I am writing in response to the offensive misrepresentation of The Stables restaurant, my coworkers and myself in the recent edition of “Cuisine with Claire.” The assertion that we were in any way rude is disingenuous at best. I understand that her goal was to write a review with a certain slant, but she did so at the expense of the facts. As a repeat customer of The Stables she was certainly aware of our limited capacity and seating policy. Customers wait in line and are seated as tables become available. Her party asked each waitress how long of a wait and received the same answer, 5-10 minutes. She was never ignored, never tapped me on the shoulder and never questioned the cooks as she stated. Since the restaurant was full we were busily taking care of our customers. When a table for four became available we offered to split up the girls, as other tables were about to open up. One member of the party immediately became confrontational, loudly saying they felt ignored and were not pleased about splitting. To no avail, I tried to accommodate them. Our attempts to seat them at two tables in order to accommodate them comfortably while eating were rebuked. I personally took their orders, offered upgrades to homemade breads, served waters, refilled coffees and cleared plates so they would have more room at the table. Only one of the girls left a tip ($2) despite all receiving good service. While waiting for their food they loudly criticized us as employees, comparing us to chain restaurants by insinuating that our way [method] is lacking. We are not a chain restaurant nor do we aspire to be. We are a small local restaurant whose employees are like a close family. My coworker Betty and I have 18 and 12 years experience respectively in customer service. If we were truly as unprofessional as Ms. Jen claims, we would have never survived this long.
One comment Ms. Jen made was correct. Often a line comprised of both local residents and college students snakes through the building. Many of our customers return each week and we come to know them quite well. Their continued patronage is a greater assessment of our work than the opinion of a self-entitled young lady with a newspaper column. In my opinion those ladies might do well to stop projecting their poor attitudes onto others and to stop embellishing the facts to make their point.
To all those students and residents alike who frequent The Stables, we are proud to serve you and look forward to continuing to do so. We invite people to come in and experience the comfortable and homey atmosphere, try some delicious homemade baked goods and decide for themselves what The Stables is really all about.