An amused restaurant customer recently wrote in to Leah Garchik at the Chronicle to describe a scene she witnessed at an unnamed restaurant in the Presidio (it's got to be either Presidio Social Club or The Commissary). Basically a four-person group who had a reservation was kept waiting at the bar for a table for about an hour, during which time there were "no loud voices, no swear words ... except one, the Y-word (Yelp)."
Per the reader, after someone on staff had obviously heard them muttering their complaints amongst themselves:
"The manager came to them, clutching menus to his chest. And one of the women said, 'Is our table ready?''No,' he said. 'There's nothing here for you. There are plenty of restaurants nearby.' And he threw them out."
The story sounds a little apocryphal, or at least we must be missing some piece of what happened, because most restaurants would a) be very apologetic if they kept someone with a reservation waiting for an hour, or b) try to placate customers who seemed upset by comping them something, because what's to stop this same party from telling the story of waiting an hour and getting kicked out on Yelp? This kind of reminds me of the false story that spread around a few years back about S.F. service workers demanding a 25-percent tip standard.
But Garchik bought it, and she follows up today with another reader's thoughts on the matter, because now she has people up-in-arms over the idea that haughty restaurant managers are kicking people out for threatening poor Yelp reviews.
Phil Scordelis suggests that the San Francisco Board of Supervisors enact a Diners' Bill of Rights. In his version of this legislation, if the eatery doesn't seat you within 30 minutes of the reservation time, the drinks you consume while waiting are free; if the wait is longer than an hour, the meal and the liquor are free; if they don't seat you at all, they have to pay for your cab to another restaurant, plus the meal and drinks there.
Garchik adds that she doesn't want to have to wait for a full party to be present if dining with four or more people, but I'm sure there are plenty of restaurant industry folk who would take her to task for that.
It is frustrating, sure, to have to wait more than a few minutes for a table if you have a reservation, but it's more the exception than the rule that people wait more than 15 minutes, no? The level of service in San Francisco hasn't eroded that much, has it?
And shouldn't haughty Yelpers get put in their place once in a while?
Also, I'm pretty sure the Board of Supervisors has a few more important issues to attend to than legislating free drinks for impatient restaurant-goers.
