The problem with Richmond restaurants...

This weekend, we had a couple of experiences that perfectly explain my issues with so much of the Richmond restaurant scene. On Friday, my mother came into town, and L and I took advantage of the chance to have an adult meal with her while the kid was over at her mom's.

We batted around ideas like Rustica, Can Can and Coast. A few other favorites like Edo's, Balliceaux, and a few others were dropped because of expected crowds. Rustica was dropped for the same reason. The food and service at Rustica are worth a wait, but we didn't want to take the risk of a long wait. When given the choice between Can Can and Coast, my mother chose the latter for a smaller, more intimate experience. We gave a call and were told tables should be clear soon.

When we arrived, there was a party ahead of us at the bar. This wouldn't have been a problem except that Coast is very small, and two parties decided to take their sweet time after they'd paid their checks. We lingered at the bar and had the she-crab soup, which we all declared excellent, and a basket of the fresh bread. My mother and L had glasses of a nice Gruet from New Mexico. I had a Starr Hill IPA. The owner Gary came over and chatted for a bit from behind the bar. The brief wait got longer as the parties continued to linger. When we were finally seated, the owner sent over a plate of calamari to make up for the long wait. He also pulled a nice bottle of Valipolicella Ripasso for us — it wasn't on the wine list, and the price was a very reasonable $32.

When it came to our entrées, the only stumble was that they'd run out of crab cakes. Nonetheless, my mother chose the sea bass and housemade tagliatelle, and L chose the sauteed flounder with tagliatelle instead of potatoes. Both fish were perfectly done and light without being bland. I broke my usual code of not ordering things that I prepare myself and ordered the lamb chops which came a perfect medium rare, with a nice reduction drizzled over the top. For dessert, we opted for a chocolate torta with berries, and it too was right on target.

The overall tab without tip came in at $172. Not cheap, by any means, but it was an "occasion" dinner. The thing is we could easily have spent the same or more at one of Richmond's more central and popular restaurants — and come away far less satisfied. What Coast has going for it includes the quality of ingredients, the simplicity of preparation, and the professionalism of the service. What it loses is location, a problem that the owner's other restaurant solved until it was controversially shut down in November by the new building owner.

This was the high point.

The next day, we decided to do lunch out and dinner at home. After batting around a couple of options, L and I decided we'd try to make our peace with Mezzanine. Unfortunately, Mezzanine apparently changed their hours without changing their website. We decided to try Water Grill — the Richmond Restaurant Group's latest offering. The brunch menu seemed extensive and worth checking out. Once inside, we were seated in the windowed front room — so far, so good. L and I ordered an Allagash White and a Dale's Pale. The server delivered them, declaring confidently that the Dale's was the White and the White was the Pale. When I switched them, she giggled and admitted that she didn't really know the difference between the beers.

We ordered around, the kid getting french toast with sausage on the side, mom getting the crab bisque and an arugula salad, L getting a crab cake Benedict with fruit instead of home fries and an arugula salad to share with me, and a croque madame for me. The soup arrived before anything else, and while it was clear that my mother was being nice about it, the consistency was so thick as to look gelatinous. She didn't finish the bowl. The salads arrived next and were the best part of the meal. The kid's french toast arrived, as did the sausage. She was tired, though, and ate about half of the toast and a couple bites of sausage before declaring herself full. L's crab cake benedict arrived with home fries; thankfully, it tasted good so she ran with it. My croque madame was made with Texas toast that tasted as though it had been in the kitchen a couple days past its freshness date, and the white of the egg was runny when I got to the middle. The kid's sausages were also a little undercooked, which is a pity because they seemed a nice, thick maple sausage. Somewhere in the middle of the meal, the server asked me if I wanted another beer. I told her I might, and to check back with me. About ten minutes later, and as I had decided I wouldn't be getting another beer, a pint arrived.

