To Complain or not to complain...that is the question?

Last night Evan and I met up with some of his work friends for "Happy Hour" at a bar near Evan's work called Jacob Wirths. It was PACKED but had a GREAT beer list. I started with a pumpkin stout:

It was good, but not as good as the oatmeal one I had last Friday. I think the creaminess of the oatmeal was lost and in its place was kinda a bitter pumpkin taste. I usually like pumpkin, but I was expecting the rich creaminess of the stout I experienced last week. Anyways, it was good and compared to my second beer it was FABULOUS. I am not sure what the name was because it was SOOOOOO packed at the bar we were at and the waitresses were VERY rushed and did not describe the beer to you that well. All they said was: "pumpkin ale or stout?" and when I asked the brand, she looked at me like I was crazy. So, for my second beer I ordered the ale.

GROSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Probably the worst beer of my life! It was SO bad that I could not take a second sip. It tasted like liquid candy. Which may sound good, but in a beer format was the worst taste in the world to me. It was SO sweet that I felt my teeth rotting with every sip. Needless to say I left basically the whole beer on the table. Oh well, you win some you lose some. I just wish I knew the name of the beer, so that sitch doesn't happen again!

After drinks, we headed over to Sonsie for dinner. However, before heading over, I called and confirmed that the wait time was not TOO long. The hostess said it would be 20 minutes for two and there would be no need to put our name in. Once we arrived the wait time, for the dinning room, moved to 30-40 minutes, but the hostess said there was no wait (or a shorter wait) for the Cafe section of the restaurant. The cafe has the same menu, but it is kinda in the middle of the bar and the waiting area and is VERY crowed. So, we opted to wait for the dinning room. After Evan and I got a drink:

Me: a glass of Syrah

Evan: Johnny Walker Black on the Rocks

My wine was pretty good, but not as good as the Liberty Hotel's Cabernet last weekend. However, Evan proclaimed it was one of his favorite glasses of wine. It was VERY smooth and full-bodied.

After about 20-25 minutes the hostess came up and said our table was ready. To our surprise, she took us over to a table in the Cafe! Not only was it in the cafe, but the table was on the outskirts of it. Evan's chair was basically in the main aisle. I asked the hostess why we were sat there and she responded that the dinning room was packed with people with reservations. I was a little confused at this point because I specifically called and was never told that or when I arrived was never told. But Evan said just to sit and enjoy our meal and not complain because we were both starving and it was getting late.

What would you have done at this point?

So, we did not say anything and ordered the Pumpkin Puree Pizza to start (recommended by Laura):

This pizza was VERY good. Very flavorful with a strong, but not to overpowering pumpkin taste! I LOVED it!

Kinda full from the pizza, we decided to split a burger and two veggie sides: Sauted spinach and Green beans stir fried with ginger, oyster sauce, garlic and chili.

The burger was great, but the bun it came in was incredible! However, the string beans were my favorite!!! They was SO, SO tasty!!! I also ordered a second glass of wine: Pinot Noir from the Hitching Post (the wine they drank in the movie Sideways). The wine was good, but not worth 16$.

So, overall the food was very good at Sonsie, but Evan had a terrible dining experience. He was continuously hit by traffic for his entire meal! He said he felt like he was in a packed college bar. It was AWFUL (he said)!! So when we finished our meal, we both felt it was time to complain. We asked to speak to the manager and explained the situation. The manager was apologetic and suggested we have dessert (on him) in the dinning room. Evan and I were kinda fed up and done with the restaurant at this point that we declined his offer, instead just asked if that table could be removed or moved to another location, so another customer did not have to have that same dinning experience. The manager just nodded, but when the bill arrived he comped our whole meal (minus our drinks). That was very generous of him, but we hope he took our advice and moved that table!!!

What do you guys think: Would you have spoken to the manager? If so, at what point would have you asked to speak to him? What do you think the proper etiquette is when complaining? Would you go back to the restaurant if the manager comped the meal?

After dinner, Evan and I met up with some friends at Top of the Hub (the restaurant at the top of the Prudential building) for some sights, drinks, and dancing. I decided to abstained from drinking, but enjoyed chatting, the views, and a little slow dancing with Evan!

Hope you are having a great weekend and thanks for stopping by!