Townhouse

When eating at a restaurant it is either a hit or miss. A great experience, or, simply not. There are several contributing factors to the latter, albeit, great service has the potential to turn a bad experience around.

People want to be recognized. If our core needs aren’t met it can lead to a battle of the egos. Great managers understand this – they recognize the way their guests expect to be treated and do everything in their power to make it happen. People make mistakes, orders get messed up, food comes out cold or badly prepared but if these situations are dealt with appropriately, almost every time your guest will walk away happier.

It is not very often that I have sat down and been blown away at the “swanky facade” of a restaurant. A place that has the makings of a success, but somewhere or other falls short. Townhouse looks great, has an awesome vibe when you walk in, and for some reason that fails me, is always packed with people. Once the staff has finished their own conversation you might be lucky enough to be served, but even then the service is not quite up to standard.

The second chance at a good impression failed when we received extremely dirty wine glasses which were reluctantly replaced by our surprised waitress. To add salt to the wound, we waited for 40 minutes for a bottle of wine, only then to be told that the manager could not find it and that we would need to order something else. At times like these, I expect the manager to come up to us himself and explain the situation or in the very least offer an apology. After waiting another 20 minutes we decided this was just not the place we would be spending any money, and walked out. I therefore cannot comment on the quality of the food, which is most certainly on the pricier side, and certainly do not expect to do so in the foreseeable future.