Calis Beach and Fethiye Turkey Discussion Forum
Calis Beach Forum => Calis Bar and Restaurant Questions and Discussions => Topic started by: Scunner on October 09, 2011, 22:49:08 PM
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Taking this topic from another thread - how do you deal with a bad dining experience? I've had a few over the years in Calis (but in truth just a few) and I do tend to pay up and leave in a mood rather than cause an awkward scene - my feeling often is that the night turned out bad enough without making it worse by having to discuss where exactly it was bad...you?
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If something really isn't quite right I am careful to be very polite about it - especially if I am expecting a replacement (don't want anything nasty adding!) and really don't like to hear people complaining loudly as it's just not necessary.
If something was very wrong then I would definitely complain but wouldn't accept a replacement and would leave - hopefully not paying for the dish either.
If I just don't like what I have been served, I swap and eat my husband's instead - he'll eat most things. If he won't swap, I just keep picking at his, much to his justified annoyance!
I am very disappointed if waiters take away my hardly touched plate without asking if everything was OK. If they do ask, I make sure they know the food was fine. This often ends up with my being offered something else which I of course decline out of both good manners (as there was nothing wrong with it) and the fact I'm already stuffed with my OH's dinner!
If the meal and/or service is basically poor, then usually say nothing - can't be bothered with the hassle that is likely to follow - we just don't go back, end of.
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Us Brits like to moan but not necessarily to complain!! My take on this ... is that it makes it easier to complain if there is something fundamentally wrong with the meal and that is not always the case .....
I think the problem in Turkey is that they are not trained on how to deal with a complaint .... merely to ask if the meal is OK ... if it's not .. then they are lost!!
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Yes I found that too - if the response to "how was your meal" was "rubbish", you generally got nothing much more than an awkward smile and not a word.
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I've had only a very few poor inedible meals, but in each case I have complained contructively & not had to pay for them. In 2 of the instances, I was trying restaurants that had received rave reviews on CBF!
Not been back to any of them though, there are far too many excellent places to go, without bothering with the bad ones again
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Mostly i just never return unless its really bad then they know about it.
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I tend to say nothing unless it is not only my meal that is not good. If it is not only my meal that is disappointing, then I let my hubby have a moan, he is so much better at it than me.
However, I do always praise a nice meal.
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If the food is really badly cooked, eg under/overcooked, I will politely tell the waiter. This hasn't happened very often thank goodness.
If it's just a case of the meal not being what I expected I tend not to say anything and it doesn't particularly put me off going back to the restaurant.
If, however, the service is bad, there is no way I would return.
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I've just had 10 days eating out while family were here and found many of the meals disappointing.
Tasteless moussaka at Kings Garden, flavourless pasta bolognese in Anna aparts but basically well cooked, hot etc.... its a difficult one as can't really tell them it needs a bit more garlic, herbs seasoning etc, but wouldn't go back.
Had overpriced lunch in Olu Deniz and did say how expensive compared to Calis and got the usual story about rent costs.
Best I had was at the Roka but others disappointed by things on menu not being available.
I think there's such a lot that makes the meal experience, a bland snack in beautiful surroundings with lovely staff is a great lunch experience.
The worst was the stone cold lunch on our recent boat trip on a boat called Angel.
They didn't give a toss when we all complained, but they didn't give a toss about being an hour and a quarter late picking us up either ( the only conversation from them all day was to ask the 2 single women on a date).
We complained to the agent who sold the trip, he had words with them, no consolation for ruining our day of course but I shan't use Focus again.
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yemekleriniz chok crap!
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Having run hotel kitchens and a la carte restaurants chefs world wide would rather be told about mistakes and food in general ,its no good shouting that wont get you very far be polite and firm you will get a lot more out of them chefs do need the feed backs ,i pointed out to a chef in calis a couple of years ago that you dont make steak Diane with anchovy sauce it should be worcestershire sauce he changed the menu ,he probably picked up the wrong bottle up in the pork shop they are next to each other he probably had never used either of them before so thought they were the same,so dont go out and start moaning about the meal ,have a nice chat and get more from them. ;)
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Totally agree with you there Lance.
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As lance say, feed back is all important as the chef and sometimes staff generally wants to get it right and produce something the customer enjoys , and therefore will return.
