This morning, we are ordering breakfast at Autentica. My father-in-law points to something on the menu and asks the waitress, "Can I get this with potatoes instead of eggs?""We don't have potatoes," she answers.
"Okay, well just give me this without the eggs."
Maybe she did a double-take, but I didn't notice. Twenty minutes or so later, she is back with our food. She places a plate with a thin slice of ham covered in red sauce in front of my father-in-law and says, "huevos rancheros," amazingly, with a straight face.
"You ordered huevos rancheros without the eggs?" I said. "But huevos means egg."
It was kind of funny, until I realized I was going to pay 12 dollars for his plate of sauce.
It's not his fault. I don't think he knew what he was going to get. But the waitress--she couldn't have asked "Are you sure you want that?" Had I known what he was pointing at, I would have stopped him. I consider it supremely bad service to fill ridiculous orders without at least asking, "You're sure about that?"
I felt really bad that he only had a slice of ham for breakfast, so I made sure we swung into the doughnut shop on the way home.
2 comments:
Oh, man. That is unbelievable. It might be worth shooting off a quick email to the owners telling them what happened. They owe you a free Margarita at least.
All that aside, having a ticket that says Huevos Ranch no huevos--is priceless.
That sucks that your FIL had a bad experience there and that you had to pay for the inadequate meal. I really like Autentica and it bums me out when I hear of people having a bad experience at a place I really enjoy.
It sounds to me like this was almost a situation of the server taking "the customer is always right" approach to the extreme. Personally, I don't think it's a server's job to question the choice of a patron, but...your FIL got a raw deal, for sure. I definitely think the server could've offered a couple alternatives (offered bread or something else in place of the eggs, asked her manager if they could do something similar "off menu", re-stated his order to confirm exactly what he'd be getting, or simply charge you less considering the order was missing one of the major ingredients(!)). And if they couldn't do a substitution, that should be clearly printed on the menu (I don't know if it was).
From what you described it does sound like he was somewhat confused (maybe he thought something else would be on the plate?). And since he was your guest I'm guessing he didn't want to make a big deal about it or say anything to the server (which may have helped the situation, or not). I think Roz's suggestion about sending the restaurant a complain is a good one.
Well, I hope he enjoyed the donuts you picked up afterwards, even if that's not a consolation, and a hearty lunch later that day! T.
Post a Comment