GOBO Restaurant: Asshole Waiter, Nice Manager

November 12 2008, 5:14am

Whenever anyone receives bad service, it sucks. Last night, I was particularly annoyed because this week is turning out to be really busy -- out of town guests, full time job, radio appearance, freelance consulting, working on the book, etc. etc. Tuesday night was supposed to be calm: R&R + dinner with a friend. But, here's what happened ...

I received terrible service at the West Village GOBO on 6th Avenue. The server came to the table, poured water without looking or speaking to me then went away. He returned and seemed cordial enough. Although the place was vegetarian, I let him know I wanted something similar to meat; he suggested the green tea noodles with vegan bolognese sauce. Sounded delicious! However, after putting the orders in for me and my friend Kate (wine, appetizers, dinners), he seemed like he kind of mentally checked out / stopped being our waiter.

Another person brought our appetizers and my friend's meal. I told Kate to go ahead and eat without waiting for me because I was sure my meal would come soon.

Nearly an hour later, I flagged down the waiter and asked, "Is my meal still coming?" He responded, "Yes, of course," and then headed toward the kitchen. He returned and told me, "We ran out of that meal. They didn't tell me." Busy Manhattan restaurants run out of meals all the time. Not a problem. But, he never bothered to check to see why mine was taking so long. And, he didn't apologize for the inconvenience.

He offered me a different meal on the house. When I said no ( ... because, really, who wants to wait for a new dinner after waiting an hour for one that was never coming??? ... ), he left the table and returned with a check we didn't ask for.

"I assume you want the bill," he said abruptly bringing the meal to an end while Kate was still eating. He comped nada on the check and, again, didn't apologize.

He sent a different server -- a woman with long brown hair -- over to our table to collect our money. I explained what happened and she took the bill and returned it to him. He came back and said (in a voice that, to me, sounded annoyed), "I comped your glass of wine."

What an ass.

I got up to speak to the manager, and the guy (the server) moved over toward my direction and bumped into me. I walked ahead then turned and asked, "Who is your manager?" He got her. When I told the woman what happened, she comped the whole bill including my $7 appetizer and Kate's entire order. That was ridiculously kind of GOBO and I appreciated the gesture. It's a pity the waiter was such a jackass! :(