This is a follow-up post after publishing my experience with West Oak and its service.
I woke up this morning to my iPhone alarm. While I was fumbling to turn off the ringing, I noticed a Twitter push notification that said something along these lines: you’re a joke food blogger, and I’m glad you didn’t experience @WestOakVan. I swiped across my screen to open up my Twitter app. What did I see?
Nothing.
That’s because the tweet was deleted. I regretted the fact that I failed to properly read the Twitter handle before opening the tweet. Approximately 9 hours later, I found out who tweeted me.
Peter Girges. The owner of West Oak Restaurant. In his tweet, he doubted my credibility as a food blogger because I reported my negative experience at his restaurant. If he were to question my taste in food, that would be a bit more reasonable since I am not a highly acclaimed food critic with a professional palette. But I’ll tell you what I am.
I am just like everybody else – a customer. And I don’t think anyone needs to be a highly acclaimed customer to recognize crummy service. It doesn’t matter how delicious the food is or how breathtaking the atmosphere is… if the service isn’t at the same level, the dining experience won’t be as enjoyable because all three elements need to work synergistically.
With that being said, I must admit that I was too harsh with the titling of my previous post – “West Oak: What a Joke.” I should’ve focussed it on the service of that one employee, not the entire restaurant and all of the hardworking people within it. So, I apologize for that serious misstep. All I wanted was a special night out to celebrate my mom’s birthday, and I chose West Oak because I heard good things about it. I don’t go to restaurants just to bash on them.
Also, having seen several restaurants being built from the ground up, I recognize the tremendous effort it takes to make it successful. From that perspective, I understand Peter’s defensiveness in his tweet. It’s his blood and sweat invested in West Oak, and he’s simply trying to protect it. Nevertheless, I hope that things will change for the better and that there are no hard feelings.
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