Well I apologize for the wait you experienced during your time here friend; I wish I could rectify it but I can?t. I think I am aware of who you are and for your information my girlfriend was waiting tables and helping me in the kitchen because were trying to save money. Since when did you forget what it was like to be human and try to make something grow, because the way you talk you?re a typical ignorant tourist acting like your the king of the world. I sent my girlfriend out to talk to you and offer free drink for the wait but it seems your typical attitude towards people affected your judgment. Also to reply to your remark stating their was very few items on the menu that?s true because any person with a brain would not open with a full menu when cooks are not hired and people have no real prep time invested in practicing those recipes. I think you need return to where you came from with that attitude because you sound like an imperialist pig. Why do people forget it takes time to become great, everything is now now now!!! I would surly give you free drinks and talk to you if I could but you made your decision.
P.S. To the gentlemen who visited tonight you were first-class and understanding thanks, I would be honored to know people like you in any country. I apologize for the wait and etc and if you pass by when I?m fully staffed I will gladly comp some orders for you and your friends .It was a pleasure to meet you and I hope we can have some beers someday.
As Robert said in the above post, you are lucky the name of your restaurant is not mentioned. Based on your response to MrMikes post, I (and probably many others) would probably never patronize your restaurant.
You appear to be totally clueless as to how to operate a business, particularly a restaurant. Everything you said in your post was WRONG!!! A customer has every right to expect a restaurant to be 100% ready to open when it in fact opens!! There are NO EXCUSES, again, especially in the restaurant/hospitality industry. Have you never heard of a "soft-opening"?
As AZB said, most people will give a new business a second chance, but not when the owner has your attitude. To berate a customer with a legitimate complaint on a message board is, well, ridiculous.
You told the poster to return to where he came from...you should follow the same advice. You are clearly not the type of person who should be running a restaurant. You need to go to school to at least learn the first two rules of retail/hospitality...
1) The customer is ALWAYS right
2) If the customer appears to be wrong, refer to rule #1
If you can't accept this get out of the business NOW!!
And as to your overall attitude that everyone should "bear with you" until you get your staff in place and your menu ironed out, etc., again, if you believe this is the way to run a business....get out now!!! To use your phrase (well, to use it correctly), "anyone with
half a brain" knows in business, you only get one chance to make a first impression!
For your sake, I hope you listen to, and learn from the criticism from your customers, if not you will be closed in a very short time.