A top restaurant has hit back at a 'rude' customer who moaned about not being able to enjoy their dessert on a Tripadvisor review - despite ordering it just minutes before their taxi was due to arrive. The guest at The Forge, based in Chester, wrote that nothing had materialised by the time their taxi came to pick them up.
They claimed that they waited 25 minutes for their dessert, leaving enough time for it to arrive when they ordered. But the restaurant clapped back with a lengthy response and outlined that the customer had actually ordered it at 10.11pm and ordered their taxi for just a few minutes later.
The restaurant added in their savage response that the guest had ordered a soufflé. When made fresh in a restaurant, as it was at this one, they can take around 15-20 minutes to prepare, Cheshire Live reports.
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And when they complained, they were offered the dessert on the house, but instead left as the taxi they had ordered had arrived. The angered customer went on to say that they felt pressured to leave after seeing kitchen staff cleaning the floors by 10pm.
However, the management explained that they did this as standard practice as they could not afford to make their staff stand around while they waited for them to finish. Not only that, but that the guests were seated far away from the kitchen, so weren't affected by the staff beginning close down.
They also claimed the guests had already been given a complimentary bottle of Prosecco as an apology for a booking error when making their reservation. The Forge steakhouse and grill is ranked in the top five restaurants in Chester, with a rating of five stars based on 255 reviews.
The restaurant's response in full
"Thank you for writing a review of The Forge. Unfortunately, what you have stated as above, isn't entirely true.
"Our booking platform automatically sends out an email asking for a table back after 2 hours however, we would never need a table back for this time and have never had this issue brought up by any of our other guests. Your main issue that night was not the service, it was that we started to close down the kitchen by way of mopping the floors from 10pm.
"As we are an open kitchen, and as was explained to you, we cannot (especially in these current financial times), have the team waiting for our last guests to leave, before closing down. I have worked in many restaurants and fine dining establishments, and I can assure you we are not the only ones who start closing down from 10pm in our kitchen.
"You took this sign of closing down as to feel rushed however, you were also seated the furthest away from the kitchen.
"You ordered your desserts at 22.11 and ordered a souffle which takes 15 minutes minimum to cook as stated on our dessert menu. You had also ordered your taxi at 22.15 as you took this from the automated email and didn't book them at 22.30 as stated above. You proceeded to be rude and rush the staff for your desserts which we couldn't create any faster. You were still offered these desserts on the house as a gesture of goodwill however, left at 22.23 and declined these due to your taxi waiting outside.
"As discussed on the phone, I felt we had gone out of our way to give great service and to compensate where you felt we hadn't, it was not however, our fault if you couldn't enjoy your complimentary desserts as you had to leave.
"An apology was given several times but this didn't seem sufficient, resulting in this review. We are a small business trying to come out strong from a pandemic which greatly impacted our business and reviews like these seem unfair."
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