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Thread: Vic & Anthony's Steakhouse - Not impressed at all

  1. #21
    Originally Posted by Tasha View Post
    I also love Medium steaks myself, Dan! Well done tastes gross to me. :/ I love the marble of medium!!
    I think medium is the best middle ground when it comes to steaks.

    I don't like the texture of rare or medium-rare. Has kind of a fatty, stringy consistency.

    On the medium-well or well side, the texture is much better, but the taste has been cooked out of it.

    Medium has the best of both worlds -- good taste, good texture.
    Check out my poker forum, and weekly internet radio show at http://pokerfraudalert.com

  2. #22
    Originally Posted by Dan Druff View Post
    Originally Posted by Tasha View Post
    I also love Medium steaks myself, Dan! Well done tastes gross to me. :/ I love the marble of medium!!
    I think medium is the best middle ground when it comes to steaks.

    I don't like the texture of rare or medium-rare. Has kind of a fatty, stringy consistency.

    On the medium-well or well side, the texture is much better, but the taste has been cooked out of it.

    Medium has the best of both worlds -- good taste, good texture.
    Yes, Medium does have the best of both worlds! It's a perfect balance!

  3. #23
    One of the more annoying scenes in high-end restaurants is having to witness the table next to you go thru a complaining session, where the manager has to be called because it couldn't be worked out at the server level. It gets worse watching the continued bickering.

    This is not something you want a child to "learn from". All he'll remember is it being a reason his mom and her boyfriend broke up someday if that occurs.

    Warnings are regularly issued about the dangers of eating uncooked/undercooked beef, chicken, pork, seafood etc. Some people smoke too. Others drink too much and still others take drugs. The risks are plentiful for the thrill-seekers of the world.

  4. #24
    I don't understand. Usually restaurants will make good on a dish not properly prepared... even after a big chunk of steak has been eaten. Something is wrong with the restaurant.

    It doesn't matter who you're dining with... a spouse or business associate or a member of a small or large group. Everyone should get what they ordered.

    Every restaurant I've been in -- from fast food to exclusive white table cloth establishments -- have always made good on an order.

  5. #25
    Originally Posted by Rob.Singer View Post
    One of the more annoying scenes in high-end restaurants is having to witness the table next to you go thru a complaining session, where the manager has to be called because it couldn't be worked out at the server level. It gets worse watching the continued bickering.

    This is not something you want a child to "learn from". All he'll remember is it being a reason his mom and her boyfriend broke up someday if that occurs.

    Warnings are regularly issued about the dangers of eating uncooked/undercooked beef, chicken, pork, seafood etc. Some people smoke too. Others drink too much and still others take drugs. The risks are plentiful for the thrill-seekers of the world.
    Rob`s idea of fine dining is at Sizzler, where they throw an $8 top sirloin on his table and he wolfs it down like a ghetto coyote with rabies

  6. #26
    Originally Posted by AndrewG View Post
    I don't understand. Usually restaurants will make good on a dish not properly prepared... even after a big chunk of steak has been eaten. Something is wrong with the restaurant.

    It doesn't matter who you're dining with... a spouse or business associate or a member of a small or large group. Everyone should get what they ordered.

    Every restaurant I've been in -- from fast food to exclusive white table cloth establishments -- have always made good on an order.
    And that is correct and should be the case, unless the customer is not polite and appears unreasonable. That's how situations such as this occur. In this case, I'm believing that Dan had her eat more than half the steak--or maybe he did--expecting either a new steak or a full refund in order to claim "maximum value obtained" for a personal win. But he got called on it and lost. He rubbed salt into his own wound by leaving a 15% tip anyway.

    Sounds like the moral of the story is....don't go to a place that you really cannot afford to go to. It never ends well.

  7. #27
    Originally Posted by Rob.Singer View Post
    Originally Posted by AndrewG View Post
    I don't understand. Usually restaurants will make good on a dish not properly prepared... even after a big chunk of steak has been eaten. Something is wrong with the restaurant.

    It doesn't matter who you're dining with... a spouse or business associate or a member of a small or large group. Everyone should get what they ordered.

    Every restaurant I've been in -- from fast food to exclusive white table cloth establishments -- have always made good on an order.
    And that is correct and should be the case, unless the customer is not polite and appears unreasonable. That's how situations such as this occur. In this case, I'm believing that Dan had her eat more than half the steak--or maybe he did--expecting either a new steak or a full refund in order to claim "maximum value obtained" for a personal win. But he got called on it and lost. He rubbed salt into his own wound by leaving a 15% tip anyway.

