March 2, 2009

Chillies – The place with lukewarm service

I took my team out to Chilis Grill & Bar for dinner last Saturday; we went to the outlet in 1 Utama Shopping Centre. First up, the “hostess” named Yenni looked and sounded like she’s rather be anywhere else in the world at that moment. She sounded (and looked) fed up and was rude to say the least. Take into account that she’s the first contact a customer has with the restaurant. She told us to wait, gave us menu but told us we can’t order anything until we’re seated and then went on to roll her eyes so much so I thought they might lodge themselves behind her skull.

For the record this is the chronology:
9.30pm : Arrived at restaurant

9.50pm : Were shown to our table

The table had no plates, no cutlery and we had to get our own napkins. There were also old filled out comment cards that were not collected. We’ve scanned one for your enjoyment.

10.15pm : Drinks arrived. Although they were confirmed and the orders written down, there were still 7 drinks missed out.

10.30pm : Chips arrived

10.35pm : Then the plates arrived…AFTER the food started arriving

There was a point when some assistance was needed and the server who was right behind out table (and not serving anyone) had to be called 5 times before answering.

OK. There was one good thing, the server told us we’d get fresh glasses with every refill. From the word go, we stayed pleasant to everyone, even when it was time to give the restaurant manager some constructive feedback. I also found out from my team that many of them either have had, or know of people who’ve has less than pleasant encounters with the staff at Chilis.

Have you experienced this too? Let them know. You might just be doing them a favor – that is if they’re ready enough to listen.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

good food. bad service.

Anonymous said...

I think i had better experiences over at Friday's.

Anonymous said...

To create an exceptional customer experience, great food is not enough, great customer service is playing an important role in creating the customer experience.

Anonymous said...

in this era of competitiveness, customer service is as important as the food you serve. it comes hand in hand.. customer experience will creating buzz whether its a good one or bad one..

Anonymous said...

What la, we payed so much for the service tax, but the service very lousy, they should consider abolishing the service tax once and for all

Ms Yati said...

Not a good 1st impression for the hostess to represent Chilis. BAD move Yenni...

Ms Yati said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

i guess they have lost their culture. used to be a very american friendly restaurant but now service like malaysian mamak stall - they are the boss...

Anonymous said...

They should all be trained to serve well and be more polite. The service was very cold and uncomfortable.

Anonymous said...

People like this deserve to lose their jobs and get a tight slap on the face!

I'm not sorry for being too harsh but this is happening because there is no ownership in the things that people do.

Chillies does not belong to them, so why should they care?

This is something the managers have to look into: creating a sense of ownership in ther staff.

Sya said...

Nowadays, people don't care if they need to pay more for the good service rather than bad service. In service industry, the consistency of the service is vital to ensure customers loyalty.

Sandman said...

Have fun with ATCENians, but not fun with the Service.

daniel said...

no matter how exclusive the restaurant renovate..no matter how good the foods are..once the service is bad, the whole entire emotional attached with the restaurant is block..

Keng said...

A restaurant could only still in customer's mind/heart if they consistently provide a good service.

bq said...

no matter how good your product is.

The most important of all is the service.

Darren S. said...

Well been there and would agree that the service is in the dumbs.
More importantly....we should do somthing about it. Why? hmmmmm well its now 2009 and the service levels in Malaysia is still at the basement in many companies. Training and re-training is the word here. I think they need the Atcen touch....