Seveche service?

I knew it was going to be one of those nights when directly after the apps the entrees came out.
We ask the waiter; "Did you forget our salads?"
He responds:"Oh, I'm sorry... I can go get them now"....
Not wanting our entrees to get cold while waiting for salads, we told him it was OK, we'd do without.
We ordered a bottle of Catena Malbec.
The waiter comes out and gets ready to uncork the bottle when my wife points out that he's got the wrong wine (Altos Malbec- an OK choice and less expensive, but we prefer the Catena).
He apologizes, goes back in and comes back out with a bottle, uncorks it at the adjoining table and pours the contents into a fancy decanter (there was no decanter brought out with the first bottle).
He hands my wife the cork... she see it's the Altos, the same wine he brought out the first time.
When she points it out he apologizes (again) and offers to change it, but it's getting late and we've been waiting for the wine and our half eaten entrees continue to cool.

It was one of those nights...

It must have been one of those nights! I'm sorry for that. We have a great team at Seviche and my server should have pulled your entrees and we would have started over with fresh ones. I will address this and we will make sure that this does'nt happen again. Once again, I'm sorry for the off night. Please say hello to me or my manager Jackie and we will send out some salads, since you never got to enjoy them. I hope you enjoyed the food. Muchas gracias y buen provecho!

I was really hesitant to post this until I read that someone else had a bad experience - people really love Seviche on this board - but here goes.

Although I'm a stay-at-home mother now, I do some volunteer work in my former profession. One of my clients was having a really tough time, and I decided to treat her to a special dinner. It was a beautiful evening, one of the few cool ones we've had in recent months, and the light was wonderful. She arrived in a dress and nice shoes, and looked perfectly presentable, but she's significantly overweight.

We arrived on time for an early reservation and asked to be seated inside. As I said, it was beautiful outside. The deck was full, but almost no one was seated near the windows. We were shown to a table in a dark corner behind the bar. The only other table in that side of the restaurant also had a man and a woman- the woman very much overweight.

The entire time we were there, no one else was seated in this corner. All others were seated near the windows.

The waiter was quick and a bit dismissive at first, but when I asked a couple of question that showed I knew what I was talking about, he quickly became more attentive and respectful.

Because I was trying to make this a special night and I didn't want to embarrass her, I said nothing, but at one point, she did remark that the seating seemed a bit strage, and she looked embarrassed.

People on this forum love Seviche because Anthony's team does a great job. Is there any reason you didn't just ask to sit at another table? Seating is tricky. In most restaurants Servers are in stations, so the host staff tries to spread out the tables so that all of the servers get income. I would suspect that some of the more frequent diners requested a window seat after making a similar observation. I can appreciate your concern and although it is possible, knowing many of the staff at Seviche I would find the profiling unlikely. Seviche is overly accomidating so I have to believe if you requested a different table they would have done it.

We would have! Kurt is right about spreading the tables, so each server gets their fair share. We do have some really small tables, and we have people ask to be sat somewhere eles. Please ask for a window table or large table and we would be more then happy to hold one for you. John, I appreciate the private message and will take care of these issues. I have a gift card for your daughter, so send me an address and I'll send it out. We try and make our patrons feel special on the B-day' but it looks like we drop the ball. Eliza, please don't hesitate on asking for anything, when you dine at Seviche. "Mi casa su casa" I will talk to the staff today and share these post with them. Muchas gracias y buen provecho!

Anthony,

I have not had the pleasure of dining at Seviche (yet!), but it has moved up to the top of my list because of how you handle these types of complaints on this board. I admire your graciousness. And all of this is being done while opening a second location. It is no wonder you have been so successful!

I am looking forward to my inaugural visit soon!
Rebecca

Muchas gracias! Please introduce yourself or stop by for the pre-opening on Oct 18th

Josh, I can't apologize sincerely enough for your unsatisfactory experience. I've said it before and I'll stand by it, we strive to be better than that. I was deeply bothered when I read this earlier, as well as confused. Why would anyone on our service staff do something so strange? After very little investigation, I learned who the server was and suspensfully awaited a return phone call from him (he was in school this evening and couldn't return my call until recently.) To begin with, we always have a manager (myself or otherwise) on the floor to remedy things like a forgotten order. Unfortunately I was pulled away last night to set plans in motion for our new location. This won't happen again. As Anthony stated, we would have wanted you to receive your salads and not leave the enteees to die in the window. Without the freshness of product, what are we serving? Matt is a new server in training for the new restaurant and has come to us with a fortitude of fine dining background. He is however somewhat uneducated with our wine list so far, (we are actually having a staff wine training tomorrow), and when you ordered Catena, it sounded to him like "container", (you did pronounce it correctly), so he produced the decanter as requested or so he thought. He would have been better off explaing this, but in addition, he was spread a little thin with green-ness and multitude of tables, and also a bit embarrassed and confused. Not to sum it all up as a series of follies, but there was a real explanation. He is great server and we have high hopes for him, but I take the point very seriously. I hope your daughter had a great 21st anyway and we really hope to see you in again.

