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Review content:
Last night we went to Palo Santo with friends who had been there before and had a great meal. We were all very excited to try this eclectic, pan South American cuisine. Things started off well, the appetizers were delicious, the recommended wine was great, we all had our first tastes of our entrees and everyone was happy. I ordered the turkey mole, and the mole sauce was just right. But then, as I started eating it I realized that I had stuck my fork in a large, fatty piece of turkey skin. I pulled that to the side and went for meat, more turkey skin. By the time I had pulled it all out, more than half of the protein in my dish was this flaccid, rubbery, fatty turkey skin and I was left with only a few pieces of actual turkey meat. I called the waitress over, she apologized and said she'd handle it.
This is when the awful, incredible part of the dinner began; Chef and owner Jacques Gautier came out - we didn't realize he was the owner at the time. He informed me that when he makes the mole stew he puts all the turkey pieces in and can't help what gets plated! I said, but surely you don't mean to serve a $19 dish that's 75% inedible turkey skin and fat. He said ""I'm happy to take the dish back and give you something else on the menu"", I said ""but I like this dish, the sauce is really wonderful and when I get a piece of turkey it's great. I just would like all turkey. Can you just take the dish back and put some more turkey on it?"" When I said that I liked the sauce he said, ""fine then we're done here and started to walk away"". I continued to protest.
He refused to take the dish back to replace the turkey skin with turkey. He said, and I swear I'm not making this up, ""if I take more turkey from the pot to give to you, that won't be fair to the next customer."" He absolutely refused to give me a decent amount of turkey meat and the only thing he would do is to give me a different dish, which I ended up having no choice but to do.
Now, either he really intends to charge almost $20 for a plate of turkey fat and skin which is criminal, or this was the worst customer service ever. Since being home, I've read some other reviews and it seems that my experience wasn't abnormal. This guy is totally arrogant and cannot deal with even the most perfectly reasonable criticism of his food. I have never in my life had this customer service response in a restaurant, particularly from the owner! My recommendation: if you're in Park Slope, a place with a huge number of really good restaurants, why waste your time here?
Pros: Terrible customer service from the arrogant chef/owner
Cons: Most of the food is good
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