Sometimes it's necessary

Last night we went to Indianapolis for a Pacers game and dinner. We had been looking forward to it all week. But it didn't go down without a hitch...

We took off at about 4:10 so we could drive, park, and make our way to PF Chang's for our 5:30 dinner reservations. We were about 10 miles away from Indianapolis and Abhay realized we forgot our tickets. We paused for a second trying to figure out what we should do . We knew there was NO way we could make it to eat at Chang's on a Friday night without a reservation...but we also knew it would be almost impossible to eat there and make it to the game. Abhay came up with a great compromise... turn around to go back home and get our tickets, re-do our reservations for 6:30 to eat, and then go to the game a half hour or so late. So that's what we did...turned back around and got the tickets. (basically lost an hour of time)

We arrived at the restaurant at about 6:10. We were told to wait because our table wasn't ready yet (meanwhile other people that had their reservations for 6:30 were sat before us). Finally we were seated after waiting for too long. We were already agitated, since we were trying to make the game. We were seated at a nice table and then 3 minutes later a host game up to us and said, "sorry somebody else with a reservation had requested this table...so we need to move you." He didn't give us a choice, just said "you're moving!" So with groans and unhappiness, we moved.

Upon ordering I asked the waitress to have a manager to come over and speak with us. Normally Abhay and I don't complain, anyone who knows us knows that we're both laid back and it takes a lot to "ruffle our feathers." But we were upset. It gave us a both a very bad first impression of the restaurant and service. I shared this with the manager in a very calm, nice manner. I explained that we both work with the public and understand things happen, but we weren't happy with what happened. He was very nice and understanding. And said he'd do something to "fix it"...

Meanwhile our food came out about 5 minutes after ordering it. (and it was DELICIOUS!!!!!) Before the bill came the manager brought out two free appetizer coupons for our next visit, which we were grateful for. When the bill came, we were both shocked when we saw he'd given us 50% off of our meal...which worked out to be 23 bucks off. It was so very nice that this restaurant made it "right" with us. If they had not done anything, it's very unlikely we would go back...even though the food was amazing. It was nice to be heard. I learned that it's worth saying something when you're not happy with the service you get.

Best of all, we were only 10 minutes late for the game. Thank goodness the restaurant is only 4 blocks away from the bball stadium. We had a blast at the game. We had GREAT seats. :)

--Mandy