Seveche is and will continue to be one of my favorite restaurants, and as I stated in my original post, "it was (just) one of those nights" (there was a full moon).

The "Catena" explanation for what seemed to be bizarre behavior is an almost laughable commentary on the distinctive Louisville accent . My apologies to Matt for my thinking he was doing a "switch-a-roo" (he was probably thinking that I was the one who was bizarre)...it's almost worthy of a Seinfeld episode.

The errors were truly minor and it's clear that you and Anthony strive for excellence and to make the customer experience as pleasurable as possible. ...And that's why I made the post in the first place. I know you are serious about meeting the customer's (reasonable) expectations and the only way to do so is with the feedback of your loyal patrons.

Thank you so much for your reply.

It was strange that we and the other table with a large woman were in a corner and that every single other table was either by the windows or outside, but I accept that it was some fluke. These things happen.

By the way, the food was fantastic. My husband goes there regularly, but I've been there only once besides this visit. Both times the food was superb.

The only ceviche I've had to rival it was what we've eaten in South Florida, but that's a different product entirely. There, it's homey Latino cooking, , but Seviche's is upscale. Both are magnificent, and I look forward to eating there again.

[quote="Eliza W"]I was really hesitant to post this until I read that someone else had a bad experience - people really love Seviche on this board - but here goes.

Although I'm a stay-at-home mother now, I do some volunteer work in my former profession. One of my clients was having a really tough time, and I decided to treat her to a special dinner. It was a beautiful evening, one of the few cool ones we've had in recent months, and the light was wonderful. She arrived in a dress and nice shoes, and looked perfectly presentable, but she's significantly overweight.

We arrived on time for an early reservation and asked to be seated inside. As I said, it was beautiful outside. The deck was full, but almost no one was seated near the windows. We were shown to a table in a dark corner behind the bar. The only other table in that side of the restaurant also had a man and a woman- the woman very much overweight.

The entire time we were there, no one else was seated in this corner. All others were seated near the windows.

The waiter was quick and a bit dismissive at first, but when I asked a couple of question that showed I knew what I was talking about, he quickly became more attentive and respectful.

Because I was trying to make this a special night and I didn't want to embarrass her, I said nothing, but at one point, she did remark that the seating seemed a bit strage, and she looked embarrassed.[/quote]


This is crazy, why would a restaurant discriminate against overweight people? Don't they eat more?

Next time I am in Seviche, I am going to order a "Container" of malbec just to see what happens. That is hilarious. It is like a Seinfeld episode!

Eliza, people on this board do like Seviche a lot, but that doesn't mean it is above reproach. As others have mentioned, one of the reasons it is a forum favorite is due to the way that Chef Lamas repsonds to customer complaints or questions. No restaurant is perfect, but how it responds to the inevitable mistakes tells you a lot about the owner and management. Chef Lamas is very much a disciple of the Danny Meyer school of thought on hospitality.

Eliza, I do not understand what influence another customers weight had on your dining experience. You asked to be seated inside. You were. You could have asked to be moved. You didn't. Are you suggesting that Seviche intentionally seats large people in the back so they cannot be seen through the windows?

Mark and Mike, yes, I thought my post was explicit that I thought we were seated where we were because of the appearance of my companion. I'm sorry if you find this crazy or unbelievable, but, in fact, restaurants often do discriminate on the basis of a patron's appearance, particularly if that patron is a woman. Restaurants often want to maintain a young or a chic image, and a fat woman usually is not part of that image.

I also felt that I made it pretty clear that I didn't ask to be moved because I didn't want to embarrass my client, so I don't know why people keep posting that I should have simply asked to be moved.

I also felt that Mr. Lamas came on this forum and said that I must have been mistaken, and that I accepted that.

I apologize to Mr. Lamas, and I had no desire to besmirch the name of a quality restaurant. I'm sincerely sorry.

[Robin Garr]

I apologize to Mr. Lamas, and I had no desire to besmirch the name of a quality restaurant. I'm sincerely sorry.

Don't worry, Eliza! You were completely appropriate. It's great that through the forum we were able to air this issue, get a response, and learn some things about the way the restaurant business works in the hands of quality management.

Please don't feel any need to apologize for anything. We're glad you're here and look forward to talking with you about local food and dining in the future.