Pretty crazy restaurant story concerning Grace’s Table of White Plains, N.Y.
I’ll divide it into chunks.
• Chunk 1 •
My sister-in-law’s name is Leah. She posted this on Yelp! a few days back …
On January 13, I made a reservation for Grace’s Table for Valentine’s Day with a Groupon that was valid for Sunday thru Friday. Valentine’s Day is a notoriously difficult date to get a table, which is why I made the reservation early. THE GROUPON HAD NO RESTRICTIONS OTHER THAN AVAILABILITY, but just in case, in my reservation (done online) I indicated that I intended to use a Groupon and should they have an issue with that, to let me know. They accepted my reservation, which I was required to confirm.
Three weeks later, when it will be impossible to get a reservation anyplace else, someone called to tell me they would not honor the Groupon. I asked to speak to the manager/owner, a Mr. Trama, and was told to call back the following night. I dutifully did and Mr. Trama refused to speak to me and, through his employee, said he would not honor the Groupon even though it has NO EXCLUSIONS and he had already ACCEPTED MY RESERVATION. I contacted Groupon, who confirmed the owner was refusing to honor the Groupon; the reason they provided was that they decided to do a pre-fixe menu on Valentine’s Day and so won’t allow the Groupon.
Honestly, if they has planned to do prix-fixe menu, they should have put that exclusion in the Groupon, which simply says: “Valid only for option purchased. Reservation required; subject to availability. Dine-in only. Not valid for lunch Saturday or Sunday. Menu subject to change seasonally.”
To me, this is simply a menu change. Many other Groupons specifically exempt holidays and that is what they should have done. Alternatively, they should have declined my reservation when I made it (referencing the Groupon), rather than waiting two weeks. And finally, when a potential customer asks to speak to a manager about a decision he has made, he should speak to that person! So long short, I will never grace “Grace’s Table” with my presence and will encourage everyone I know to do the same. I have no interest in ever dining at a restaurant where the owner makes a decision to decline a previously accepted reservation but refuses to speak to the customer.
•••
• Chunk 2 •
The restaurant responded with this:
•••
• Chunk 3 •
She then received this …
• Chunk 4 •
The morals of the story:
1. I will never, ever, ever, ever eat at Grace’s Table. And you shouldn’t, either.
2. If you’re the owner of a restaurant, pick up the phone and give a customer her five minutes.
3. Don’t mess with my sister-in-law.
4. Cunt isn’t a very nice word.
