I'd love to know the name of the restaurant, too. Since I will be moving to NYC, most likely, this summer, I'd love to know where to avoid.

The situation was handled incredibly poorly.

But I had a similar experience (sort of). I went with my parents, brother, cousin, and (then future) in-laws to a restuarant in Philadelphia where I had been once before. That time was wonderful.

When we went in this group, the service was horrendous. The waitress seemed annoyed that we were not ordering drinks (we don't drink). SHe was not helpful with the menu and commented that we were not ordering much food. She would not first take our appetizer orders while we decided on main entrees.

My brother asked to speak to the chef, as he had studied in South America and was interested in meeting the chef, but we were told he was too busy.

When the appetizers came out, a live bug crawled out of the watercress garnish. Needless to say, my wife's sister was shocked. We called for the aitress, but she motioned for us to wait. No one raised their voice, but we called the manager. The manager was surprised. The waitress came in a few minutes and apologized for the delay. The manager offered to bring my sister-in-law another appetizer and said they would be taking that one off the bill. They explained that the produce was fresh, and sometimes even with washing, bugs can hide in there, just like with raspberries (in his words).

There was no offer of a free drink, dessert, etc. In fact, we waited so long to even see the dessert menu that we chose to leave.

I wrote a letter to the owner describing what happened and received no response. Once I called him back a week later or so, he told me that he had not received my letter. I spoke to him on the phone and faxed the letter. He apologized and they did send me a gift certificate to return to the restaurant. He asked me to call in advance and make sure he knew I was coming. This was over a year ago and I have not had the chance to return, but my brother went back recently and enjoyed himself. I am waiting to return with my wife and enjoy dinner there.

I think both situations could have been handled much better. If you feel like it, PM me the name of the restaurant to avoid!

fuzz

P.S. Sorry for the rambling!

Poor, poor service!!
We were recently in a restaurant in Atlanta and the waiter behind us dropped a plate which sent soy sauce sailing over the back of our chair, a drop on my husband's hair,and some on his pants. When we called it to the attention of the waiter the manager immediately came over with some spot cleaner to try to get the spot out of his pants and then told my husband to let him know the cost for dry cleaning. When we were done with dinner and asked for our check the waiter said it was on the house and sorry for what happened! We were so impressed that we knew we would be coming back!
If I were treated the way you were I would call the general manager. The least they can do is comp you a dinner.

First of all that is why I could never be a waiter. I am with the others in the fact that I would never go back there. I am also with you in not posting the name of the place you were at. As far as the waitress paying herself for the mistake no dubt in my mind that she did.
This is just me & but I would probably tried to make the waitress take the money back if they were making her pay.

I work part time in a restaurant (more tavern than restaurant actually) and can tell you what we would likely do.

First, the owner would never force a sever to pick up the tab on the dry cleaning. He would very likely just have you bring him a receipt and reimburse you. Much more convenient that way. Secondly, you would at the very least get a comp round of drinks.

That is harsh! I would have found another place to work. In all my years in the restaurant business, I never had to pay for mistakes. Shortages in money yes, but that is all.

It is highly unusual.

Opening week at the Bellagio Las Vegas-group of 6 men dressed to the nines to have a good time-Petrossian Bar-Of course the martinin landed in the lap of a very fussy queen-rage insued-no compensation or offer of picking up the cleaning bill-f&b manager contacted-comped rooms(4)and dinner were enjoyed by the whole group.
Moral-don't bother with peons,go as high up as you can as soon as you can.

Yeah, you can duck any time now.

No need for me to duck for cover-I just do not waste energy on service industry folks who have no power to actually do anything.The times I do find myself doing this(fewer and fewer times fortunately-I am learning!)results in way too much frustration without results.

Still waiting for the name of this restaurant. Any reason why it is not forthcoming? My reaction:

1. Your meal if not that of the entire table should have been comped. You endured having had a tray of drinks land on you and thus sat through the meal soaking wet and probably with a bit of a stench.

2. The waitress should NOT have been made to pay for the dry cleaning herself. Such a restaurant is not to be patronized again.

3. Write a letter of complaint to the owner of the restaurant. If it is owned by a corporation, look up the name of the CEO and send him/her this letter of complaint. CC the local restaurant manager.

You should talk to the owner of the restaurant. They should have done something nice for you such as given you some discount. Also, you should have been able to send in your itemized dry cleaning bill. The onus is on them to do what they can to remedy the situation to you in the easiest way possible.

Making the waitor pay for this has only put you in a situation where you feel bad. It sounds very much like they insisted on it going to their dry cleaners as they wanted to make the waitor go take care of it as punishment. It's a poor way of doing business, petty and unprofessional. I'd track down the owner and give him/her a piece of my mind in terms of how it was handled. The restaurant should be paying for it, the staff shouldn't be paying for it and you should not have been forced to send it to wherever they wanted.

On a side note, I have always hated trays in a nice restaurant anyways. They just seem unprofessional and unnecessary.

"I wrote a letter to the owner describing what happened and received no response. Once I called him back a week later or so, he told me that he had not received my letter. I spoke to him on the phone and faxed the letter. He apologized and they did send me a gift certificate to return to the restaurant. He asked me to call in advance and make sure he knew I was coming. This was over a year ago and I have not had the chance to return, but my brother went back recently and enjoyed himself. I am waiting to return with my wife and enjoy dinner there."

Should the owner do this for you, be sure to ask to be served by the waitor who paid for the dry cleaning. Go in, buy a drink, leave the entire remaining amount of the GC as tip and walk out.

I'm curious now, how should food/drinks get delivered if not via tray? I always thought use of the tray was more professional and "cleaner", as well as no chance of anyone's fingers inadvertently going in my sauce.

I assume this is an upscale restaurant and yes, it would be highly unusual to a) force the patron to use the restaurant's cleaners, b) force the waitress to pick up the cleaning, and c) force her to pay. I could imagine such behavior from a sleazy diner somewhere run by a total @hole, but not from one of our better establishments.

Doesn't sound like there was any guilt trip laid on by the waitress; the OP had to cajole that factoid out of her. So I assume she is blameless and a victim here. Well, not entirely blameless; she did spill the drinks, but accidents do happen and it doesn't sound like she spilled them intentionally :-)

I understand the OP's reluctance to post the name of the resto for fear of retaliation; a manager that tacky could fire her.

I like the suggestion of popping in and leaving her a nice tip; alternately, send her flowers or chocolates which could brighten her day working in such a sweatshop.

And three jeers to the restaurant for not comping anything. At the very least, a round of (intact) after-dinner drinks, free dessert, or something along those lines.

I like "Drinks are on me" ... my standard rejoinder (yes, it's happened more than once in a resto, and several times on a plane) is to take my index finger, dip it into the spilled liquid, taste it and proclaim "I ordered the gin and tonic, not the vodka tonic!" (of course depending on what's spilled, "I ordered the 1982, not the 1996" or "Sorry, that was a Lagavullin, not a Glenlivet" ... etc.) And it goes without saying, one should not make a scene, laugh it off, and get back to enjoying the food.

"I'm curious now, how should food/drinks get delivered if not via tray? I always thought use of the tray was more professional and "cleaner", as well as no chance of anyone's fingers inadvertently going in my sauce."

The waiters can carry it to you. Many people in the industry feel the same and insist on staff using a tray with the end result being the OP. The waiter could have brought the drinks by hand. The waiter has to pick up your food anyways, so if you're worried about fingers in your food then why eat out. Any professional will have 0 chance of putting a finger in your food. Plates have a brim for a reason.