Friday, November 14, 2008

HOW DO YOU GET A DRINK AROUND HERE?


Gary and I play snooker on Thursdays and generally have a couple of glasses of wine afterwards at the local wine bars.
I've written before about the poor service at one of the locals and why we made a shift. We had been going for some time to Diablo's but it closed down and after a long period of being renovated opened as a Greek bar and restaurant. The new owners have spent a lot of money changing things (why they do this I can never work out. They think that a different set up, name and paint job will attract and retain customers. What they need to concentrate on is soul and service).
Anyway, when the new one opened we gave it a try in I think the first week of opening. They were very disorganised, not knowing the wine selection nor the prices and taking a long time to serve. We put up with that giving them the benefit of the doubt attributing it to teething troubles. Every odd week now for several months we have gone there and things have hardly improved. It is always empty. The staff still don't know the wine offerings or the prices. The wines available by the glass are not listed in the expensive printed wine menu. The management usually cluster together having conversations or arguments leaving the invariably new staff member to try and man the bar. Last week it was all too hard trying to order a glass of wine so I just has a beer. This week I said to Gary enough is enough and that we should go somewhere else. He convinced me to give it one more try which we did. We successfully ordered the first glass of wine each although it took a while getting it paid for. When I went back into the bar to order another two glasses of wine the inexperienced yet capable young woman behind the bar had gone and an inexperienced and incapable new young woman was behind the bar. I ordered , for sake of simplicity the same wine I had had previously - the Matua Judd Estate Chardonnay 07 (good wine). The bar person went to the beer spigot and said "which beer?". I pointed out that it wasn't beer I wanted, that I wanted a glass of wine and pointed to the bottle in the fridge telling her that it was the top bottle on the left. When she responded again "which beer?" I decided that it was never going to get better especially when she said "sorry it's my first night working here". All this was in earshot of 3 management once again huddled in conversation.
OK, I felt sorry for the girl, probably a student, but I was a customer buying $12 glasses of wine. The guys running this place spend a fortune on decor but employ cheap labour and don't bother training them. Their conversations are probably along the lines of "I wonder why we don't get many customers?"
We left and got a glass of wine across the road (at the other place that takes ages to serve customers).

10 comments:

Richard (of RBB) said...

If it was my bar, I'd tell you and your friend to fuck off. Why? Because only wankers drink wine. The poor young lady thought she was serving men - it was reasonable to assume you'd want bear and not a girls' drink.
Comeinyourpants.

Hey, it's fun prentending to be ciyp!

THE WINE GUY said...

"Do you want some Moose with that Bear Sir?"

Richard (of RBB) said...

Smart rs!

Richard (of RBB) said...

This is your second post about having trouble getting served in bars. Maybe you're short and the bartender simply can't see you when you stand at the bar?

Richard (of RBB) said...

Well, often there's a simple explanation.
I mean, maybe when you ordered wine and the barmaid wanted to give you beer - maybe you were mumbling. Poor girl, trying to communicate with some mumbling drunken old fart of a wine guy!

Richard (of RBB) said...

I think that's why wine tasters are supposed to spit the stuff out. You should have asked for a bucket.

THE WINE GUY said...

Finished?

Richard (of RBB) said...

No, I am not Finnish.

THE WINE GUY said...

POSTSCRIPT
This Thursday we went to a bar down the road (the dark and dingy one) although tonight with daylight saving it was a bit brighter.
Service was instant (we were the only customers). The barmaid was very pregnant and overcharged me by a dollar. Gary said "its OK she's pregnant" What has that got to do with it? The first glass I had was a Waipara Hills Riesling 2007 (kabinett style). It was so nice I had it again for my second.
Will we go there again next week. Yes, probably.

Richard (of RBB) said...

You should take comeinyourpants - now that he's your business partner. I can promise you that he'll find something to moan about.

ps. word verification was "groanalot".