WTF? This Has Never Happened Before
WTF - Never Happened Before:
Three of us went here to play golf and got referred to this restaurant by a local musician who played at the restaurant we went to the night before and was playing at Alloro tonight. We were joined by a long time Bandon resident and were being served by an extremely friendly, knowledgable and professional server who engaged us in stories about our various golf experiences. The restaurant is small and one of our group, who owns and runs a small restaurant in Maine was 'animated' about the restaurant and his experiences playing to golf courses at Bandon Dunes, and was conversing with the musician, who seemed grateful that we had come to this restaurant based on her recommendation. Midway before our meal, before our main dishes had been served (after a lengthy wait), one of our servers advised our table that we were being 'too loud' and to quiet down, which we thought we had. The member of our group who had been 'warned' about being too loud showed our server a draft of a FB post -- "I own a restaurant in Maine, and the food is great, but the chef just told me to be quiet." whereupon the owner came to our table and told us we had to leave and threatened to call the police. When asked by the member of our group who lives in Bandon what the problem was, the owner got very belligerent and then called the police, while telling us we had to leave immediately. Both of the other servers and the musician shook their heads and rolled their eyes, appearing very embarrassed. (The musician apparently told the owner she would never play there again.) After more back and forth, the owner told our friend to leave the restaurant and called the police -- for what? being too loud and appreciative of the music?
I have been in related food service businesses for over 20 years, and In addition to our friend who currently owns and operates a cafe in Maine, another of our group has been insuring restaurants for the last 40 years, and we all understand the stresses of running a restaurant. The fourth member of our group, being a local, is very familiar with all of the local dining establishments in the area. All four of us said we had never experienced anything remotely like what happened. This owner went completely off the rails tonight.
As for the food itself. It was good, not great, and the service (but not our server) was quite slow. Our server was excellent, the ambiance was very pleasant, and we were all having a very enjoyable experience until the owner flipped out. Both the menu and wine list are solid, but not exceptional. There are plenty of local restaurants in Maine, where I live, that are similar, and offer great dining experiences, which this seemed very similar to until the owner chose to make a huge scene.
For anyone who has read this far, all I can say is that this owner should not be running a restaurant if she can't handle a scene like tonight. She was an embarrassment to her staff and rude and confrontational to her patrons. You be the judge whether you want to spend your money in an establishment where the owner is so disrespectful of both her employees and customers.
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570 reviews
