The new Tcho flavor is out. Best yet!
Got to get the picture taking done before she comes on.
How to end a day of management meetings. Ok, it's really how to end every day.
My CEO is with me so I can't apply for a job here right now.
I have extra tickets for games on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Email me if you want them.
I guess there's more later. But this is it for me.
For those of you who missed the first chapter of my road trip restaurant saga, Xav and I took the kids to Bouchon Las Vegas and had an exceedingly mediocre dinner for which we paid a fortune. That story is here.
After I wrote that post, Debbie encouraged me to tell the Keller people my story and provided a link for me to do so. I immediately received a great response from their PR person who wrote:
"Thank you so much for your email and comments! While I was extremely disappointed to hear that you had a negative dining experience at Bouchon, I truly appreciate your taking the time to let us know about it. I am very sorry about this unfortunate incident; it is definitely atypical and uncharacteristic of the level of cuisine and service that we pride ourselves in providing our guests.
I am forwarding your email to Chef Keller, as well as our managers at Bouchon, in order for them to discuss this matter with you directly. Please let me know if there is anything I can do in the meantime."
Honestly, for me this could have been the end of it. Her note was nice, professional and made me feel listened to. End of story. Except that the Bouchon general manager also sent me an email:
"I am the General Manager of Bouchon, Las Vegas and I would like to respond about your recent visit in the form of a written letter.
If you will allow me to do so, may I have your address please? I appreciate your time and attention that you have given us.
Sincerely,"
(I'm not including names in this post)
Wow. A real letter? Like on paper and with a stamp? How quaint. But maybe it could be nice. I wrote him back to say it was completely unnecessary to write me (and BTW, my preference is for email) but gave him my address. I kept my expectations low.
This weekend I received the letter:
"Dear Mrs. Carbonnet,
I truly appreciate the time you took to write of your dining experience at Bouchon Las Vegas. I am sorry that you were disappointed with your experience at Bouchon. We pride ourselves with providing excellent cuisine, as well as service, and I apologize that we did not succeed that evening you dined with us in Las Vegas.
Please accept our apologies and find enclosed a dinner voucher for your next visit with us here in Las Vegas. Please do not hesitate to contact me personally at (phone number deleted) so I can assist you in making reservations.
Sincerely,"
And true to his word he included a voucher in the letter, undoubtedly the reason he wanted my physical address. Care to guess the amount? Let me save you the suspense: $50
I'll wait here a minute for you to stop laughing too.
The thing is, I was never looking for money. Furthermore I told both him and the PR person that I wasn't looking for money. In truth, I wasn't even looking for a dialog.
But now of course I'm offended. Instead of listening to me, addressing my concerns and letting it go with some personal correspondence, they tried to buy my good will for $50. Fifty dollars to eat in a restaurant where the cheapest bottle of wine is $100. Where a bowl of olives costs $6.50. A place where I have already spent $300. And to top it off, the voucher is embossed to prevent forgery and comes with a number of caveats - cannot be used for New Year's Eve, nor for gratuity, only at Bouchon Las Vegas, etc. The whole thing felt quite formulaic, to say the least.
I only stayed mad for a little while. As a marketing person I figure this guy probably deals with extortionists all the time - people looking for whatever freebies they can get. And perhaps he's become jaded and didn't believe me when I said I didn't want money.
I sent the voucher back.
He seems to be playing Post War start to finish. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
At last. It feels like half of San Francisco is here.
We already saw Steel Pulse. Really looking forward to a weekend of music.
