It started with waiting 15 minutes to just find our wait person...but how it ended is much more distressing. After finally receiving our drinks another 15 minutes later we placed our orders. The food actually came out fairly quickly, but after a few bites of salad the horrid discovery was made...AN BEETLE IN THE SALAD peering back. This actually wasn't the most disgusting thing....after tracking down the wait person and showing him the beetle-like insect in shock, he showed it to the next door table where the owner was dining with his wife. He looked at the insect, then glared at me and glibly shrugged it off and said ""Well it is salad"" as if it was absolutely acceptable to find BEETLE in his food. Shame on you! After the wait person took the stomach-turning salad away we never heard a word from the owner, the wait person or anyone about the awful experience. We flagged down the wait person to finally share our utter disappointment - he seemed equally as unconcerned as the owner. I saw the owner leaving the restaurant a few moments later - glaring at me as he departed.
I recently read an article about how hard this economy is hitting the restaurant business and the article described what is going to save this struggling industry. It wasn't specials, it wasn't discounts, it wasn't even the food - it was CUSTOMER SERVICE. From that article, I would say good luck Tempranillo.
This whole situation could have been mitigated by a simple: ""I am so sorry, that is unacceptable. What can we possibly do to make this up to you"" They acted as if we were the ones serving the pest.
So, shame on you Javier Gonzalez-Bringas!
Pros: nice atmosphere
Cons: PESTS in the food
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