what, I don't speak good English". Won't be going there again.

And here is the call log. 'SPA' with some Chinese text, by the way, is apparently the Taco Bar, and I'm sure that looks great on your receipt when the missus looks through your wallet.

We had already told the waitress to cancel the table and that we were leaving.

Presumably this wasn't communicated to whoever started ringing me up.

Either way, the place is a shambles.

I am perfectly capable of making a reservation in Chinese, but since the language they addressed me in when arriving was English, we continued in English.

Frankly, everything about this place seemed unprofessional and badly organised, right down to allowing waiting customers to hover over tables where diners were sat (so many packed in they were almost falling into the tables).

I know some people will say this place is casual dining and point to its word-of-mouth roots. I'm sorry but if you're accepting all sorts of publicity from TheBeijinger, TimeOut and whoever now, then you should be stepping up the service level.

Have you recently availed the services of a prostitute? that call log is coming from a place that appears to be a shady massage parlor

http://m.dianping.com/shop/4526497

Books by current and former Beijinger staffers

http://astore.amazon.com/truerunmedia-20

As pointed out in my comment.