Korean Job Discussion Forums

rickvaughn · Last edited by rickvaughn on Sat Oct 20, 2007 8:26 am; edited 2 times in total

My very good Irish friend and his Korean girlfriend were up in Seoul today and decided to eat dinner at 3 Alley Pub. He's been a customer for 2-3 years there and has ever had anything but good things to say about the place and their service. Today, however, was an exception.

The waitress asked them in English what they would like to order; he ordered a cheeseburger for himself and an order of salmon for his girlfriend (she doesn't eat beef). The waitress asked how they wanted the salmon cooked, the girlfriend tried to explain in Korean but the waitress would only hear English (kind of odd behavior for a Korean I think).

Anyways, about an hour later, their food order comes back - burger for my friend, and a STEAK for his gf. He tried to explain that this was the wrong order, but the waitress would not hear of it. He was wrong and she was right. Didn't matter that his girlfriend would not eat steak, and had ordered salmon.

So he asked to see the manager. A young guy in his late 20's/early 30's comes out and tells them that they are wrong and the waitress is right, this is what they ordered. My friend said they ordered salmon, no way they were paying for a steak, and he wanted to talk to the owner.

Young guy's words: "I AM THE OWNER!" (said with a huge sneer)

At this point they were told to leave the restaurant.

My friend hadn't even finished his drink.

How embarrassing is that for the customer?
So instead they went to Outback Steakhouse, but were not happy at all with the way they were treated at 3 Alley, and it pretty much ruined the rest of their day in Seoul.

Is customer satisfaction so hard to achieve around here?

JongnoGuru · Joined: 25 May 2004 Location: peeing on your doorstep

무슨 "horrible"? That's the everyday top-notch service we've all come to expect from the good ol' ThrAP. Very Happy

Roch · Joined: 24 Apr 2003 Location: Seoul

The Great Wall of Whiner · Joined: 24 Jan 2003 Location: Middle Land

He obviously did talk to him about it, and the consequence was being told to leave the restaurant.

Thanks, OP. One less restaurant of many to chose from the next time I visit Seoul.

hogwonguy1979 · Joined: 22 Dec 2003 Location: the racoon den

spliff · Joined: 19 Jan 2004 Location: Khon Kaen, Thailand

tzechuk · Joined: 20 Dec 2004

faster · Joined: 03 Sep 2006

babtangee · Posted: Sat Oct 20, 2007 6:16 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the heads up on where not to go, OP.

renzobenzo1 · Joined: 08 Sep 2007 Location: Suji, Yongin

The customer should always be right in these situations....

However, I was in there last weekend and it seemed top-notch.

We were at Helios up the road for dinner on the same night and the club sandwich had beef instead of chicken in it as requested so they swapped it for us no problems.

Bibbitybop · Joined: 22 Feb 2006 Location: Seoul

The ongoing discussion in the duplicate thread in the General Discussion forum is much better than this discussion.

caniff · Joined: 03 Feb 2004 Location: All over the map

I went there once. Bunch of jerks working there. Why people give them their hard-earned money is beyond my understanding.

There's plenty of better places to go to.

Roch · Joined: 24 Apr 2003 Location: Seoul

rickvaughn

peppermint · Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2007 5:32 am Post subject:

It was bad service at a restaurant, don't make an international incident of it