Since St. Roch market opened, I have always enjoyed eating there. Over the years, I have seen many restaurants come and go. As an oyster lover, The Curious Oyster, was an all time favorite of mine. Unfortunately, they left some time ago and The Elysian replaced them. They oysters have remained the same but the customer service has truly waned.
Last week, I invited a friend to join me for the Happy Hour that takes place on week days between 4-7pm. This was her very 1st time there and we were looking forward to enjoying a few dozen oysters.
The employee/shucker on duty, I believe his name is Alex, almost seemed perturbed by our presence.
When he filled our initial order of 1 dozen each, we were given very few crackers and lemons to which we asked for more. Upon ordering our second round of oysters, we stated that we would like more crackers and lemon wedges with our orders.
He appeared very disgusted and unwilling to accommodate us with the items we thought were given as a courtesy to customers that ordered oysters.
With 24 oysters between she and I, we had 5 packs of crackers with 2 in each pack. I approached the counter again offering to purchase more of what we needed to satisfy our taste.
Very unpleasantly, I was told I did not have to purchase them, all that these were free upon request but because it was "happy hour" they were limited but again still given upon request.
It was quite obvious that he was not willing to accommodate my numerous requests nor was I able to purchase more. Despite the poor customer service, he was tipped for his labor.
Yesterday we returned shortly after 4 pm to enjoy our afternoon eating raw oysters. As luck would have it, Alex was on duty again. I was almost certain that this week there would be no issues between us because we came with our own crackers, hot sauce and lemons. There was no need to "bother" Alex with unwelcome requests for anything.
Being that there were no other customers in sight, you would think that any business at all would be met with a warm welcome. NOT!!! Alex's face clearly reflected that we were not on his "ready to serve" list.
Not taking it personally, I proceeded to order 2 dozen not realizing at that moment that he did not honor the happy hour rate, I paid for them and tipped him once again. My friend went to order our 2nd round and at that time she realized that we were being charged the regular rate even though it was during happy hour.
Obviously being questioned about what could have been an oversight was nothing short of offensive to this Alex guy. Rather than approach him, I went to the market manager to inquire about the rates and express to him how poorly we had been treated.
I am glad that management was able to witness just how hostile this employee was. He attempted to rectify the situation by refunding my friend for the 2 dozen she ordered and having Alex to fill our order since I had actually already been charged for 4 dozen from the start.
After some time passed, my friend reentered the market to oversee the completion of our order. Alex had not even started shocking them when she approached him a question. Alex did NOT respond. She then repeated her question about him filling our order and again, she was ignored. The matter then escalated into an unpleasant verbal exchange that clearly could have been avoided if customer service were a priority. read more