We ate a lot at the letoon this holiday. Most meals, particularly the turkish ones were excellant. Construcive critisism was welcomed when we proferred it.
It can also be fun.We recently went to Chiceritos and I ordered a margaurita drink.The waitress asked the standard " is everything ok". I said the drink was not as teeth curlingly tasty as the Maya concoction produced by Nevra.She took that as a challenge and after 4 mixes and much fun, I had the perfect lip twisting coctail.
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I guess it depends how busy they are etc, at Kings Gardens and especially Anna aparts it was manic, no one really spoke to us at either place.
None of the usual did you enjoy your meal or I might have been tempted to say something. I love moussaka and usually have it at Seckins lokanta where its superb and was expecting great things in a restaurant...!
On the other hand my dad said the Anna pizza was one of the best hes ever had, and my sister loved her pasta at Kings.
Luck of the draw maybe.
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We will not complain if a meal is too spicey or too bland as tastes vary and I prefer spicey where as better half does not. One restaurant last year served a pasta dish to my son, he didn't like it so left it. The owner came over to collect the plates and insisted that he have a replacement meal or desert.
We will not return to a place if the food is not up to much and the service is poor.
We have had the question a few times "was everything ok" and got a blank look when the answer was not "yes fine"
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I think the most important thing is to decide if the meal is of poor quality as opposed to not suitable for your personal taste.
Anything that's meant to be hot served cold or luke warm would get returned by me however if the flavour is lacking or it's too salty I would quietly say so as that's my personal palate. I would not expect to pay for a dish that was incorrectly served & would always give the restaurant the opportunity to rectify my complaint. A quiet word gets whispered a long way...
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If it was something poorly cooked as opposed to just not to our taste, then yes we would say something quietly to the waiter. I'm thinking of not cooked (especially chicken) or overcooked/burnt. We would also say something if the meat was tough or too dry or if parts of the meal are cold. Having said that, cold chips and breakfasts seem to go hand in hand!
If it was something we didn't like we'd put it down to experience and either not choose that particular dish or that particular restaurant again.
Bad service is something else and we would probably not go there again.
If we did complain we would not do as some seem to and polish off everything on their plates and then say it was rubbish.
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In an ideal world everything would be perfect all of the time but in reality it sometimes isn't...
From the restaurants perspective the best ways of monitoring and evaluating what is going on in your restaurant is to listen to what people eating there have to say... a constructive complaint is a free gift that can help you do better and is just as valuable as a rave review
Tips for making a complaint
- attract the attention of some one who actually cares or at least understands what you are saying; this will more than likely be the owner or manager. You may think your waiter has fluent English but often their knowledge of the language is limited to the menu and what is on it, to are you having a nice holiday, where do you come from and what football team do you support. Evidence of this is when your waiter eyes glaze whilst profusely nodding his/her head and smiles and says yes, yes, yes... ;)
- raise your concerns straight away; if the meal is cold when it should be hot, or you think the meat and vegetables are past its use by date say so. An empty plate licked clean, or a plate that was taken away and the remains thrown away don't offer much in the way of evidence and definitely won't get you a refund or reduction
- speaking quietly and politely is far more likely to generate a sympathetic hearing and if worried about attracting attention then ask to speak somewhere quieter and away from other customers; note that endlessly reiterating the complaint won't make it any clearer than the first time
- if you really prefer not to say something at the time then these days most businesses can be contacted on line either directly by email, through forums like this or Trip Advisor. It is possible to simply send a private email and any owner worth their salt will care about you and your experience and take what you have to say seriously.
It may not help you personally but it may help the restaurant and others that eat there in the future.
Tips on how to get the best out of your night out
- don't go to an Indian restaurant and complain you haven't been served pasta
- ask about ingredients and explain allergies and aversions when you order; meals and desserts can often be prepared, cooked and/or presented without bread, nuts, parsley, peppers, tomato, onion, but never ever without garlic...
