Cozza Osteria - what a weird night

Before I say anything negative, let me say that the food at Cozza was really quite nice. The menu is extensive and the flavors quite good, and the portions are more than generous. But ... this place has some serious service issues to overcome.

I started trying to make reservations for tonight (Saturday) on Tuesday. For three days there was no answer or answering "machine" during the day. On Friday morning I did get an answering machine and left a voice mail asking for a reservation and requesting a confirmation. On Friday night at 6:30 I called again, this time getting a human. I explained that I had left a reservation on the phone, but had not received a confirmation that it had been received. Oh, well, it was explained to me: we just haven't listened to the voice mail yet. OK, fine - I made the reservation.

Tonight we arrived before our guests and looked through the wine list. There was a sangiovese that I didn't recognize, and asked the server about the country of origin. Well, the server said, the wine list was new, and he just didn't know anything about it. So, he just brought the bottle and I read the label. OK, fine.

There was live music coming later, so I asked who it was, since I know a lot of musicians, Well, he didn't know what band it was. OK, fine.

I asked about an entree, and the server said he just didn't know the details, as it was a new listing. OK.

Our friends arrived, and we ordered our wine. Four people. Wine glasses. The server poured the entire bottle in the first go-around. Our wine glasses were full to the brim.

The table next to us had already ordered their meals, and we watched as their entrees were served before they had taken three bites of their appetizers.

Our entrees arrived. One of them was completely not what my friend had ordered. The server decided to check his notes before he would believe us. Oh, and - he had previously stopped taking orders half way around our table in order to have a conversation with another server.

End of meal - food was great, everything else odd. I asked for the check. And now, the coup de grace: my chair collapsed. yup, the right front leg collapsed inward, and I hit the floor. To the server's credit, he was apologetic, but came very close to reassigning that chair to another table before we intervened and said that probably wasn't a good idea. Interesting to me, no manager, chef or owner came out to apologize or even see if I had broken anything in the fall. Nothing from the front of house.

I really wanted to like this place, as Louisvillians generally don't cross the river, and I wanted to evangelize about a southern Indiana place. But after the completely odd experience, from the very beginning to the very end (in a crumpled heap on the floor), I can't imagine returning to Cozza. And what a shame, since the core of the evening - the food - was really quite good.

Poor service can ruin an otherwise fine meal, as you experienced. I'm often put off by the lack of professionalism my wife and I experience from our servers in Kentuckiana. I have begun to wonder what standard, if any, is used when hiring staff in the area. IMHO many shops hire for a 'look', not for experience/quality.
I tend to think that an error by the kitchen is easier to fix- if the server is on their game it's generally fixed before the table ever sees it, and if not a good kitchen remedies the situation on the fly and the overall experience remains positive. On the other hand an error made at the table is on display and cannot be taken back. Stopping to talk to another server while with a table is unacceptable to my mind, you'll never be able to make that table feel valued again no matter what you do from that point on. Sad, especially when the kitchen is cranking out good eats as you said.
As for the chair breaking - wow. Just a cherry on the crap sundae at that point but still pretty bad. I know accidents can't be helped but given that there was no response from management is seems that the lack of professionalism flows from the top down. I hope they have a robust to-go business, otherwise a poor FOH showing can keep even the best BOH from being appreciaed.

Seems to be another example of a business (and restaurants aren't the only guilty parties doing this) not investing in their employees. And by investing I mean training. Yes it's time consuming but you can't skip the training. Even if your employee is a seasoned veteran at whatever you've hired them for there will no doubt be differences in procedures/products in your establishment that differ from other other places.

I agree, Carla. Not knowing the menu and wine list is really not excusable. And not telling the owner or manager that a chair collapsed and the patron hit the floor is beyond belief. I guess I want to assume that the owner was not told ...