The tab for this meal: $72. For brunch. This would seem high, even if the meal hadn't been a prime example of Richmond's restaurant mediocrity. As I've experienced with several of the RRG restaurants, not to mention other restaurants around town, the combination of preparation errors and server inexperience made the tab seem like even more of a crime.

The final restaurant experience of the weekend came at Legend Brewery. Now, Legend has struggled for years to balance quality of food and service with the quality of their beer. On the bright side, they've had the advantage of one of the few good outdoor locations in Richmond, and the deck was busy that afternoon. A busy afternoon doesn't excuse bad service, however. I ordered a Hopfest, one of their seasonals, and L asked about a sampler. The server was fidgety and said that she thought they were out of sampler glasses. Again, it was busy, but not that busy. We decided to get my beer, and L would try it to see if she liked it. The kid ordered a quesadilla and a Sprite. This is important because the kid rarely orders without prompting, but the server didn't seem to care about listening to her; she looked at us for the order.

About five minutes later, the hostess arrived with two pints of Hopfest. She looked a little sheepish when we clarified what the order was. Thankfully, L liked the Hopfest, and we were set. The server followed a few minutes later and dropped — literally dropped — the quesadilla between L and me. By this point, we were already saying how much we always wanted to like Legend. The thing is the place was messing up the simplest of things — the beer order was botched, the service was rushed and bad, and the quesadilla came without chips. When we got the server's attention and asked about the chips, she told us that chips didn't come with the quesadilla. L pointed out that the menu said kid's items came with chips, and the server said, "Well I can bring you some, but the quesadilla doesn't come with them." And she turned on her heel. In the end, we left after one beer and a light snack. The server got a $2 tip, and even that seemed too generous.

There is a difference between quick and professional and rude and unwelcoming, and this server crossed that line. Unfortunately, unprofessional and/or uneducated servers are too much the norm around Richmond restaurants. It takes so little to know how to do a job well and how to give people good service that I get more than a little frustrated when someone says a busy day is a good excuse for bad service. There is no reason a server at a restaurant where brunch can run upwards of a hundred dollars should not know which beer she's serving. Likewise, there is no reason a kitchen in such a restaurant should use stale bread and turn out undercooked items. When it comes to Legend, our poor harried server lost out on a decent tip and a higher bill by simply not caring how well she took care of her table. Whether she disliked kids or looked at us and decided we weren't worth the time, I don't know; I just know there's no excuse for such service.

Unfortunately, too often, the norm at Richmond restaurants is weak service and food that doesn't live up to the price. I've complained in the past about the lack of good, moderately-priced neighborhood restaurants where you feel welcomed and can walk away satisfied without breaking the bank. Ultimately, if I could wish one thing for the Richmond restaurant scene, it would be more restaurants like Coast and Rustica rather than more restaurants owned by the same three or four owners or more places that seem to feel like it's okay to be just good enough.

customer service — fails and wins

On our way to Dayton last week, we stopped at Tamarack outside Beckley for lunch. Tamarack is an arts center with food service by The Greenbrier, a resort outside White Sulphur Springs. It's an oasis in the land of bad travel food and cookie cutter service areas. It can also get very busy on big holiday travel days. That Wednesday was no exception.

The layout in the food service at Tamarack is poorly set up for large crowds. One entrance funnels to grill and deli lines set close to each other, and you cannot order from both lines at once. This means you need to have two people waiting in both lines if you want items from each or be willing to order on one line and then wait in another. On busy days when there are also many travelers not accustomed to the system, things can become a bit — um — delayed.

When we stopped on Wednesday, things were busy, and a man was guiding people to which line they should join. I asked him what I should do if I wanted to order in both lines but had a child with me. He took one look at us and asked whether she wanted a pizza. She did. He said he would put the order in for us so we could get in the grill line (the longer of the two). When I'd placed my order, the woman behind the counter told me we needed to wait for the pizza. Instead, our kind concierge overheard and said we could sit down; he'd bring the pizza to us.

It was a small, important gesture that made a long trip easier. Kudos to him and the rest of the staff for that moment.

