After being long-time customers of the Powerhouse restaurant in Puyallup, that suddenly came to a halt on December 8th when my wife and I were kicked to the curb, by some of the rudest managerial behavior we have ever seen in our personal combined 30-years of restaurant business experience or in any type of business as far as that goes.
Picture our scenario:
We come into the restaurant, and as what typically happens in "normal" restaurant situations, a nice kid comes up and tells us “it will be a couple of minutes, ” which was fine, they were full... It's Friday night... We understand.
He put our name on the waiting list, and left. Shortly after that, 4 other customers walk into the restaurant and a waitress greets them and immediately ushers them to a seat. My wife asks her "what's going on?" Why do they get seated before us?" She then begins to tell us in a "don't you stupid idiots get it?" fashion that “it is their policy to seat 4-tops before 2-tops if they’re available first, even if the 2-top was waiting first. So my wife asked to see the Manager (to see if that was really their asinine policy).in our case it really wouldn't have mattered about the specifics of who was a 2-top or a 4-top, we wouldn't have sat in one of their 2-top tables anyway, (they are those really tiny booths, which I hate). Next here comes the manager, which is when the real magic happened. This so-called manager who approached us like some kind of WWF wrestler or better yet, strip-club bouncer, with his arms in the air and with a very boisterous, condescending, aggressive tone asking "So, what's the problem, (as he looked at my wife) Ma'am?" we proceeded to tell him how we thought it was a little unfair to seat the other table first, since we were there first. He basically stopped us in mid-conversation and told us he was too busy to bother with this, and we need to deal with it or leave.
"Have a good night." and walked away as we sat there with our jaws on the floor.
What would you folks do? Please email a reply to this ad so I can gather your responses and send them to the restaurant owner, that way he can see just how much his management staff is concerned about his investment. Even though we might have not spent as much as a 4-top, however, our money is still money and if this restaurant is anything like some of the restaurants I’ve ran in the past, then they probably do have a payroll to meet, food cost to cover, utilities to pay. The last time I knew, it was the customer who met those needs.
You know what? This place does have a cool little atmosphere going on, but the food and sports pub style menu is mediocre at best, but if they think they can piss away customers like that, then that is their choice; my money comes hard-earned and there are just too may restaurants out there who will appreciate it. My wife and I don't necessarily feel we need to bring an entourage with us to get better seating privileges. Boy! What is happening with restaurants now days? Wow! Business in Down-town Puyallup must be totally wonderful, to not have to worry about something as trivial as "customer service."
Our hope is that this business and others like them do not deserve your business either; maybe with the voices of many these dipsticks will get a clue of who the customer is. Hello... Your paycheck!!!
Nick and Helena
Puyallup, WA
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