A DISAPPOINTING BDAY DINNER AT THE RED HOUSE

Very few things in life will anger me enough to actually write to someone and complain. Actually, I've never taken this action at a restaurant before. My normal course of action is just to never go again and to tell everyone I know never to visit said restaurant. But after my birthday dinner at the Red House, i've learned that one thing can anger me enough- seriously crappy service and rudesness to my friends. And so, let me retell the story of dinner, and what actions i took afterwards.

Let me start by saying that the Red House used to be one of my favorite restaurats in Boston. Not because they have incredible, amazing food. I'm not going to say that. But they do have an excellent menu, prepared well, in a cozy setting and with reasonable prices. Which is why i chose to reserve a private dining room there to celebrate my bday. I made the reservation nearly 3 weeks in advance, just to make sure we had it all set and of course, invited all my friends.

Well, when we arrived, we were only expecting around 10 people to show, but ended up with 14. So we all squeezed in around the table, and since we're all friends, it wasn't a big deal. But here's what was a bad signal, the minute we stepped into the room, the waiter seemed to be unhappy with us. I'm not sure why. Maybe he had a bad party in front of us, which is really no excuse, but whatever it was, he wasn't happy to be there. And had i been a smarter person, I would've asked for a new waiter immediately, but I had never had to that before and also I was, surrounded by friends and didn't want to make a scene. As people arrived, he didn't bring any bread or snacks for the ppl waiting, never checked in on us and basically left us for a full half hour. In the end, Leah had to get up and grab him so that we could order. These are just minor annoyances, but it gets worse.

So we all began to order. Many of us ended up getting duck and lamb. At any rate, at the end, my friend Sue Min tried to order a drink for her husband, and the waiter actually talked back to her and said very rudely "I already asked if anyone wanted a drink." (he had, once, before everyone had gotten there). That was not cool. We had to ask for bread repeatedly and as dinner progressed, he was in general really hostile. Ok, onto some of the food. Here's a pic of my
appetizer, which was seared scallops with mushrooms. You'll notice that it's off kilter because the waiter basically threw the plate down in front of me when he served me.This was a pretty good scallop dish. Not amazing, but prepared well and I liked the large amount of mushrooms. Here's my sister's crab salad. I gotta say, this appetizer was definetly a big winner. Fresh, bright flavors and a very generous portion. I liked it a lot.Oh, and here's a pic of Sue Min's mushroom phyllo appetizer, which I've also ordered before and enjoyed.Here's a pic of my entree, the duck, which i almost always order at the Red House. One of the great things about the Red House is that you can get a lot of the entrees in an appetizer size portion. Which encourages sharing and trying out new things. So this is actually the appetizer size of the duck. It was moist and tasty, which is why I always order it.

And here's a pic of my sister's risotto. I think it has squash in it and lobster. At any rate, I liked it a lot, also, and they were very generous with the lobster, so that was good.

Our waiter was MIA for a lot of the time, so by them time dessert rolled around, we'd been there so long and in general, the entire experience of having to deal with this guy was such a pain that none of us ordered. (and you all know how i'm a big fan of dessert, even just to see the menu.)

At the end, when we did pay the check, we used 2 credit cards, which the waiter never returned to us. we had to ask for those back. And furthermore, for all his crappy work, he got an 18% tip. I would've given him around 5, had i been given the opportunity.

So what means of retribution were available to me, as a customer? Well, had a manager or any restaurant staff asked how our dinner was when we were leaving, I would've told them. But there wasn't anyone. So instead, I typed up a letter, detailing my complaints, and promptly faxed it to the Red House the following day. I never heard anything back. Now, as a business owner, if anyone bothered to write or call in a complaint, I respond immediately. Because most people never complain, they just never come back. A response from management can make up for a lot and the fact that the Red House never responded is a reflection of how they value their customers. So I took the grassroots approach, and posted said letter onto Chowhound's message board. You can find it here. http://www.chowhound.com/newengland/boards/boston/boston.html. Oh and don't worry, I won't be stopping there, I've still got citysearch and boston.com to post to.

So in closing, great service can make up for mediocre food. And can make me come back. But for me, bad service can never make up for a dining experience, no matter how stellar the food is.