************

On the flip side is our local Indian takeout/delivery joint. We've ordered from there in the past and generally had good luck. Tonight was a fail in both food and service.

Among the dishes we ordered was Vegetable Korma. On the menu, it is described as fresh vegetables in a cashew and onion sauce. L asked if they could add chickpeas to it, and they obliged. What arrived was a gloppy, creamy dish of cubed carrots, peas, and corn. The sauce wasn't bad, but it was clear that we'd gotten frozen mixed vegetables.

L was reluctant to call, but I decided it was worth it. The man remembered the order and informed me we'd gotten exactly what we'd ordered. I suggested that the vegetables should be fresh if the menu said they were fresh. He countered that they only used fresh vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower and potatoes, that they used frozen mixed vegetables for the korma. Then came the most stunning moment: he made it our fault for not asking what was in the korma. If we had asked what was in it, he would have told us and we could have ordered something else. I stammered that fresh vegetables should mean fresh vegetables and that we weren't happy with the dish. To no avail. I was informed that they had given us the chickpeas like we asked and that we should have asked what else was in the dish. This was just the way they made the korma — apparently in a topsy-turvy world where frozen really means fresh.

I won't name names here in deference to a recent note on food blogs by Brandon Fox, but suffice it to say that our local Indian takeout joint near VCU — on Main Street — will not be getting business from us again any time soon.

Customer Service, how not to do it...

Yesterday, my Richmond Times-Dispatch was not on my doorstep when I woke up. Whether I was missed or it was stolen, there's no telling. I called the circulation department and registered my complaint with the auto phone system. Lo and behold, my doorbell rang half an hour later, and the paper was handed to me.

This morning, I woke to find this note wrapped around my paper:



The note would be one thing. One thing, that is, if the carrier hadn't then called me at 6:45 to make sure I got the note and understood I should call him in the future. Granted the carrier is a contractor, but this doesn't exactly strike me as customer-friendly behavior.

Lord knows I wouldn't have gotten away with anything like that when I was delivering papers in the early 1980s.

Thanks, USAA

Thanks, USAA, for the Customer Service Fail. You promised that my replacement debit card would be FedExed, but apparently the card is not arriving on time and wasn't sent FedEx. So, thanks for keeping me locked out of my slush funds for an extra day or two. Oh yeah, and I forgot the best part: the CSR who promised such great, prompt service? He never logged it in to "The System." So, thanks again for the Customer Service Fail.

Verizon Sucks, part *I've lost count*

I'm liveblogging this, baby...



I am on hold with the fourth person I've spoken to this morning. Supposedly, she finally found the "active" erroneous bill. She has placed me on hold--mind you, by this point, I know every song on Verizon's hold music--in order to speak to billing and find out which way this account needs to be corrected.

She just lost me. The call shipped over to another rep at sales and service. She shipped me back to billing, and the person there shipped me to FiOS.

Patience is a virtue, right?

I have just asked the latest CSR to hand me to her supervisor. When she told me she would need to take my call-back number and have the supervisor call me back , I patiently explained that she was the eighth person I had spoken to this morning and that I very much needed to speak directly to a supervisor at this point.


12:20 p.m. Update

I'm on with person number 10 now after the last rep refused to put me through to her supervisor directly.

Oy.


1:02 p.m. Update

The FiOS account rep I was "walked to" by number 10 has found the whole cycle of bills. It's possible (knock on wood quickly) that she may be able to resolve this mess. Fingers crossed.


1:36 p.m. Update

After three and a half hours, we have a partial resolution. And in theory, I'll be receiving an email confirmation of the partial credits. The rest of the credits will be sorted out--supposedly--over the next few days, and the latest (very nice) CSR has assured me that their "special team" will be resolving any credit issues from this.

Fingers still crossed.

