APPALLING Customer Service at The Balcony in Heeren

met up with Ave for dinner today and decided to try The Balcony at Heeren for after-dinner drinks. not only did the customer service leave much to be desired, it did in fact leave us so disgusted that we have decided NEVER to go there again (now THAT is extreme even for us).

when we walked in requesting for a table for 2, we were told that it was a full house and were put on the waiting list to get in. we were told to wait in the little area outside and we will get called once there was a space.

Error Number 1: 20mins after we had waited, the maitre'd came up to us and said, "err what is your name ah?" and promptly left after Ave repeated it.

Why it was wrong: one should approach the customer asking nicely to be reminded the number of people who would be at our table, then checking against the number before taking a shot at asking if the customer's name is so-and-so.

after about 30mins, we were shown a table and given 2 food menus. we tried to get the maitre'd to give us the drinks menu and were told to hold on while she called for a waitress to attend to us. we requested for the drinks menu and were only given one. we prompted the maitre'd and she again walked right by us gesturing to hold on. (note: second time) the waitress came again and we merely asked for another drinks menu (she thought we wanted to order). i was wondering what a Manhattan was so when we got the attention of another waitress, i asked her, "what goes into a Manhattan?". she gave me a blur look and went "huh?". i repeated myself, asking more specifically what alcohol went into a Manhattan. in fact i asked her 3 times and all three times she rudely went "huh?". when the question finally went into her head, she said "oh it is sweet.". so i asked again what ALCOHOL went into a Manhattan. she then said, "rum". and i asked, "is that it?" and she said "yes".

Error Number 4 (?) - number 2 and 3 were with regard to the drinks menu: when asked what ALCOHOL goes into a drink, you are supposed to tell me what ALCOHOL goes into a drink, not say it is sweet. THAT is not answering the question. like Ave said later, it's like reading a comprehension passage that goes: "Boy goes to school. He takes bus number 2." and being asked the question: "how does the boy go to school?" and answering "he goes to school."

Error Number 5:
Manhattan

1 1/2 oz. Whiskey or Bourbon, 3/4 oz. Sweet Vermouth*, Dash of Bitters (if desired)

Build in a rocks glass or Stir over ice & Strain into a chilled cocktail glass to serve up, Garnish with a Cherry, *Perfect Manhattan: use equal parts of sweet & dry vermouth, Garnish with a Lemon twist

Error Number 6: i wasnt born yesterday. there are many types of rum and each have different tastes... saying rum is like generally grouping Evian, tap water, sparkling water and Ice Mountain under 'water'.

when we only ordered drinks, the waitress said, "is that all?" and we said "yes". she then proceeded to say "this is dining only area, you cant just have drinks" before walking off to call the maitre'd. the maitre'd promptly arrived saying "but when you came in you said you were eating", to which Ave said, "no, when we came in we said we wanted a table for 2. you did not tell us it was dining only and that we cannot just have drinks here." the maitre'd then said, "oh i guess that i just assumed and did not make it clear". afterwhich she said, "if you just want to order drinks, you have to go upstairs because this area has priority for customers eating. i cannot guarantee that you will have seats but at this time of night you should be able to". what she then said was the most shocking thing - "maybe one of you can go upstairs and check if there are seats then come down?"

Error Number 7: you dont tell a customer to do that. because firstly, never treat a drinking customer as second rate because alcohol is the area in F&B where you earn the most money. secondly, this is YOUR restaurant, you should be able to send someone to check upstairs and not tell the customer to "do it yourself".

so Ave decided to go upstairs and check. she came back down and said there were a few seats so one of the waitresses came up with us (see? she was free to do that!) and place our order with the bar upstairs. we followed her to the counter when the free seats were taken up. the manager upstairs had the following conversation with us:

waitress: these two placed an order downstairs for drinks and have come up for seats.
ave: i saw two seats near the stairs. can we sit there?
manager: actually there is only one free seat because the guy is waiting for his girlfriend.
ave: we have already placed our order. can we get some seats then?
manager: sure you can sit. but there are no seats.
ave: but we have already placed our order.
manager: i dunno. i guess you can stand.
ave to waitress: in that case we would like to cancel our order
manager: (looks away - not even bothering to apologise)

Error number 8: erm excuse me sir, YOU ARE RUNNING AN F&B OUTLET - F&B outlets dont run merely on good food, especially if you are NEW and expect people to come back. good service can sway a customer to come back even if food isnt fantastic. we dont pay you service charge for NOTHING.

so we walked out and went to Spinelli's.

i cant help but compare this to my experience in TGI Fridays in the UK: the waiters are very friendly and VERY helpful. they come to your table and explain drinks if you dont really know what to order, they can tell you what drinks go well with what sort of food, which would be the drink to order if you like this sort of cocktail. they even tell you of cocktail combinations that are not on the menu if you dont find any of the 50+ cocktails on the menu to your liking. they periodically come to ask you if the food is to your satisfaction, or if you need anything. itip them 10% or more every time.

today's service at The Balcony was horrendous. wrong wrong WRONG from the start to finish. and 1 hr of my life was wasted.