I agree that training is often lacking in the industry, but I don't think that was the problem in this case.
The server claimed (maybe to cover up his lack of dedication) that the wine list was new, as was the menu item asked about. Also, bands often don't play a set schedule. IMHO it's simply a lack of professionalism that kept the server from learning about the single new menu item or the newly added wine selection. If you need a day of training to make you do the basics of your job it seems to me that you're simply not very good at what you do.
Bars/restaurants often add new items or run specials. Every good server/bartender I've ever known takes it upon him/herself to become familiar with those items at the beginning of their shift, usually through a quick look at the 86/special board that good kitchens keep up to date. Even if there is no such board there is a menu - if the customer can see it the server can see it, too. As a bartender I love to be able to blame management, in this case the ball falls squarely in the lap of the server.
Besides, not knowing which band if any is playing that night is indicative of a lack of care on the part of the server. They seem to me to be doing the bare minimum to get by, which in turn gives the bare minimum experience to the guest. Inexcuseable. The server lost a customer for the business for good that night, not the management.
On the other hand, I'm sure he was a nice, young, affable kid. Seemed apologetic, right? All the apologies in the world don't make up for that kind of experience. You win return customers by doing it right every time- lose once and it takes months to win them back. Louisville is blessed with many great dining options- with that type of selection available no one can afford such a performance by the FOH staff. IMHO the kitchens in Louisville set the bar pretty high, I would like to see the front of house in many places meet that standard. In my opinion most don't.

Many finer establishments I've worked in actually had a quiz with the servers on the specials before the night began. A question and answer period, a definition of ingredients, etc.. Always a good idea if you can find the time. Collapsing chairs are the owners nightmare, I'm constantly tightening, replacing, and throwing out dangerous chairs, but a few slip through and luckily customers have alerted us. God help us all if someone is injured. Pay up that insurance!
On a side note, day before yesterday we had a lovely bunch of kiddos empty out all our salt and pepper shakers upstairs, while the moms sat and talked. They were there about three hours. Lucky I wasn't working at the time...my heart is bad enough, without the children of the corn raising my blood pressure more.

Ah, the pre-shift... One place I worked for many tears did trivia to lighten the pre-shift mood, including a macabre list of famous people who (in a mock scary drawn out voice) Diiieeeeddd on that day. Fun, if strange.
As for the salt and pepper- I'll never stop being amazed by what people let their children do in restaurants. How many times have I had to explain to parents that their children can't sit at the bar while mom and dad finish eating... My personal fave has got to be those that let their kids run around the restaurant floor-as if heavy trays of hot plates don't pose a threat to little heads. I've seen kids try to get into kitchens, and on one occasion a kid from another table tried to grab food from my plate! Luckily patience is still a virtue and good servers have it in spades.

I agree that training is often lacking in the industry, but I don't think that was the problem in this case.
The server claimed (maybe to cover up his lack of dedication) that the wine list was new, as was the menu item asked about. Also, bands often don't play a set schedule. IMHO it's simply a lack of professionalism that kept the server from learning about the single new menu item or the newly added wine selection. If you need a day of training to make you do the basics of your job it seems to me that you're simply not very good at what you do.
Bars/restaurants often add new items or run specials. Every good server/bartender I've ever known takes it upon him/herself to become familiar with those items at the beginning of their shift, usually through a quick look at the 86/special board that good kitchens keep up to date. Even if there is no such board there is a menu - if the customer can see it the server can see it, too. As a bartender I love to be able to blame management, in this case the ball falls squarely in the lap of the server.
Besides, not knowing which band if any is playing that night is indicative of a lack of care on the part of the server. They seem to me to be doing the bare minimum to get by, which in turn gives the bare minimum experience to the guest. Inexcuseable. The server lost a customer for the business for good that night, not the management.
On the other hand, I'm sure he was a nice, young, affable kid. Seemed apologetic, right? All the apologies in the world don't make up for that kind of experience. You win return customers by doing it right every time- lose once and it takes months to win them back. Louisville is blessed with many great dining options- with that type of selection available no one can afford such a performance by the FOH staff. IMHO the kitchens in Louisville set the bar pretty high, I would like to see the front of house in many places meet that standard. In my opinion most don't.

