Reviews for Cafe Alaia

04/26/2021 - M.F
the oldest saying in business is, "The customer is always right". However, I do believe that customers can also be wrong. Nonetheless, NO matter what the complain is, a restaurant owner should be able to react calmly, professionally, respectfully, and validate the customers experience. Vincenzo Alaia, owner of Cafe Alaia on Garth Road is not able to do this.
On Sunday at 6:15pm, my son and I sat at the bar for dinner. We were both very hungry so we asked the bartender to place our order, which he did in front of us. At 7pm the bartender told us that the food would be out in 5 minutes. At 7:26 pm (1hr 10minutes later) my son told the bartender that he wanted the check. The bartender went to the kitchen to follow up and at 7:30pm a waiter arrived with our plates. My son told him to take it back that we wanted the check. I explained that we had waited for one hour and noticed that families that had arrived after us had been served and given their checks while we were still waiting. As we were waiting for the check the owner, Vincenzo, walked up to me frustrated, annoyed, and with an attitude. He began to tell me that I am not a restaurant owner and I did not know anything about restaurants and if I saw others being served before me it was because they had ordered pasta, which takes 5 minutes to cook. I was mortified at how he was speaking to me. I responded that I had only ordered 4 fried Prawns and that should not take1 hour to cook. He then began to complain that he had a "hard day" and that we had to take the food because it was cooked. My son then intervened and told him that we were not staying and to give us the check. Vincenzo then began to lie and say that the bartender never placed the order. My son replied that it's not our fault if the order wasn't place and to give us the check. Vincenzo stormed into the kitchen and 5 minutes later the bartender gave us a bill of $88 for two Dirty Martinis and two bourbon drinks. 28 years I have been living on Garth Road and have met many restaurant owner, but never someone as unprofessional and without any patience to deal with a customer complaint like Vincenzo. WE WILL NEVER RETURN AND WILL NOT REFER THIS RESTAURANT TO ANYONE.
FYI We had ordered four Prawns, which take about 7-8 minutes to cook and a pan fried chicken cutlet dish, that takes less than 30 minutes to cook.