re: Post some stories of your complaints and restaurant reaction when you have...

Here's my Yelp review...

I had a pretty awful experience at Melange. I had been wanting to try Melange for a while, and had heard good things, so I was really happy when a Groupon came out. I have a good friend that I wanted to take there since he had treated me to dinner a couple of weeks prior. From the beginning our server spoke to us with a condescending tone of voice that was just downright rude and confusing. My friend and I both wondered what on earth we had done to deserve it.

My friend is very particular about corn. He saw an item on the menu and was asking about it...trying to find out if it was kernal corn or on the cob or cream corn because he hates cream corn. She talked to us like we were idiots...."Um no...it's kernal corn. No....it's not cream corn." All the while rolling her eyes and talking to us in a VERY condescending tone. We tried to not let it put a damper on our evening.

It's now time to order. I ordered a steak and explained that I wanted my steak as raw as possible without it being cool in the middle (I have had so many steaks in restaurants cooked wrong, that I feel the need to explain exactly waht I want)...so between rare and medium rare. She then explains to me in a condecending tone that a steak that is as pink as possible without being cool is medium. Seriously? Just give it to me rare.

I ordered the cheese plate, which was really small for the price. My friend got the sliders and they were just o.k. My steak was cooked perfectly and it was delicious.

Then in the middle of eating our appetizers, our entress arrive. I HATE THIS. How hard is it to time courses so that you're not stacking them on top of each other.

Then it comes time to pay the check. I have a Groupon, so I pull the Groupon voucher up on my phone and place my phone and my debit card in the with the check.

I've been using Groupon for a LONG time and this is always how I've presented my Groupon. The waiter will either take my phone with them and redeem the voucher (which is clearly shown on the screen), or they will write the voucher number down right away and leave my phone with me. She took my phone with her.

Then the evening really gets fun. I have a debit card that I specifically use just for going out. Since I tend to lose my card or leave it behind sometimes, I only put on my card what I intend to spend that night.

The waitress comes back to my table to tell me that my card was declined! So now I'm not only embarrassed that I chose this place to bring my good friend to and we've already been treated poorly...but on top of it I'm embarrassed that my card is declined. This is now the exchange between me and the waitreess.

Her: Your card was declined.
Me: That doesn't make sense. How much did you run it for?
Her: The amount of the bill.
Me: You didn't use my Groupon voucher.
Her: I don't know what you're talking about.
Me: I put my phone with my Groupon voucher pulled up in with the check.
Her: How am I supposed to know why you gave me your phone. You should've told me you had a Groupon.
Me: So it didn't seem odd to you that I GAVE YOU MY CELL PHONE.
Her: I had no idea why you did that.
Me: It didn't occur to you to ask me why I put my cell phone in with the bill?
Her: No

Considering that the vouchers were sold over a month ago, I'm confident that the wait staff at this point knows what a Groupon is and how they are typically presented. And if she didn't...why not ask me? She was 100% antagonizing us at this point.

The polite correct response should've been, "Oh I'm sorry. I didn't realize what the phone was for. I hadn't gotten a Groupon that way before. Let me take care of this now." That is good customer service. Not arguing with a customer about what they should've done in order to not endure her mistreatment.

Then I show her the Groupon that I have and give it to her again. She comes back and tells me that I can't use it because it's only good for 4 or more people. I always review my Groupons carefully and I don't see that restriction on there. She gets the manager and they both show me a printed out version of their contract that does show it. Fine.

When I get home, I print out the Groupon voucher and again it says nothing of that restriction. I go to the original purchase page for the Groupon and it does say that restriction. I, in no way, think this part is Melange's fault. It's Groupon's fault that the actual printed and phone vouchers do not show all restrictions. I addressed the issue with Groupon and received a full refund.

My complaint with Melange is the nasty way that we were treated by the waitress and the embarrassment of my card being declined because the waitress couldn't bother to inquire about why I would've given her my phone. I eat out A LOT and I can honestly say in my entire life I have never left a restaurant so upset by the way I was treated.

I wrote an email to the manager and he apologized and said that he noticed the strange behavior from the waitress toward us and other diners that night. Although he apologized, he didn't invite me to come back so the wrong could be righted. I doubt I'd ever return.