This is in reply to a customer's bad experience at my restaurant, Bogey's Bar & Restaurant in Defuniak Springs.
I feel like I?m doing damage control, something that I have never had to do in the year and a half that we?ve been open.
I am saddened that your experience was not up to expectations. The Tuesday night that you came was an unusually busy one for us, we normally do 30-40 covers on tuesday, that night we did over 70.
In speaking with the staff involved, I see that there needs to be some clarification as to what happened. You did arrive without a reservation and were asked to come back at 7:15, as you stated you came back at 6:45, we were still quite busy at this point. Your server was also waiting on a party of 15 and had other tables, we got unexpectedly busy and didn?t have enough staff on hand, this does happen in restaurants and if we called someone in, by the time they got to work it would've been too late. I did know we were getting quite busy and told the servers to inform the customers that were behind the party of 15 that their food would take some time. Your server informed you of this, and you replied that it wasn?t a problem. 45 minutes to get your bread... was it really that long? we bake bread fresh throughout the night and there is always some in the warmer. An hour and 15 minutes for salads is also a very long time and if it was really that long there is no excuse for it, although we did run out of salads completely and had to make more. (we ran out of a lot of things that night) We prepared your meals as soon as we could get to your ticket in the kitchen, if I recall, two of your party had split a stuffed shrimp entr?e, I didn?t realize that half wanted asparagus with b?arnaise and half wanted a baked potato,
we had to re-do the plates which did take up more time and possibly did make that dish cold.. my bad for not checking the temperature of the food, I had been cooking food at full speed for 3 ? hours without a break at that point, I was a little bleary-eyed.
The other meals were in the warming lamp for a few minutes while we fixed the stuffed shrimp mixup, I doubt they were COLD as you stated. Speaking with the server, she said that she put down the plates at your table, the person with the stuffed shrimp touched the rim of the plate and determined that the plate was room temperature and thus their, and everyone else?s food must be cold, at which point your entire party got up and left.
When we have a problem with a guest?s food, I have the server bring it back to the kitchen to see what the problem is. No one at your table had touched anything on their plates, so the determination that the entire party?s meals were cold is false in my estimation since no one actually tried thier food.
Our manager?s actions is another matter. She has been doing this for a long time, and has had to deal with disgruntled guests before, and there does come a point that there is nothing more to say to a guest who is ?Pissed off? (is ?Pissed? really profanity?) because they won?t listen. I don?t know if this was the case with you, but a lot of times it is what happens in my experience.
And where were you supposed to get dinner at 9pm? You had perfectly good meals right in front of you but refused them.
I thank you for CC?ing us on the email you sent to the Daily News because I did find something quite ironic contained in it. You stated that ?In my opinion, when the Chef/Owner knows that it has just taken 2 hours to get a dinner out, he should have come out to the table and personally apologized, at the least! Tim Crehan at Beachwalk in Destin would have been at our table, personally serving it and it would have been warm.? (had I done that, that would have left only one person on the cook line, it wouldnt be fair to diners who came after you)
There are a few ironic points there, Tim Creehan came and ate at our restaurant and was thoroughly delighted, he even sent a note back to the kitchen saying ?Great Job Chef!? in French. He also invited me to be on his television program. Also, when the daily news reviewed our restaurant, we received 4 stars which is the maximum possible, while if I recall correctly, Beachwalk got 3 ? stars.
While it?s obvious that Chef Creehan is a successful Chef and businessman, I?m sure that he has the time to meet and greet with diners and address their concerns because he most likely has a full brigade in his modern, fully equipped kitchen with a Chef de Cuisine overseeing them all. Leaving him with time to do other things.
I have personally cooked every dinner service (and lots of lunches) we have had in the year and a half since we?ve been open. Myself and my Sous Chef and a dishwasher are the only ones in the kitchen throughout the week, we have another line cook help us on the weekends. I am the owner, chef, a line cook, I do the accounting, payroll, I?m the webmaster and I even sweep and mop the floors 5 days a week and do dishes if necessary.
My point is is that I can?t afford to keep a full crew on hand at all times for every contingency, and our kitchen is 12? x 40? including the dish station, there wouldn?t be room for them anyway. If our diners have to wait because we are backed up in the kitchen, I?m sorry for that, but we never compromise on quality just because we?re busy. My goal is absolute consistency from meal to meal, but obviously some do slip by.
Another irony: Corky?s waitress that evening that she obviously did not care for, she even stated that she should be fired, has been with us since we opened, and was the one who waited on Tim Creehan. She also waited on the restaurant reviewer from the Daily News, Colleen Coffield. (Colleen ate with us again for lunch last week)
To others who have read Corky post and have decided that Bogey?s is not for them, I invite you to come try us for yourselves instead of making a decision based on one person?s opinion. We constantly get rave reviews from our customers on our food, service and atmosphere. We also have guests that routinely drive up from the beach to dine with us. They say that we?re as good as anything on the beach, and the money they save with our reasonably priced menu pays for their gas.
I invite all of you to come give us a try for yourselves, that includes you Corky, for had you stayed that night and actually ate your meals, my guess is is that we wouldn?t be having this discussion right now.
While I?m on an ?Ironic roll? here?. To the person who said that they love to eat at the Busy Bee Caf? when they?re in Defuniak because of the Panko crusted fish sandwich and the green tomatoes?.. We are the ones you?re speaking about. Before buying the hotel and restaurant, we owned the Busy Bee for the two years prior. We have the same wonderful lunch menu that you remember from there, still prepared the same way. The new busy bee is a barbeque restaurant now.
I hope to see you all soon and thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Brad Harding ? Chef/Owner
Hotel Defuniak and Bogey?s Restaurant.
http://www.hoteldefuniak.com
Maybe there needs to be greater attention, to damage control!
Note to Mr. Harding, when anyone Googles your restaurant, this is what they'll find! [ame="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=HOTEL+DEFUNIAK+BOGIES&btnG=Google+Search"]HOTEL DEFUNIAK BOGIES - Google Search[/ame] I would also consider, The Better Business Bureau. Maybe they should keep these posts, on file!
