Giada to replace Payard Patisserie at Caesars

[Dan Druff]

Giada De Laurentiis accidentally said something on the "Today Show" back in March regarding opening a new restaurant at Caesars.

She apparently revealed it a bit too soon, but no details were known at the time.

Now it has leaked that Giada's new place will be replacing Payard Patisserie at Caesars, and it's expected to happen before the end of 2017.

She already has one restaurant at a Caesars property -- called "Giada", inside The Cromwell.

Giada's new restaurant will be less formal than the other -- more of a fast casual and to-go type of place.

The Cromwell Giada has been there for about 3 years. I ate there in 2015. The food was good, but the service was shockingly bad.

And I don't just mean slow.

The wait staff -- all of them -- were unusually confused and mistake-prone.

Laughably, I heard a ruckus at the next table over when they were all served soup, but were not brought spoons. The server disappeared, and they had a hard time getting anyone's attention to fix the matter.

That was funny to observe, until our table's soups also came -- again, without spoons!

I was more proactive in asking for spoons, but no one was ever returning with them. Finally I stood up and tracked someone down and told them we needed spoons immediately.

Embarrassing.

The fact that TWO different servers at TWO different tables made this mistake within 10 minutes of one another indicates that this was unlikely a coincidence.

Many other mistakes were made throughout the meal -- mostly servers completely botching orders, forgetting things, and other screw-ups along those lines. I knew it was the server's fault because, when we brought these mistakes to her attention, she acted surprised, as if she had brought us the correct food with the correct changes. (For example, if we ordered a sandwich and asked, "No tomatoes", and she acknolwedged that, then the sandwich would come with tomatoes and she would act surprised that was wrong.)

There were so many mistakes that I actually got the manager at the end of the meal, listed them all, and asked how it was possible for this to have occurred to such an extent. I mentioned the soup thing, and told her she could check with the next table over, where this also occurred. She seemed very phony and unconcerned, giving me more excuses than apologies. I didn't think it was likely things would improve.

Anyway, needless to say, we never went back.

[maxev]

Interesting about the service, Dan.

I tried Giada for dinner within the first few months they opened. Loved the decor, the food was average and overpriced, good cocktails... but the service was terrible.

I chalked it up to opening jitters, so I went back a few months later for lunch and then a year later for brunch.

The service was bad every time -- unfriendly, forgotten orders, they didn't clear dishes, the bill was wrong.

You almost wonder if they're trained this way (a la Dick's)!


max

[regnis]

Ditto that. Food average and way over priced. Service horrible.

I avoid Food Network TV chefs but had a dining comp to use at a limited number of restaurants.

[pkspins]

Ditto that. Food average and way over priced. Service horrible.

I avoid Food Network TV chefs but had a dining comp to use at a limited number of restaurants.

Good strategy. All the ones I have been to in Vegas and elsewhere have been underwhelming, overpriced or both. Burgr in Planet Hollywood, which I think is now called Gordon Ramsey Burger, was actually pretty good. But ridiculously overpriced.

[Dan Druff]

I never understood why service is terrible at some expensive restaurants.

Server jobs at such restaurants are in HIGH demand, because the tips are so high (due to the high meal prices).

So there should be little tolerance for incompetence, rudeness, inattentiveness, etc.

Somehow many of these places just consistently have bad service, despite the fact that it's such an easy thing to correct.

It's tough to correct bad/mediocre food, a poor location, or tough competition.

Service is a no-brainer. Yet so many restaurants get it wrong.

I could tell at Giada that it was a chronic problem, even from just one visit. The manager's attitude about it seemed to scream, "Yeah, I know, and I don't give a crap" rather than any real concern.