Key Largo Spur

On Friday May 15 while our friends were on holiday in Ballito, I suggested to them that we go to Spur Key Largo at the Junction for supper rather than the Spur upstairs at Lifestyle Shopping Centre as our friend, Fernando walks with great difficulty after an accident at work a few years ago.

On arrival a very friendly waiter by the name of Lee greeted us and suggested he prepares a table for the seven of us. The restaurant was quite empty so we thanked him for suggesting this. Half way through this Lee was told by management that this is unnecessary as there is a table seating eight available in another section. So we moved.

A few minutes later another waiter appears telling us that Lee is too busy, he is taking over. As he takes our order for drinks another waiter comes to the table saying he is taking over. As we repeat our order, Lee comes to the table saying he has been sent back and will take our order. Just then another waiter comes to say he is taking over our table. So eventually we get something to drink.

Then Lee comes back and we place our order for food and – guess what – another waiter reports to our table to report he is now our new waiter. Lee then hands over to him.

When our food arrives served by three other waiters who has no clue who ordered what – Fernando’s ribs were not well done as he had asked, my spicy chicken quesadillas ordered extra spicy did not even have a trace of spices let alone chillies, the cottage cheese as advertised on the menu was also absent on my plate and my sister-in-law’s baked potato came without the ordered sour cream. So we requested for it to be fixed.

Lee then tells us that he did not place the order as he was told by management to hand over to another waiter, apologises and says he will have it rectified. As we look to the front we witness Lee being reprimanded in front of other waiters and patrons.

Then we had had enough. We called for the manager. The manager came to our table and just stood there. Did not greet. Did not ask what he could do for us. We explained the unacceptable manner in which we have been treated. We then insisted that Lee be assigned our waiter until we leave. Casually the manager said “I did not know”, turned around and walked off. No apology, no friendly word, nothing!

Lee came to our table and said that he had been told to serve us for the rest of the evening. We ate, decided to cut our evening short and asked for the bill. It was no surprise to us that extra items had been added to the bill. We requested for it to be fixed, paid and left.

Throughout this uncalled for, let alone unprofessional treatment of patrons by management Lee stayed friendly and did his best. Thank you Lee for handling the situation with dignity and that you kept on being so friendly !! We shared a good few jokes together and made the best of the evening.

To the management of Key Largo Spur – for your own sake please get your act together and treat your customers with respect. Just a reminder -they pay your salary!

ELZA PELSER

Ballito

Bev Cornwell, Customer Care Manager replies: Thank you for sharing this customer’s experience with us. We are concerned that these customers left our restaurant unhappy with the service provided by the team at Key Largo Spur.

Cognisance has been taken of the feedback provided and we urge this customer to please contact us, either through our Customer Service Department (0860007787) or the owner/operator of this Spur directly, Robert Gradwell. He is contactable on cell no. 076 400 3611, email robertg@spursteakranch.co.za. Robert will investigate what went wrong on the night and address it with the staff on duty to prevent a recurrence. Lee will also be acknowledged for a job well done since it really seems that he tried his best to appease these unhappy customers and make the best of what they believed was a bad situation .

We always welcome constructive criticism as this allows us to address poor operational standards timeously.