05/09/09

Good Gone Bad Bad Bad

by chask3

I have been a customer of Sardines Ristorante Italian , 509 University Drive in Fort Worth Texas for decades. I have recommended many people there because of its goof food and intimate ambiance.

My last visit there tonight, the evening of May 9, 2009 a was a particularly bad experience. My wife and I arrived early in the evening at approximately 6 PM. The restaurant was at less than 25% capacity. Tonight marked our 12th wedding anniversary.

The floor tables at Sardines are only about 2 feet X 2 feet square and so we were allowed to sit at two adjoining tables, by our request, as we usually order a lot of extras and are both large people. It was not a problem as there were empty tables in abundance all around because it was so early.

After we ate our appetizers and awaited our dinners to be served, and while we were enjoying our mixed drinks, a young man, seemingly in charge of Sardines this evening, approached our table with a hostess lady. The woman came to the table, handed my wife her bag and proceeded to remove the table telling my wife that they needed it. The young man stated that “We are overbooked and have a party coming and need this table. You are OK with this?” I told him I was not, and it went totally downhill from there. He implied that I would have to be OK with it and kept trying to get me to agree it was fine to burden us with his poor scheduling problems. What I feel I was a victim of was a lazy effort to find a table to use from among the many other empty ones there, and some good old fashion rudeness to what might have first been thought an easy to push around elderly couple. Wrong move mister!

The idea of handing my wife her bag while she was sipping her drink was truly bad manners, disrespectful, and extremely poor judgment on the part of the Sardines restaurant staff. member. The table was taken from us and moved about six feet away with a constant harangue from the young fellow about how it would just have to be, and he was sorry for the inconvenience, and he could see that I was upset, basically making a public showing of his position.

What really upset me was the fact of his condescending attitude, and the fact that there were literally dozens of unoccupied tables all around the facility, many of them being single tables, so I know that other empty tables could have been utilized from elsewhere except for the lazy factor..

Their poor planning should not be an excuse for rudeness, inconvenience to actively dining persons, and panic measures for an “emergency” that was nothing close to justifying the absurd situation, and I clearly told him so.

We asked for our check and promptly proceeded to pay for what we had consumed, canceling our dinner orders. On the way out, we were again confronted by the young man and he again tried to explain to me his reason for having to inconvenience my wife and I. Again, we exchanged words ad I was clear in telling him that there was no correct or justifiable excuse for poor service and his efforts to placate me with his “charm” was not helping matters. He himself did not know when to stop so I finally had to flatly tell him that further communication between us was finished so I could just get out of there as soon as possible.

Sardines Ristorante Italian , 509 University Drive in Fort Worth Texas, used to be a really enjoyable place. Tonight?... not so much.

• Pros: Used to be romantic and great service
• Cons: Lacks progfessionalism and condescending manager

01/11/09

RUN...DONT WASTE YOUR TIME...

by valvarez77

THREE AND A HALF HOURS OF MY LIFE I WILL NEVER GET BACK....1000.00 FOOD BILL FOR 14 PEOPLE ... NEVER GOT ANYTHING WE ASKED FOR....HAD PEOPLE THAT NEVER GOT THEIR FOOD.... COMPLETELY OVERPRICED...THE ATMOSPHERE IS A SMOKESCREEN FOR THE TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE YOU WILL HAVE...

THE MANAGER IS NOT HELPFUL AT ALL....WE HAD A DESSERT DROPPED ON 2 OF MY GUESTS AND INSTEAD OF APOLOGIZING HE YELLED "OH S H I T"

GO SOMEWHERE ELSE....WHEN I TOLD THE MANAGER THIS WAS THE WORST EXPERIENCE I HAD EVER HAD HE REPLIED "REALLY...EVER?"

THE ASKED US TO GO BACK SO HE "COULD MAKE IT UP TO US"....YEAH RIGHT...LIKE I WOULD EVER STEP FOOT IN THAT PLACE AGAIN....

• Pros: ABSOLUTELY NOTHING
• Cons: EVERYTHING

05/28/08

Avoid at all costs

by pastafreak

Recently, my wife and I visited Sardine's on a Friday night. To say we were disappointed would be a great understatement. To begin with, we waited about 45 minutes (even though we had a reservation). Our waiter appeared as though he hadn't bathed in over 2 weeks and had no clue about the menu. The "manager" gave our waiter a run for his money in the clueless depatment. I could try to overlook this, but the food was cold and overpriced. I wish I had at least one positive thing to add, unfortunately, I don't. Sardine's used to be a wonderful place, now I'll get my Italian from Stouffer's.

• Pros: Hours of opperation
• Cons: Just about anything else