I want to start a discussion about the service in FG. Let’s see if I can do this without being whiny cuz it’s actually kind of funny now: service in FG is a beast of its own. There is not one food or beverage establishment that doesn’t exude the malaise. Sometimes it’s charming, like we live in a small town. Other times it’s just baffling: the crew at lil pig would always forget me within the five minutes I’d be waiting in front of them for my food. At Pequena one night, I tested them: I called them to order and they put me on hold, which I’ve noticed is their thing. While I was on hold, I walked over there. I walked inside, still on hold and noticed the phone hanging off the hook. The waitress approached me instantly and asked what I’d like and I said, ‘I’d like to order a salad but so you know, you still have me on hold.'” She said, ‘hold on a minute,’ and went and took drink orders from a table in there. I walked out. One morning, I needed a packet of rice cakes. Plain, salty rice cakes: I went to Provisions, Fresh Garden and the evil deli (the older one on Fulton, which is far less evil since Fresh Garden opened): Not a salty rice cake on the shelf. There were garlic rice cakes and seaweed rice cakes at Fresh Garden and Provisions have stocked them since I erupted in my morning rush: “someone needs to have rice cakes in the neighborhood.” But the point is, I rushed from here to there to no avail, despite there being all these gourmelis in the ‘hood. What’s it gonna be, FG: small town or yuppyville. I’ll settle with one or the other but not middle ground.
Speaking of bad service: ICI, is terrible. I went there once, and I can’t go back there. The woman who owns the place (tall one) stomps around the restaurant. She spent half the time walking back and forth across the small dining room and she wasn’t doing much. Meanwhile the waitress was busy in the garden. But the fact that the tall woman stomped around the old wooden floors making noise while diners tried to enjoy the overpriced snobby feel of the place, really put me off. I know she owns the place with hubby, but does she have to walk around like a teenager, and showing no consideration for the people who are eating there?
In terms of good service…. I love YUMMY YUMMY chinese food next to Rope on Myrtle. Whenever you call they say YUMMY YUMMY and you can almost hear them smiling through the phone. Their food has no MSG and whenever you happen to pickup the food at the place they are all smiling. Food is great. My favorite is fried bean curd and broccoli in garlic sauce and brown rice!
this seems like a growing pain of our dear neighborhood, rather than a decision that we’re all headed to “yuppyville.”
your experience with pequena is totally bonkers, i agree. that shit makes me insane.
but rice cakes? not having rice cakes at the deli, or at the fancy deli, does not make fort greene a “small town.” and does small town = unsophisticated taste in puffy rice products? i don’t get it.
but yes, some of our neighborhood’s establishments have not quite adjusted to a higher demand from demanding people. i totally agree with that.
“…the evil deli (the older one on Fulton…)”
Haha! I hate that place so much. No matter how many times I go in there, they stare at me like I’m going to steal something. And their prices are out of control. Fresh Garden is way better in every way.
I think the service malaise is due to the fact that there are a lot of shiny new entrepreneurs who are passionate about food, clothes, etc. who have the money and knowhow to open stores but don’t feel customer service should be a part of their portfolio.
their feeling seems to be:
oh well…
it’s not like my customers are going to ride back into manhattan to get what they want, right
I guess my feeling is that the way I’m treated in most Fort Greene/CH establishments is that I’m an afterthought to their grand dreams and schemes.
a solution:
email your complaints to the owners directly (yeah send this link to the team behind pequena) and keep posting about it..when business falls off due to customer irritation … corrections will be made.
Haha, my girlfriend and I have been referring to the “evil deli” as OPK (Over Priced Korean-market) for 5 years now. The prices are ridiculous, but what really sucks about the place is when the woman is working. She literally does not know how to smile.
But yeah, there does seem to be an abundance of places with customer service issues and attitude problems (Pequena, Tillys, Bittersweet, ici, Tomas Biesel – the worst! I could go on), but then there are also alot of places with generally nice people and friendly service (Madiba, Lulu, Moes, LA Bagel, even Mullanes). I honestly have no guess as to why we have so many obnoxious people opening up businesses in the neighborhood, but as long as new and fresh places keep opening up, at least our odds of having friendly service increase right?
Oh, and the folks at Green Garden are nice as hell! The prices are laughable, but the staff is extremely helpful and friendly in my opinion.
*end rant*
A subject near and dear to my long time Manhattanite heart. I’ve had nothing but positive experience at Provisions and, as long as I get the guy, at Evil Deli. But I get the impression from a lot of businesses that somehow the rules of business that operate most places on the planet, don’t apply in FG, based on what I don’t know. It’s a wierd form of isolationism, which is awesome when it manifests in our small town feeling, but annoying when you are a customer. Gnarly Vines gets it very right. And I totally agree that this thing of SBO’s who are following their dream to not work for the man, don’t think about market demand i.e. we have few unglamorous (often immigrant started) businesses like shoe repair, hardware, tailor, etc. and countless highly personal wine shops.
I am not sure i agree it’s a FG thing, I think of it more as Brooklyn service. Whatever the case, it’s a bummer. Burger 67 can’t seem to handle a rush and, most annoyingly, servers there will avoid your eye when you’ve been waiting 30 min for the other half of an order. no apologizing either. I finally decided that, when the wait reaches past my endurance (generally the other persons food has arrived and been devoured w/no word on when mine is coming) I’ll just ask for a refund, cancel the order and leave. but honestly, WTF? It is pathetic.
Not sure what the “Evil Deli” is supposed to be, but by and large, I’ve had friendly and helpful service at our local shops and restaurants. I’d single out Different Cleaners, Fresh Garden/Greene Farms, R&J Deli, and Ralph’s as the most welcoming.
Exceptions would be Smoke Joint, which reminds me of an insider indie record store in its haphazard service (not to mention its sub-par food), Mullane’s, and Ruthie’s–whose food I love, but whose delivery service is atrotious. Service at Thomas Biesl can be a little snooty, but is basically okay. I’ve even been pleasantly surprised by most of the staff at Target and Pathmark.
Maybe it’s because I’ve been here awhile and have grown to know a lot of the shop workers, but I don’t get the complaints.
I think it’s just a New York thing. I’ve resigned myself to horrible customer service just about everywhere I go in this city. I’ve had a couple of experiences at Pequena that sound similar to yours. The girls there are baiters, i.e. they bait you with aloofness or a patronizing greeting just to get you fired up and then BOOM they ignore you because YOU have attitude. Food is good though.