DON'T SUCK AT BOTH...
On Saturday night we went out to celebrate Susan’s birthday and our friend Kelly’s birthday. There was a group of 6 of us, the Sipe’s and Gaylen and Pete, and we had been planning on going to dinner for the last week or so.
There are so many restaurants in downtown Frederick that we absolutely LOVE. Many high-quality restaurants with great service and great food.
That is a problem when you only go out to do a ‘fancy’ dinner every quarter or so, as there are so many choices that we have a hard time deciding. We do our favorite Wags and LaPaz when we want something quick and when we are with the kids.
Saturday, we wanted something a little more ‘fancy’ and we had our choices of some great restaurants as JoJo’s, Firestones, Tasting Room, Pistarro’s…
Ultimately, we went for the unknown, a new Italian Restaurant called Bella Trattoria.
We met at the bar and had a drink first. Then got seated. The restaurant was about ½ full, which on a packed downtown with so much going on including Octoberfest, should have been a sign but we figured it was because it was a new restaurant.
Upon sitting, the server came to deliver waters and drop off menus. A few minutes later she came back to get our appetizer order and the 6 of us ordered another round of drinks. With a half full restaurant and 2 people sitting at the bar area you would expect service to be prompt.
Well, it wasn’t.
Twenty minutes later we received our drinks along with our appetizer of garlic bread and calamari.
Then it was another 15 minutes until we saw our waitress again checking in on us and to order our food. It wasn’t like she was that busy, it just appeared she was non-existent.
Now we are at strike one… The service is not GREAT. Not horrible and definitely had worse, but it wasn’t very good, PROFESSIONAL grade service.
With this strike against it Bella could go one of two ways. The food could be phenomenal, and we could strike up the service to being a newer restaurant, inexperienced staff, maybe the waitress was off her game.
This is what humans do…
We can rationalize and make excuses for poor performance and execution.
We get our food. To be fair ---- (nevermind that’s what humans do, and I’m not going there)… Our food SUCKED… It was bland, not flavorful. Susan and Kelly got the Bolognese and it was ‘ok’ but they said it didn’t compare to the Bolognese that they would get at other restaurants. I ordered the Carbonara and it was absolutely uneatable. The pasta and sauce had a ‘chalky’ taste. I had Pete taste it and he agreed that it was horrible!
Now, on top of the service not being good, the food was horrendous!
Strike 2… and for me, I will never go there again. Not with so many other HIGH-QUALITY restaurants in downtown Frederick, Bella will not be on our short list again, EVER!
In business you can’t be bad at customer service and product quality. If I was this bad in EITHER service or quality I wouldn’t be in business. Word would spread and business would cease.
Remember the McDonald’s coffee spill lawsuit? When you are a large corporation with thousands and thousands of locations you can have a slip up and it not effect the overall business. When you are a smaller business you can to EVER afford a slip up on service or quality.
We strive to deliver on both, ALWAYS! I feel bad for Bella, because maybe they can fix one or the other, but I doubt they will be able to fix both and ultimately this restaurant will FAIL!