January 6th, 2010
Saturday’s meal at Gilt Restaurant in the Palace hotel, goes down in the annals of history for me. I will remember it for the largest aggregate of a-holes I’ve ever encountered in a single dining experience. Had they been snobby, perhaps I could have handled it. Gilt is a two-Michelin-star restaurant after all! (say with snout in the air) No, these people were downright antagonistic. In some moments I forgot we were the customers at a fine restaurants. I thought perhaps we should step into the boxing ring!
We started off on poor footing when our table wasn’t ready when we arrived. I’m a rather understanding person and I know that timing doesn’t always work as a hostess might like. There is a proper way to remedy the situation, but quite the opposite occurred. After waiting patiently for 15 minutes, my Dad inquired about the situation. The hostess said:
“There are people lingering at your table. They arrived 30 minutes late, just like you arrived 20 minutes late.”
WHOA WHOA WHOA!
Firstly, we had not arrived 20 minutes late. We were a few minutes late, perhaps 10 at the most. Had we been on time, our table wouldn’t have been ready anyway. Regardless, why would she say that to a customer? Is it just me or is that a completely unacceptable comment from a hostess? Not to mention we waited a full 30 minutes after our reservation and nobody offered us a complimentary cocktail, which I feel is a common courtesy when a table isn’t ready.
My Dad spoke to the manager who graciously apologized and promised we’d be taken care of once our table was ready, in a few minutes.
We sat down and the sommelier brought a complimentary glass of Champagne. Things were looking up.
We expected a waiter to say hello and bring menus. He was nowhere to be found. We waited and waited. Eventually we grabbed somebody and asked for menus and he begrudgingly brought them. Apparently he was our waiter. I’m still not sure if he was supposed to be.
To digress for a moment: In advance of our visit I called Gilt twice and had lengthy conversations with two different hostesses. I had some questions about the menu. I needed to confirm that there was something E could have due to his kosher diet. The menu changes frequently and it is pretty brief so I was anxious about ensuring he’d be comfortable with the preparations. Though I was rushed off the phone, both hostesses assured me that they’ve had Kosher diners in the past and they could handle the situation comfortably. There was a note on our reservation about the dietary restrictions.
Somehow the message was not delivered. Our waiter was completely uninformed and I had to re-explain everything and ask what the chef could do. I don’t like inconveniencing the kitchen but I had heard that Gilt was good about making accomodations, especially when notified in advance. After a long discussion with the waiter, he spoke with the chef and told us what they could do. Trying to be nice, my Dad said “Thank you, we really appreciate him going out of his way for us.” Rather than letting it go, the waiter actually said “Well, he doesn’t like to do it, but he will.” I was flabergasted. Was this necessary?
It is rare when service is so rude that it actually overshadows the food. The tragedy here, is that the food at Gilt is pretty damn good. My squash tortelloni was nicely al dente and faintly sweet with tender, almost pureed quail wrapped in a bright green. (The waiter superfluously informed us that it was deboned) My sister’s foie gras with candied black olive was divine. My delicately spiced tandoori cod with roasted eggplant and lentils was flaky and luscious, though slightly overly salted. A dorade royale with uni aioli, gnocchi and baby squash was another star.
But it would take the meal of a lifetime to offset the thick, asshole attitude of the people who work at Gilt. A couple of days after the meal, I’m still fuming about it. The above are just two of the prime examples, but I could go on for hours if there’s interest ;) I won’t be returning to Gilt. In fact I plan to continue loudly complaining about our experience. There are too many other excellent restaurants in New York. I don’t need a side order of attitude, and neither do you.
Location: 455 Madison Ave
Food: Very Good
Service: Poor
Average App/Entree Price: 3-courses for $89
Value: Poor
You Gonna Finish That? Not even worth a doggy bag.
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Filed under Cuisine, French, Midtown East, Neighborhood | Comments (13)
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I had to re-tweet this. OMG that is just the worst. Heck, if they did that at Applebee’s I’d still be pissed (and my expectations at Applebee’s is pretty low). I hope your next anticipated meal is wonderful :)
I couldn’t have agreed more with this post!
I felt so on my toes the entire time that I barely enjoyed the elaborate meal. (A meal that I was looking forward to for WEEKS.) I would rather have eaten together at Half King – at least they’re nice. ;)
Jack
I was going to take my dad here for his birthday in a couple of weeks. He loves good food but appreciates good service even more. Guess I’m going to have to find some place else..thanks for the warning!
Whoops – your retweet button doesn’t work for me. I’ll retweet manually!
Erika,
Just a reminder about 4 separate members of Gilt’s staff’s kind words to us Saturday night.
The receptionist yelled at me “WHICH IS IT…5 OR 6 people!???”
The hostess “You may be waiting 30 minutes…but YOU were 20 minutes late!” (not true only 5 minutes)
The waiter “He (the chef) will do it…but he’s not happy about it!” (who cares)
The sommelier “The waiter’s union only allows me to open 2 bottles for corkage”! (What a fabrication ..no such rule exists and $75.00 each by the way..we called in advance to clear and they said “no problem” I guess they did not know about the “2 bottle law”)
This place was way to “over the top funny” and was almost like a cartoon come alive! These thoughtful remarks also really help us “enjoy” and digest our food! Our poor endocrine systems”
Actually they did a huge disservice to the chef by negatively impacting his inventive and delicious cuisine.