Tips for restaurant owners and managers
- be honest about what you are offering; if you serve Turkish food then people that don't do "foreign" probably aren't going to enjoy eating there and conversely not everyone wants to eat roast dinners, English breakfast and anything but Turkish food in Turkey
- limit the menu (1) to dishes you know and do well; it isn't possible to please all of the people all of the time and the British are experts on what makes for a good Italian, Indian, Chinese, Thai, British and many other international cuisines so they have high expectations;
- limit the menu (2) to avoid having dishes that are unavailable which is irritating if its already taken fifteen minutes to decide what to order
- limit the menu (3) because it's, a) confusing and b). people really do wonder how it is possible to have a menu as thick as an encyclopaedia and all the meals to be freshly available
- limit the menu (4) for a faster more efficient service
- limit the menu (5) because Gordon Ramsey says so:
- beware the silent customer; an unhappy customer won't catch your eye, will look stiff and awkward, won't be engaged in animated conversation with partner or friends and will talk in a strained and stilted manner to you with reassurances that all is well when it very clearly isn't: and always ask if everything was ok when you notice a plate returning almost as full as it came; but, there are only so many ways and times you can ask if people have enjoyed their meal:
- don't overstretch yourself or your staff and don't be afraid to turn people away if you think the quality of your service or standards might suffer
- be honest about waiting times if you know there is likely to be a delay of more than 20-30 minutes for main courses.
- never be complacent and give all your waiters and chefs both positive and negative feedback; discuss and consider solutions together to avoid the same situation occurring again
- don't even bother trying to explain anything to someone who won't stop talking and every time you open your mouth tells you that they are not going to argue with you: this particular incident was a French man telling me they had waited 15 minutes for their main meal; I thought he must have meant 50 minutes because we average up to 20 minutes for a main course (which is normal for fresh food) to be served. Fast food is available just down the road at MacDonald's and Burger King!
Or, just do what I do - go and fetch Dogan
Extracts taken from notes to self: for my forthcoming novel on running a restaurant and surviving to tell the tale; Insallah! :D
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Nichola, that was a very good and informative post, but for one point: when you say 'never ever without garlic' are you serious?
Along with many people I have seen rave reviews about Mozaik Bahce but have never tried it myself. As a member of an, it would seem, exclusive club, I don't like garlic and always ensure my waiter knows that, whatever i order, I don't want garlic in it. I have always been informed if I've ordered a dish in which garlic is included and so been able to choose an alternative (I tend to know now which dishes to avoid).
Are you telling me that, if I come to Mozaik Bahce I won't be able to find a dish without garlic?
Am about to try King's Garden this evening - hopefully they'll be able to serve this peasant something 'sarimsak siz'!
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Thats Brill Nichola.
xx
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quote:
Originally posted by Fastlady
Nichola, that was a very good and informative post, but for one point: when you say 'never ever without garlic' are you serious?
Are you telling me that, if I come to Mozaik Bahce I won't be able to find a dish without garlic?
Anyone can let us know up to a day in advance and we will prepare the meals of your choice from the menu without garlic.
It would be difficult to do on the night because the meats are marinated in advance and the mezes made in the daytime.
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well i had cold (oven?)chips that had been 'done' for so long that they were like biscuits at the Nil in September. i ate a couple and left the rest and when the waiter picked up the plates and asked how the meal was I told him that i wasn't happy that the chips were like cold biscuits; he tried one and walked saying 'yes, like a biscuit'. Guess where we didn't eat again for the rest of our 19-night stay! What really grated was that up to that point we were lunching there every day that we didn't wander out of Calis. In previous threads i've read how good they are at the Nil, but my experience doesn't reflect that. Perhaps i was too polite, but that night i left thinking that maybe they like the Brits there so much because we don't expect them to do anything when they fail to deliver what we pay for. No apology, just a smug agreement that the food was not good from one of their own.
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Reading through this thread I don't understand why people wait until the end of the meal to say something in complaint and only when the waiter asks if it was ok? Last night we had a meal out and my meat came what I call cremated! They had tried to hide it under the chips but it didn't work as that is the first thing I want to eat. I discreetly found the waitress who served it and told her I was sending it back. It was not a problem and it was replaced and was excellent. The people at the next table were not amused as theirs was the same but said 'nothing'??
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We had a meal at Cafe Soul a couple of years ago now. Mine was some sort of chicken which, as soon as I cut into it could see that it wasn't cooked properly, so we quietly called one of the guys over and showed him. He immediately apologised and promised a 'cooked' replacement.
