Lakeville Carbone’s Bar & Grill

8 Reviews on “Lakeville Carbone’s Bar & Grill”

• Dchamberlain

  Worst restaurant experience in memory!. Bottom line, terrible customer care philosophy and corresponding service level which is pervasive from the general manager down to the rest of the staff.I was at the Lakeville location recently with my wife and 3 young boys for dinner. The night started on a frustrating note when I was informed I could not order a beer with my dinner as I did not have my drivers license with me. I asked to speak to the Manager (I didnt want to put any of the staff in a bad position) to see if he had the ability to make any exceptions given that I am 45 years old. He explained that he could not make an exception and that they would treat a 90-year-old the same way. He also explained that the law requires them not to serve anyone of any age who has a restricted license and that the only indication of that is on the back of a DL. I told him the strictness of their policy still made no sense to me and that either their interpretation of the requirements of the law was wrong or that everywhere else I had ever ordered a drink in MN over the past 13 years was not in compliance. OK, I didnt like the policy but we moved on from there, ordered food, and were enjoying the night.From there, the service was downright awful with major issues: Waiting 10-15 minutes after the food was delivered for several needed things my wife wanted to order a glass of wine with dinner, ketchup, lemonade refills, etc. No one even checked in with us during that time even as we attempted to flag folks down. Seriously overcooked hamburger. The wine was finally delivered in a broken and severely chipped-around-the-rim glass that leaked wine onto the table until we cleared off the pizza pan to catch the puddle and my wife delivered it back to the bar because there was no server to be found.Ive worked in the restaurant business before and know how these things can happen, particularly when a server gets bogged down by a large table. It would have been nice to receive at least some sort of acknowledgment of this by the server/Manager or maybe an apology but, again, OK — we were out for a nice family night out and didnt have tremendously high expectations. Everyone was rolling with it.The reason Im taking the time to write this is what happened next. My wife was not a big fan of the wine and asked me to take a sip to see if I thought it was bad or something. Im guessing 5 minutes later, the Manager showed up at the table and proceeded to admonish me in front of the whole family. He said that a staff member had seen me take a sip and that if he saw me do it again, he would have to take the glass of wine away, in the tone one might use toward a 5 year-old who had done something wrong. I couldnt believe my ears and was at a loss for words. In fact I was astonished that the staff would be so attentive to see me take a sip of wine when they seemed so incapable of attending to any kind of basic customer service that one could expect from a restaurant!After composing myself I went to speak with him and let him know I didnt like the tone he took with me and didnt appreciate him speaking to me like a child, particularly in front of my kids. I explained I was not trying to game the situation by having my wife order a drink for me and that I was merely responding to a request from her to taste her glass of wine to see if it was bad, which Im legally able to do because I am over 21 years old. He basically gave me no response.My first reaction was to write a scathing review of the restaurant but upon some reflection I didnt think that was fair because this could just be some isolated incident or individual. So I took the time to stop by the restaurant a few days later to try and set up a time to speak with the General Manager. The bartender who greeted me had actually been working the night we were there and remembered the situation. She basically explained that the Manager I had spoken with was the General Manager and that the owner was also there that night. She proceeded to ask me why dont you get it that we cant serve alcohol to anyone without a DL I told her I didnt agree with it but that I did in fact get it and that what I was upset about was how I was treated after tasting my wifes glass of wine, not the fact they wouldnt serve me. This did not move the conversation any further as she responded by challenging me why dont you have the ability to restrain yourself from having a sip of wine for one meal. This is the point that my head exploded and I thanked her and told her I had all the information I needed.There is no one else from Carbones who will listen or care about this experience as far as I can tell, so I felt sharing my experience in this manner was the only path I could take to communicate the problem. I will never set foot in that establishment again. The reason I think this is important to others goes back to my first statement ownership and management have no regard for their customers and it evidently trickles down to the rest of the staff and results in incredibly poor service. If you live in the south suburbs and are making a decision about where to go out to eat, I would recommend choosing a place like Rascals, Champps, Ol Piper, Fireside, or Valley Tap House any day of the week.

  September 9, 2014, 8:42 pm

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