Jeff, you said a lot of what I was thinking but was also trying to be polite and not put in writing.

My girlfriend and I had a similar experience shortly after it opened. Enjoyed the food, but the service was questionable. At least my chair didn't break, though!

I just looked at their website and found, sadly, it's worse than the service. The "about" and "menu" pages have not been changed from "sample item goes here." Sigh. Management is apparently letting a lot of things fall through the cracks.

I agree that training is often lacking in the industry, but I don't think that was the problem in this case.
The server claimed (maybe to cover up his lack of dedication) that the wine list was new, as was the menu item asked about. Also, bands often don't play a set schedule. IMHO it's simply a lack of professionalism that kept the server from learning about the single new menu item or the newly added wine selection. If you need a day of training to make you do the basics of your job it seems to me that you're simply not very good at what you do.
Bars/restaurants often add new items or run specials. Every good server/bartender I've ever known takes it upon him/herself to become familiar with those items at the beginning of their shift, usually through a quick look at the 86/special board that good kitchens keep up to date. Even if there is no such board there is a menu - if the customer can see it the server can see it, too. As a bartender I love to be able to blame management, in this case the ball falls squarely in the lap of the server.
Besides, not knowing which band if any is playing that night is indicative of a lack of care on the part of the server. They seem to me to be doing the bare minimum to get by, which in turn gives the bare minimum experience to the guest. Inexcuseable. The server lost a customer for the business for good that night, not the management.
On the other hand, I'm sure he was a nice, young, affable kid. Seemed apologetic, right? All the apologies in the world don't make up for that kind of experience. You win return customers by doing it right every time- lose once and it takes months to win them back. Louisville is blessed with many great dining options- with that type of selection available no one can afford such a performance by the FOH staff. IMHO the kitchens in Louisville set the bar pretty high, I would like to see the front of house in many places meet that standard. In my opinion most don't.

Jeff, you hit the nail on the head. You can have a fantastic kitchen staff that consistently puts out awesome food, but that's all for naught if your FOH staff doesn't back it up. Servers can truly make or break your experience at a restaurant. Over-attentiveness or lack of knowledge is an immediate turn off. I certainly don't have a problem if you have to go ask a question, but as a rule, I prefer my servers at local establishments to know about the menu.

I'll give your server a mulligan for not knowing the name of the band. My thinking is that I'd much rather them know food versus who is playing that night.

And as far as the website... I had to go look. Poor guys. I hope they are outsourcing and can get money back because that is really bad. I've worked on two major website overhauls and that would have never made it past "rough draft" status.

what website? I can only find them on facebook

ok I found it. I need to have a word with Al I think.

I'll give your server a mulligan for not knowing the name of the band. My thinking is that I'd much rather them know food versus who is playing that night.

Agreed. Not knowing the band doesn't affect the meal, not knowing the menu - even specials - can cause problems in a number of ways. I hope they at least know which menu items contain ingredients that people are commonly allergic to.

Hi - my name is Clint Ackerman and I am the new manager at Cozza. Just wanted to follow up on the comments to encourage you to try again. The server in question was let go shortly thereafter and many improvements have been made regarding front-of-house issues.

As always, Chef Al is preparing all dishes fresh and the menu changes weekly to include fresh seafood and other seasonal offerings.

We are now open Tue - Thurs 5 - 10p (kitchen closes at 9) and Fri - Sat 5 - 12 (kitchen closes at 10 - but pizzas are available from 10 - 12). There is usually Live music every Fri & Sat. Check out updates on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pag ... all&ref=ts

There are also daily bar specials!

You may be the new manager, but to have a response more than 90 days later (including when I asked for an owner/manager that night and one never appeared) is beyond the pale. I think I'll pass on your kind offer.