Cue very loud shouting, and no doubt swearing, from the kitchen for all to hear followed by a smiling waiter with my chicken :-\
Sometimes though if I've just been disappointed with a meal rather than it being under or over cooked I'll just eat up, pay and leave. It can just come down to a matter of taste, one man's meat etc......
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I wonder how much the fact that people are on holiday and don't want any stress whatsoever is a factor.
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Also if you go out at a reasonable time (say arrive at 8pm), you may not actually receive your main course till maybe 9:00 or even 9:30, and if you are starving you might just put up with something you don't particularly rate highly as there won't be many options to eat elsewhere as it gets later...
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The present Mrs H and I do have the odd domestic about what time to go out. I prefer to arrive at the restaurant just before or after 8:00pm because I believe that you have more chance of your main course coming within a reasonable time.
On the timing issue, Mrs H contends out that when Turkish people go out for a meal they expect the experience to last much longer that British tourists.
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I think there is some truth in that - certainly if you want a good turnaround of tables you must do better if your customers are British. I think Turkish diners tend to see the meal as just the middle part of a good night out - nothing wrong with that of course, I used to like it too :)
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Its not often we complain actually. The rare times are when a piece of meat arrives undercooked for Shauns taste and rather than risk that sometimes he avoids ordering it! We just dont go back to a a place. If one of us does have a bad meal we blame our choice of menu item especially if its just one out of two meals which is poor rather than both. To be honest we dont want aggro especially on holiday!
However we are very parochial in our choice of venue and its not often we venture off the beaten track- we very much stick to tried and tested places and where 'everyone knows our name'- that way we are rarely disappointed!
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I have first experience at giving back a meal last week, as while visiting Mimosa for a relaxing day at the beach we decided to go and have a lunch time snack, one of the orders was for a spinach and cheese pancake. the order came and for a start was COLD, then as i started to eat it it thought to myself there is NO CHEESE and NO SPINACH inside, i called the waiter over and asked where the ingredients were and he said there is cheese and spinach inside,i said to him i cant eat it like this and to my shock he just took the plate away and the menus that were still on our table and siad nothing then carried on serving the rest of the customers:(, no would you like anything else !! Oozy was not there that day otherwise i would have spoken to him about the manner of his staff as we have known him for a few years now, then when we went to pay for our bill at the end of the day they tried there hardest to charge us for the pancake, but there was NO WAY we were paying for it, only 5ytl or not.. we never ate again there for the rest of the holiday, and if the staff there continue to treat customers like that if we are not happy they will be loosing more customers.
to me if i have not got what i ordered then i wont eat it or pay for it..
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On the rare occasions we have had a bad meal , it has been just that , a bad meal not just that it was not what we were expecting. After one mouthful we called the waiter who was incredulous that we were not happy , no apology offered and we paid for the drinks we had and left, never to return. I agree with Nichola about limiting the menus, I know the restaurants are all in competition, but this mix of Turkish / Chinese / Indian really annoys me .Even the Yacht in Fethiye with super views and not the cheapest place in town offers spring rolls and shepherds pie! Stick to what you know folks.
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I also have to admit to having a deep set fear of sending food back to kitchens for a second attempt. I'm pretty sure I'm not alone in that either.
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Some years ago, we received such poor service in a prom restaurant that I ended up getting really annoyed with the "shrug-of-the-shoulders" attitude to my complaints by one individual who we happened to know very well.
I shared a coffee with the fellow the following morning during which time he asked if I really was annoyed the previous evening. Why I explained that I was and it was because of his non reaction to my complaints, his response was to say that if he spent his time dealing with all the complaints he received, he wouldn't get anything else done.
Mind you he is (was ?) royalty ;)
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Interesting reading Nicola
You should think about a novel
You have an easy read writing style
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I'm reminded of this topic, you can start from page one here...
http://www.calis-beach.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=43899.10
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If something is undercooked,I do quietly ask for it to be cooked some more. If there is a real problem with my meal I will usually say quietly,politely when it is served If on the other hand,I get the shoulder shrug,rudeness or indifference I make sure I put it on every available forum and advise others not to go there. I do tend to work on a. 3 strikes and you,'re out system. Like if I ate somewhere and the food isn't good,if someone asked us to a do or dinner there I would still go. I believe in customer service, mistakes happen for lots of reasons. It's all about you making the customer feel valued,apologising goes a long way too.