    Sounds like the moral of the story is....don't go to a place that you really cannot afford to go to. It never ends well.

    As much as it pains me to say it, Singer is correct again.

    Support your wait staff, they are hardworking Americans. And don’t embarrass yourself.

  8. #28
    I ate at Vic and Anthony's about a year ago and will be returning there in December. It's a completely different experience than eating at, say, Gordon Ramsay's Steakhouse, which I would consider new school. At first I was completely baffled by the problems Dan reports, but then I realized that the sheer intimacy of the place in terms of seating makes any kind of ongoing complaint a problem and embarrassment for the steakhouse itself. They are old school (and a little touchy on the formal manners), so I could see any child debate or complaint that wasn't in whispers not going well, especially if the place was busy. I am probably less than the perfect steakhouse guest in terms of formality, and protocol-bending behavior that wouldn't be noticed at Gordon Ramsay's or the Circus-Circus Dallas-style steakhouse might generate some eyerolls from staff at Vic and Anthony's.

    I would recommend Vic and Anthony's for a more formal, adult meal. I had a really nice experience there.

  9. #29
    It's really very simple--most of these higher end steakhouses are great places to eat for one reason or another. They also can make mistakes from time to time. Should a problem arise, do your best to get it resolved in a polite way. If you get to a certain point where the issue just can't be resolved to your satisfaction, quit arguing and just move on from it. ESPECIALLY if you're with your family. Tomorrow is bound to be better, and 100 years from now no one will care anyway.

  10. #30
    I find it best in situations like this to state what I want done and not beat around the bush. I would have pointed the well done steak out discretely to the waiter and asked for a replacement based on that portion left being cooked wrong. I would not try to fish for an offer of resolution because that can be interpreted as trying to get over. If I wanted 5/% off for the defective portion instead of replacement I would ask for that to be done.

  11. #31
    Originally Posted by MaxPen View Post
    I find it best in situations like this to state what I want done and not beat around the bush. I would have pointed the well done steak out discretely to the waiter and asked for a replacement based on that portion left being cooked wrong. I would not try to fish for an offer of resolution because that can be interpreted as trying to get over. If I wanted 5/% off for the defective portion instead of replacement I would ask for that to be done.
    But.... Wasn't the entire steak well done? :/ The girlfriend should have spoken up after like the very first bite instead of being polite about it.... But I can see why she stayed polite and grimaced eating that well done steak she didn't want....

  12. #32
    Miss Tasha you are mistaken. The entire steak was not well done. Read again the post by Mr Dan and see what happened as the steak was eaten.

    Question: I prefer my steaks and fish cooked well done. I have a habit of cutting into the serving in the middle when presented to me to check how it was prepared. Does anyone else do this -- cut into the center? I think it's a habit I learned as a child from my parents.

  13. #33
    I think there's some confusion here regarding exactly the way the complaints occurred.

    While I understand that Rob Singer is a troll, and will always take the contrarian view just to be an asshole, I am seeing others responding to things which didn't really occur.

    There was no scene, no rudeness, and no loud tones of voice.

    When the waitress came around and asked how the meal was, I politely told her that two of the dishes were good (so I could start out with a positive comment), but that my girlfriend's was unfortuantely overcooked.

    I was expecting that she would see this and offer to get it replaced. I was actually pretty shocked when she instantly acted nasty and told me that I was wrong about it being overcooked. This steak wasn't just marginally overcooked. The uneaten portion was WAY overcooked, as the difference between medium-rare and well done is huge.

    When the manager approached, again I expected an easy and quick resolution, as managers in prime steakhouses are almost always friendly and over-accommodating. Instead, the guy took the same idiotic line that the steak was just fine, and after a long debate where he finally conceded I was right abot the overcooking, he then went to his next claim that she had eaten "3/4" of the steak, when in reality it was about 1/3.

    While all of this arguing went on, I never raised my voice, never used any kind of profanity or inappropriate language, and never acted angry. I just quietly and firmly stood my ground that we didn't get what we ordered.

    Besides, I have lots of points of reference from my decades of experience going to numerous prime steakhouses. One thing they all have in common is that they tend to be very generous when it comes to fixing problems and replacing badly cooked steaks. If I were a rube whose idea of fine dining was a night out at Chili's, then perhaps I would find a way to blame myself here. But I know what the norm is at prime steakhouses, and this definitely wasn't it.

    Regarding redietz's theory that they were annoyed that my complaints weren't "in whispers", that wasn't even possible. It was New Year's Eve, crowded, and very loud. If I spoke softly, nobody would be able to hear me. However, I did take care to speak in as soft a tone of voice as possible while making sure they still heard me. I wasn't looking to make a scene or a spectacle, and in fact I didn't.