Verizon sucks, pt. 7,001

I shouldn't have to write this post, particularly after the last round we had to go through on this saga. But I do. Because I got another letter from a different collections agency seeking to collect the $505.91 bill that was supposed to have been wiped out in the summer, and then again in October. But somewhere down in the system it wasn't.

This means that I have been trying to get this mess cleared up since July. And that's just the billing portion.

This kind of inattentive idiocy is simply unconscionable and unbelievable. Even the CSRs who have actually tried to help me navigate some of this mess have been befuddled by the complications that seemed to start with a poorly recorded move order and a subsequent call to clear up the billing foul-ups related to that order. Every fucking part of this saga stems from those two phone calls and the inability of those two CSRs to record correct changes.

To wit, and to repeat... for the hell of it:

• I placed the initial order to move my service from my old house to my new house the week before Memorial Day. When I had, in fact, moved and called to find out why the tech hadn't come out to make the switch on the day I had taken off work, I was told that there was no record of the change order. To their credit, they had a tech out on that Saturday to do the install. That tech decided not to install a new router or set-top box because I already had the right ones. Fast forward six weeks...
  
• I receive a bill for service at both my old house and my current house. The bill also includes charges for the equipment. I get on the phone the next day with the business office to clear up the issues. The CSR is very nice and assures me she understands the situation. She understands it so well that she turns off the service at both locations. Madness ensues as I get on the line with CSR after CSR to resolve the situation. This process takes nearly two weeks.
  
• As part of the resolution, I am guaranteed that all of the outstanding bills—including any outstanding bills from before the move—will be closed. I am also given a month's free service. Yet here we are seven months later and the situation is still dogging me.

Words don't cover the absurdity of this. The pity is that I very much like my service, but the inability of the various levels at Verizon to deal effectively with a clear and documented screw-up on their part is patently absurd.

Anybody know how to get up the chain with Verizon FiOS corporate to resolve this?

Oy.

Snotty aka Snobby

We went out to Short Pump Town Center, one of Richmond's "lifestyle centers," this afternoon to check out the Apple store and buy a new pair of Jack Purcell's for me. We went to Saxon's, the Richmond shoe-buying institution, which is where I bought my current pair eleven years ago.

Now, granted, I didn't exactly look polished and moneyed in my t-shirt, shorts, and battered Converse. Nonetheless, I was still a potential (and past) customer, and there was no cause for the salesman to snap at me haughtily when I asked if they still carried the Jack Purcell's. (They did not.) When I followed up with questions about lug-sole black oxfords, the salesman seemed entirely put out to have to answer any other questions. Assholes. I'd rather risk buying shoes online.

When I walked out of there, Saxon had lost a customer. I may buy shoes for Banana there in the future, but I will not subject myself to that kind of attitude from salesmen. Especially when I'm willing to pay for good shoes.

Verizon sucks, pt. 4,732 - the update that shouldn't happen

So, the Verizon mess was resolved in August, right? The service issues were resolved in July. The billing issues--namely double-billing for the period they thought I had two accounts, billing for the wrong services, and billing for equipment that had moved with me--were resolved in August. At least that's the way it was left with Aaron O'Connor, my local CSR who was dealing with the situation. In one series of conversations in mid-August, he eliminated more than $500 in erroneous charges and knocked off part of my next bill.

Or so I thought.

Until I got the bill from the collections agency today.

As it turns out, the main billing at Verizon apparently never got the message that I didn't owe them this money. Somehow, though, I never got notices or statements about the fact that this was still active. The sick irony is that I do remember the official notice on the billing site that my account had been credited--and I can no longer pull up this documentation because the account is closed.

I spent 15 or 20 minutes on the phone with the collections people earlier. When she described my payment options, I blew up. Not a good idea. Thankfully, she let me calm down and listened to my description of the whole stupid saga. Sadly, there is nothing she can do unless Verizon admits their error and pulls the account. This means I have to get back on the phone with them tomorrow and try to resolve this. Aaron O'Connor gave me his cell phone number during the earlier chapters of the saga. That may be my only saving grace in all of this.

