Usually, I don't go to restaurants until they've been open for at least three months. I've had too many experiences when the trendy "must visit" new restaurant disappointed due to poor service, shortages of the most popular entrees, etc.
On vacation to Glacier National Park a few weeks ago, my wife and I went to Craggy Range Bar and Grill in beautiful Whitefish, Montana without knowing that it had only been open for a couple of weeks. The restaurant's lovely facade and clean contemporary intererior attracted us. The hostess seated us quickly in the front of the restaurant in a very visible spot. We saw lots of happy diners, bus staff, and servers. After five minutes, we wondered why nobody came for our drink order. After 10 minutes, we started getting irritable. After 15 minutes, we decided to leave.
As we neared the front door, I saw somebody who looked like a manager and told him that we were leaving because nobody bothered to serve us. He looked chagrined and without hesitation said, "Please stay and have dinner on me." My wife, who doesn't put up with bad service, gave him a look that showed that she wasn't convinced. The manager said, "I'm really sorry and want to make it up to you." We were both so impressed that he never made excuses for the poor service and focused only on making us happy.
He seated us in one of the nicest booths in the restaurant rather than the cramped table where we were previously. He told us to order whatever we liked, and he would make sure that we got our food in a hurry since he knew how long we had been waiting. True to his word, the food arrived quickly, and it was delicious. I had an incredibly moist meatloaf wrapped in smokey applewood bacon that was outstanding. My wife was delighted with her fancy tuna salad with fresh greens and lovely ahi flown in fresh. When you can get such great tuna far away from the ocean, you know a restaurant is good.
Would I go back to Craggy Range? Definitely. Although my initial impression was poor, I 've never seen a restaurant manager do such an intelligent and graceful job of winning back a customer. And, the food was some of the best we had our on vacation.
The moral: Don't give up on a customer when he has a negative experience with your business. Rather, act quickly and be generous in making sure the customer leaves happy. By doing this, you'll earn a loyal patron who might go on to become one of your biggest evangelists.
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