This is the email that I sent on Tuesday after a Dinner Debacle at the Park 600 Monday night:
Social Team,
I am writing you in the forlorn hope that my family and myself do not have an experience like we did last night at the Park 600. My wife and I have been dining at your restaurant for several years and your restaurant is our 4 year old daughter's favorite. Mrs. Shay and Mr. Carter are her favorite servers. Our family frequents your restaurant mostly in the spring and summer when we come and enjoy the Brunch on the terrace after shopping at the Rochester Farmer's Market. But the Park 600 is thought of after we attend the Meadowbrook Theater, the Symphony, special occasions or just because we want a treat. We come to Park 600 a lot for appetizers (the Lamb Ragout Hummus was a serious hit this summer) and drinks, too! When our 4 year old daughter wanted a hotel stay as part of her 4th birthday, we knew that we wanted it to be at the Royal Park so that she would know what proper service should be!
That is why I am writing to you because we had the most unimaginable, worst experience dining at the Park 600 last night! I could never have imagined that the service could be so bad at your restaurant! We came for our reservations for 6 at 4:45 PM and asked if we could sit in "Mr. Carter's" section because our daughter was with us. The hostess informed us that he was not on duty that night but said that she was working on a table. When I saw that she was making a table for our party right by the entrance, I told her that this would not do. After fumbling around for almost 10 minutes, she took us to our table. Our server, Kathy, introduced herself and gave us all menus. Kathy took our drink and appetizer order and asked if we wanted to order our mains at this time. My wife remarked that we "are not in a hurry because we will be going to the Lagniappe festivities to "Light the Town". She remarked, rather tersely, that the kitchen was short-staffed, and we should order soon. When she told us about the special 16 oz. Prime Grade, 28 day dry aged Rib-Eye and its limited availability, I told her to earmark one of those for me which she did. Our appetizers and soup came (Thank heavens that I ordered a cup of the Beef Barley Soup) and everyone else ordered their mains and sides. I told our server that my son-in-law would take the special also. This was at 5:35 PM at the latest. Then we waited, and waited, and waited. Then someone from the dining room staff delivered the Sauteed Mushrooms and Wedge Salad that I had requested to be served with my steak. And we waited, and waited, and waited. Just before I was about to go to the hostess and lodge a complaint our server showed up to alert us to the fact that my son-in-law's special had been allotted to someone else. I immediately looked at her and told her that he would have the Prime NY Strip instead. And again, we waited, and waited, and waited. At 6:20 PM, she came back to the table apologizing for the wait saying that it was due to the change from the special to the steak on the menu. I told her that, to have our daughter see the town being lighted on time, we needed everything to be put in to go containers. When our server curtly remarked "I can bring you out containers and the plates and you can do it", I bristled! Thankfully, she did bring the meals out in to go containers and put the sauteed mushrooms and salad in two containers. When my wife remarked that we were going to see the "Light the Town" and how were we to keep this food warm, our server suggested to "put it in your car". ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I'M PUTTING TWO PRIME GRADE STEAKS, CHILEAN SEA BASS WITH A RISOTTO IN A CAR WHEN IT IS BARELY ABOVE FREEZING?!!! We took our food to the valets, who were the best part of the evening being cheery and funny in their duties even in this extreme cold, who put the meals in our car. We then went and lit the town, came back, paid for our cars, and went back to our home. When we tried to eat our meals, the steaks were stone cold as was my wife's Chilean Sea Bass and, as can you imagine a Butternut Squash Risotto at probably 40 degrees? Needless to say, it all wound up in the TRASH!!!
I can't tell you how embarrassed my wife and I were! We had been telling our oldest daughter and son-in-law about the excellent food and service at the Park 600 for years, only to have this debacle happen the first time that we took them there TO CELEBRATE THE BIRTH OF OUR FIRST GRANDCHILD as well as attend Lagniappe!!! I am not informing you of this to get the server in trouble as she did say that the kitchen was understaffed but I am telling you this because, after paying almost $500 for dinner and having everything but some soup and a salad not end up in the trash this dining experience was a travesty and I would like to know how the new management of this establishment is going to rectify this nightmare? read more