One can hope, right? One can also hope that at some point this whole saga which began because two of their CSRs fucked up--first, the guy who processed my initial move order, and second, the woman who screwed up when they needed to shut off the other account retroactively. Those are the names I'd really like to have. They owe me apologies.

Oy.

A customer service winner...

On Saturday evening, I discovered that my bike had been stolen. It was a nice bike, a '99 Trek 6500 with a Topeak child seat mounted on the back. I'd traveled with the bike since '99 and enjoyed it. And no matter how carefully I locked it last weekend, someone had good enough bolt cutters to cut the cable and take the bike and the helmets on the other side of the porch. (That's the sad part, because it means someone pointedly stole from a child.)

Anyway, I called the police when I realized it was gone. Then I called USAA. Over the next couple days, I made a formal police report and gave a claims report to USAA. Today--less than five days later--USAA deposited a settlement to my savings account.

They deserve kudos for prompt, effective service. Now Banana and I can begin commuting by bike again. Less than a week later.

Kudos.

so that erroneous charge...

has posted to my bank account. Bar tab: $17.78. Erroneous tip: $164.22. Correct tip: $4. Charges to my USAA account: $21.78 and $182.

Supposedly, the bar/restaurant manager is working to correct it. Stay tuned to see how good Embassy Suites is to their word.

Verizon, the saga continues

We are into day 7 of the Verizon comedy of errors now. Miss Green in Maryland has been working hard to get the situation wrapped up. She has involved her managers. A tech in Richmond assured me today that he would get things cleared up.

File this under "Computers are great until they're not" because apparently the only hitch is that the turnover of service has to pass through "the system" before the matter is fully resolved. I envision "The System" as some sadistic robot out of a sci fi novel, laughing at the mounting frustration of his human nemesis.

Meanwhile, I think I'd like an apology from the CSR who started all of this.

Verizon sucks, pts 5 and beyond

Note: I am still using poached wireless.

Ms. Green, my kindly CSR, assured me on Friday evening that everything was in place except for a final go-ahead on the TV. This would happen Monday morning, she assured me. I wasn't happy about having to go the weekend without service, but since the weekend promised to be busy and Banana would be with mommy, I dealt with it. I also had no choice.

Today--Monday--I left a couple of kind messages for Ms. Green, asking for updates. There was no return call this time. By 6:30 when we returned home from grocery shopping and what-not, I called again since the router still indicated no service. This time, Ms. Green's direct number was busy. Not a good sign.

I got on the phone with FiOS again to try to clear up matters. Or at least get a status update. The first CSR I get listens patiently, finds the account, and puts me on hold. a few minutes later, there is a click and the hold music changes drastically. I wait a few more minutes until I hear a recorded voice asking me to hold for a representative. Amazing that they managed to lose me as I'm trying to clear this up--again. I call back and explain the situation again. The CSR goes into another system and finds no records since the disconnect on 6/12. I rant. I really rant. Then I apologize when I remember it's not his fault.

At the end of the call, it is left that I need to call back in the morning again and speak to one of the account representatives.

And to think: This all started a week ago because I wanted to pay my bill.

Verizon, pt. 4

The latest CSR spent 45 minutes on the phone with me this morning trying to resolve the issues. She managed to track down and figure out where all the various orders happened. She also learned that the CSR yesterday understood me to say that I wanted to cancel all of my service--which is hard to believe. As the call ended, she gave me her name and direct line with the assurance that she would get the new account set up. She also agreed with my request that I not be billed for my service between May 29 and yesterday as a courtesy for the trouble. She also said she would call back when it was all resolved. (Where have I heard that before?)

Those were the assurances. Anybody want to place bets on whether this is, in fact, the resolution of it?

UPDATE: She actually called back! The situation isn't thoroughly resolved yet, but at least she called with new information.

Verizon, pts 2 & 3

Note: I am writing this from poached wireless access.