Dad
That sounds like the opposite of a fine dining experience. At least nobody from he unimpressive Apropos yelled at us until after the meal. Way to attract return customers during bad economic times, staff of Gilt.
Erika, interesting post. I’m glad you wrote it. Please post it on UrbanSpoon, Yelp, Chowhound, Facebook, and anywhere else someone from the restaurant will see it. Service as you described it is completely unacceptable and good for you for not hiding it!
Erika,
Great rant! I remember your dad doing a similar rant on a previous horrible restaurant experience some years ago (can’t recall which restaurant). But two good things come out of it – first, you did enjoy the food. Second, you get to do some great writing. Nothing like a good rant once in awhile. Fun stuff.
Erika:
Thanks for the follow on Twitter. Your follow prompted me to read this piece, and as I do visit NYC to dine every year, I am glad for the warning. Not all that is Gilted is gold, huh?
I do appreciate you voicing your experience. I had a similar one at a restaurant here in Chicago, that shall remain nameless, as none of the staff that was involved in the incident works there any longer. I took my friend there for her 40th birthday. It was a very elaborate meal, with several bottles of expensive wine and an almost $1000 check (that’s for just two of us). It has been 5 years since that meal, and I am still ranting about it. Needless to say, I have not been back since. Rumor has it service is impecable now, but I will never know.
In a restaurant of that caliber, with upwards of 15 courses of intriguing food, and exorbinant prices, the diner should be king! Chances are every course will not please everyone. And being on pins and needles the whole time you are there is awful, and also really bad for digestion.
Just to share with you my own personal rant, we had ordered a large tasting menu of 20 some courses. Two of the courses never made it to our table with no explanation given as to why. We asked at the end of our meal, and the host’s explanation was: “They must have forgotten.” Ahem. Excuse me??? Come again??? Did you forget to charge me for them? Of course, NOT. Our captain waiter was so snobby, he did not believe that I know anything about wine, and kept insisting we get the expensive wine pairings. Um, no, for the third time! For the third time: I want to see the sommelier! Just stop talking, and go get him! NOW! To credit the sommelier, he was the only saving grace of that evening (other than the food, which for the most part was pretty spectacular). He recognized immediately that he was dealing with a fellow cork dork, though young and female. And he and I got along famously.
The evening bottomed out at the point when the waiter asked me to comment on one of the courses. It was still in front of us, unfinished. We did not care for it. It was not well balanced. So, my friend and I picked at it and left the rest. Out of 20 some courses, it is bound to happen once. No big deal. Waiter: “Was there something wrong with this dish?” Me: “Not at all, we just did not care for it as much. It did not seem as balanced as the others.” (Get ready for this!!!) Waiter: “Well, our Chef’s dishes ARE NOT FOR THE AVERAGE PALATE.” (Emphasis is mine.) WHOA! What?! Are you seriously insulting my palate? To my face???
I was livid. I almost walked on the check. I would have walked out, had it not been my friend’s birthday. I did ask the sommelier to make sure that waiter was not seen or heard from at our table till the end of the meal. Once again, sommelier stepped up and assumed the captain duties for our table.
So here is my rant, for your pleasure! Enjoy! Looking forward to reading more of your stuff in the future.
Tatiana
Erika -Wow, I’m so glad someone retweeted this so I could read. There is just nothing more atrocious than horrible service like this, especially because of how it overshadowed what turned out to be what sounds like delicious food.
I’m so sorry that this experience happened to you and your family, but I’m sending to everyone I know, so that they know never to patronize Gilt. Hope your next night dining out has much, much better service. Great post overall, and great rules over on WE.com for restaurant etiquette!
Thanks for all of the great feedback everyone!
@Tatiana That is the WORST! That happened to me at a bar recently. The owner asked what I thought of a cocktail they were trying out. It had a lot of interesting spices in it but for me the flavors were very disjointed and it was overly sweet. He asked what I thought and I said I honestly didn’t care for it. To which he replied similarly to what you mentioned. I was miffed. Just because I don’t like your drink, doesn’t mean I don’t know a good cocktail when I see it! It’s really despicable when people feel the need to put you down for your opinion. If they don’t want an honest opinion, they shouldn’t request it! Thanks for sharing your story.
@Cara Thanks very much! It was quite a shame amidst so many great dining experiences lately but it is fun to get a good rant out.
[...] Strum today posted a list of 10 Unspoken Rules of Restaurant Service Etiquette written up after a bad experience at New York’s, Michelin two star award winning, Gilt Restaurant. What she left off the list, [...]
I’ve been wanting to try Gilt for a while since it is right across the street from my office and I’ve heard such great things about the food. I guess I will be skipping it after your experience! If the bad service overshadows the food, that is what you remember. Looks like Gilt needs to do some re-staffing!