    Similar to friendships, often a business' character is only apparent by how they handle adversity. Any business can seem "good" if your transaction is smooth and typical. It's how they handle the unexpected situations and problems which separates whether they are customer-friendly or difficult assholes.

    I'll compare this to Southwest Airlines.

    I have people telling me how much they love Southwest. It's cheap. The flights are on time. The flight attendants are friendly. The ticket change and refund policy is more generous than other alines.

    Then I ask them, "Okay. Have you ever needed them to resolve a problem or customer service issue?"

    The person responds, "No, I haven't."

    I reply, "Get back to me when you run into something like that, and tell me how much you still like Southwest."

    (Hint: Southwest is awful and totally customer-hostile when anything slightly out of the ordinary occurs.)

    Vic & Anthony's Steakhouse is the Southwest Airlines of prime steakhouses.
    Check out my poker forum, and weekly internet radio show at http://pokerfraudalert.com

  14. #34
    Mr Dan I agree that at a prime steakhouse they should make your dinner right.

    But you raised a new issue: have you had a problem with Southwest Airlines? I've been flying Southwest forever and never had a problem. I don't know anyone who has. Sure there are the usual delays all airlines have, but if there's any airline that goes out of its way to help customers it's Southwest. But you had a problem?

    There are people who do have problems and often. I hope you're not one of those.

    Now back to the steak. The server should have immediately started the process of making it right. The issue never should have reached a manager especially on New Year's Eve when a manager has too much to handle.

  15. #35
    Dan, I bet you have the same personality as the late Morris The Cat. Heaven forbid if something serious happened in your world.



  16. #36
    Originally Posted by quahaug View Post
    She wasn't a male waiter, that's the issue.
    Originally Posted by quahaug View Post
    It means that women shouldn't be waiters in higher end steakhouses or other fine dining establishments. If your waiter was a man you would never have had the problem. He hopefully would have never even served up that piece of meat in the first place.
    I agree!
    Damn Women and Gays are taking over this world.
    Almost every hockey show now has a format where some model is talking hockey.
    How the fuck do Models get a job analyzing hockey, football and or other sports?
    I don't mind women in the workplace but do they have to have every fucking job??
    Do they have to have jobs just because it is the new rule??
    Whatever... I'm moving to the sticks and starting a farm next spring.

  17. #37
    Dan what you're running into here is that most people know how to handle adversity and you don't. Just the fact that you couldn't respect the fact that you had your family with you is enough to make most of us cringe. All of your posturing and blaming the server and manager only detracts from your argument. YOU were in control of the situation and YOU chose to escalate past the point of no return.

    You thrive on conflict when interacting with others. You always think you're being cheated or the other guy is "doing you wrong" and you just GOTS to be more respected....or else! May I offer a bit of advice: women don't like that in a man.

    You wonder why you come up with all these medical issues you for some reason feel the need to disclose, yet much of it is right there in front of you. You need to take a chill pill when you get like that. I can see the event is still eating away at you.

  18. #38
    Had a family dinner (14 of us) at a well known restaurant. I ordered the Chilean Sea Bass. They brought me a swordfish. I called the server over and then he got the manager and they both insisted it was sea bass. I have had hundreds of sea bass and didn't even have to taste it as it is a completely different cut and look. All the other sea bass at the table were big thick fillets which is how sea bass is cut. Mine was the flat pale looking swordfish with the blood stain on the end and the lane of fat on the end. I know my way around a fish as I have operated seafood restaurants.

    I did lose my temper when the manager tried to make me look bad and I let loose with a few good insults. My family still jokes about it every time we are together as they had never seen me lose my temper.

    I steadfastly refused to accept the fish and deducted it from the bill when I paid as the manager wouldn't remove it. He did bring a free desert.

    While I think Dan does create his own problems many times, I can see where you can be pushed beyond your usual limits as I was in that instance. Ordinarily, I just blow those kind of things off. But the manager was an ass and got me going.

  19. #39
    I don't think Dan is out of line in this case. He was dealing with extreme incompetence from the sounds of it. Especially noted after his second rehashing of events.

  20. #40
    Opinions vary. But one thing you do not want to experience when you and your family or friends are out for an enjoyable meal, is a nearby table with an issue where multiple people have to appear to help settle it. It may or may not be popular, but I see that as obnoxious. The same with the loud-mouthed yuppie with a phone call he or she deems more important than everyone else's reasons for being there.

    Off with their heads!

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