Pt. 2

So, I called Verizon after I got to work this morning to resolve the matters. After several minutes of explaining the problem to a FiOS CSR, he contacted billing and transferred me to them.

The CSR in billing asked me to explain the situation again. I did so, at which point she told me that I had never ended my service at the old address. We went around on that issue for a few minutes until she understood what had happened. At that point, she assured me she would issue the cancellation for my old service. I carefully asked her whether that would mean the billing issues would be resolved and my current service at the new house would remain intact.

She assured me it would.

Pt. 3

Banana and I arrive home, and Banana wants to watch Angelina Ballerina. (She has just come from her first ballet lesson.) I flip on the TV, and realize that there is no service.

I get on the phone with FiOS, go through the story again, and the CSR finds my account easily this time. Unfortunately, both accounts had disconnect orders issued. At this point, I am just as amused as I am irritated. He puts me on hold for several minutes, comes back and confirms the service I should have (data and TV) and where I should have that service. He tells me he is going to resolve it, and that he will call me back.

fast forward two hours

I call back to find out the status of the issue. I go through the story with the latest CSR, and he is very sympathetic. He goes through the various accounts and orders that now exist, but can find no record of this afternoon's phone call. Great. Just fucking great.

This phone call, the latest phone call, ends with him telling me to call in the morning when the billing office is open.

Stay tuned...

customer service, verizon, billing... and fun

When we moved, the FiOS moved cleanly and the install was relatively painless. Six weeks in, however, there are some fascinating billing issues coming up.

First off, they are billing me for phone service I no longer have. Second, they are billing me for a wireless router, except that the tech used my old wireless router. So I am being billed for a service I am not using and a wireless router that I already received for free. Brilliant!

I called into FiOS customer service this evening, even though I knew the billing office was closed, to find out what they showed for services and accounts. Apparently, there are two accounts still open for me. Stay tuned whether the billing people can actually get this wrapped up in the morning and remove close to $250 in erroneous billings.

Travel

So, we cruised back from Dayton today after my mother's grande fete. Anna was grumpy, but her mood cleared by the time we landed in Philly.

We landed in Philly with some time to spare on our connection. I thought we should stop for some food, but the lines were long--and my gut said we should move on quickly to the gate before taking any extra time. When we got there, the Richmond tag was on the wrong gate--18 when our tickets said 22. Pretty soon, it was clear that US Airways was battling some kind of massive SNAFU.

Apparently the plane that was supposed to go to Richmond had also been booked for BWI, and we were now pawns in a stand-off between two CSR managers for the airline. One wanted to move us to a 4:00 flight, on which there might not be enough seats. The other wanted to follow the original schedule, in which case the BWI passengers would actually be put on a bus headed for Baltimore.

Both groups of passengers milled around the gate areas, and I decided lunch would be the fruit and nuts we had with us. There was too much chance of losing the flight all together if we walked away. The two groups alternately commiserated--of course I understand or yeah, you could rent a car faster--and faced off--that's supposed to be our plane.

In the end, roughly a half hour after we were supposed to have left, the CSR who had advocated for Richmond threw open the doors and called out that all Richmond-bound passengers should board now, parents traveling with small children first.

It was a rickety, old propeller plane, but we didn't care. We made it home.

Wal-Mart is Hell

I've known this for years. In fact, I can't remember the last time I actually entered and bought something at a Wal-Mart. Well, in the aftermath of the shooting, I received a WM giftcard. I'd been trying to figure out what to do with it until last night when we landed in Ohio, and I realized we had no car seat for my mother's Quattro.

This morning I buzzed over to the local Superstore for a quick trip to pick up a booster seat, a couple of movies I'd promised Banana, and a few odds and ends. It was supposed to be a quick trip. Supposed to be.

More than an hour later, I'd finally tracked everything down. The silly part: I still have a $5.12 balance on the giftcard.

I will add this: I'd forgotten how surly WM employees can be--especially when they're bitching in front of customers.