Red Rock Buffet

I am local and eat the Red Rock Buffet about once a month with my wife. I have never had one problem there and will still go back, but I just didn't like how the following situation was handled. When I returned with my plate of food, I noticed that one of my favorite side dishes, the red potato salad, there was a hair in it. At first I was like no big deal, it happens, and then I found a second, and then a third. I quietly told my waitress and she said she would get the manager. I covered my plate with a napkin and after about 2 minutes he came over. I told him the issue, he said he would take my word for it and took the plate away and went to inform the chef. After about 5 minutes he came back and said they didn't see anything in it and asked if I would like to call security. I said no, things happen, and I was fine. He walked away, never came back to check on us, or offer us anything for our troubles.

I grew up working in a restaurant and we would not have charged them for the meal and probably would have offered them something for their troubles. Asking if I wanted to speak with security and telling me he didn't find the hair just seemed like poor customer service to me. I am still going back there sometime, but I was disappointed with the service.

How do you think this should have been handled?

Please follow this up with a letter to them. The Chef could give Chef Ramsey's lessons in arrogance. Why in the hell would you want to talk to Security? Unless Security has the power to fire a Chef !!

Huh??

Quote: SONBP2

... I told him the issue, he said he would take my word for it and took the plate away and went to inform the chef. After about 5 minutes he came back and said they didn't see anything in it and asked if I would like to call security.

Why?
Uh, actually no, this really is an issue for the Director of Food Service Operations...

Quote: SONP2

I grew up working in a restaurant and we would not have charged them for the meal and probably would have offered them something for their troubles. Asking if I wanted to speak with security and telling me he didn't find the hair just seemed like poor customer service to me. I am still going back there sometime, but I was disappointed with the service.
How do you think this should have been handled?

Not a major life crisis, just a quotidien minor annoyance. Write a letter to Stations, and switch to Rampart for their buffet. A negative mention here, and a lot of eyes see it here Las Vegas anyway.

They should have comped the buffet. Since you'd already paid, though, you should have been offered two free passes for latter use.

Quote: Nareed

They should have comped the buffet. Since you'd already paid, though, you should have been offered two free passes for latter use.

That is what I expected, especially since they give away free buffets all the time anyways.

Quote: SONBP2

When I returned with my plate of food, I noticed that one of my favorite side dishes, the red potato salad, there was a hair in it. At first I was like no big deal, it happens, and then I found a second, and then a third. I quietly told my waitress and she said she would get the manager.
How do you think this should have been handled?

Asking you if you want to talk to security is one of the worst possible things to say. It's almost like they were threatening you.

Perhaps there were only three hairs in the salad, and you had already picked them out. You may want to mention that in the letter. You did not choose to set aside the hairs for display.

Within reason a restaurant should take the word of their customers. As a regular you should not be seen as someone who was trying to rip them off.

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I once wrote a letter to talk to management about their staff manner in dealing with a difficult customer. I emphasized that the customer was clearly being difficult and seemed to be slightly disturbed. But the staff was loudly mocking him and taunting him so that the customer went into a tirade and was shouting at the top of his lungs.

I tried to be clear that the customer did not have a valid complaint, but the staff should learn how to defuse situations, not try and incite them with public ridicule.

I did get a response, but it was virtually useless.

I eat the Red Rock buffet fairly often, since it's such high quality with varied options, and they've been running the discounted price for a few months now. It's an excellent deal for the money, one of the best buffets in town (IMO best of Station properties), for only $6 breakfast, $8 lunch $13 supper; crazy considering how big and yummy it is. Always an hourlong wait to get seated though.

I think you would've gotten better results in your complaint had you left the hairs in there for them to see. Maybe you thought if a single spoonful of potato salad contained 3 hairs, then the whole tray must have hundreds, therefore, call the manager. I'm more of the thought that it's no big deal. I find little bugs in the lettuce sometimes (not at Red Rock). In fact the FDA allows certain levels of bugs in our food as being normal. Every can of tomato sauce, jar of peanut butter, whatever, contains bits of maggots, rodent hairs, insect eggs, mold and fecal matter and the FDA says that's okay. A single hair (or three) isn't going to freak me out. But that's just me. I'd find it much worse to bite down on an unexpected olive pit in a sandwich, or sharp bits of bone in a "deboned" chicken piece.

You can read the whole allowable list from the FDA's own webite right here. Nasty bits are down the page a ways.

In my youth, I worked in a variety of restaurant kitchens, some clean, some not so much. And many customers can harp on and on about frivolous things hoping for a free meal (not that you did this, or would do this, just saying it happens). I remember one black woman ate her whole meal, then complained about a pubic hair in her pasta. She had short hair, and everyone in our kitchen was white, and most of us were blonde. Obviously this hair came from her own head and she was running a scam. Just her stupid luck she picked a restaurant with an all-white crew. Our manager did not give her a free meal, and threatened to call police if she did not pay her bill, and I still remember the absurdity of it all 20+ years later. Perhaps the Red Rock manager was having a bad day and had already fielded a dozen complaints. Gotta pick your battles.

Quote: zippyboy

You can read the whole allowable list from the FDA's own webite right here. Nasty bits are down the page a ways.

At work, one of my customers is a large national producer of low-price dry cereals. I've had a hard time buying their product since I found out exactly what was allowable in their product - and how often they have to close the plants for scheduled "pest control." I guess scheduled is better than unscheduled, though.

I eat there a lot too, since I live close by, and have lots of points. Please say "hi" if you see me there. I've never had a problem with the buffet but once I had a dispute in the bingo room. It is a long story, which I won't get into, but I felt the way I was treated at the time I made a complaint was that I was a hustler trying to get one over on them. Then again, I've had many positive experiences too.

Quote: zippyboy

Our manager did not give her a free meal, and threatened to call police if she did not pay her bill, and I still remember the absurdity of it all 20+ years later. Perhaps the Red Rock manager was having a bad day and had already fielded a dozen complaints. Gotta pick your battles.

For years we ate at a local buffet maybe 4-5 times a week, back
when we had the antique mall. People were always trying to pull
something to get a free meal. I never saw the manager give one,
and there were some real screaming matches. Sometimes they
would leave without paying and he had an employee follow them
and get their license plate number, then he called the police. He
usually won because he was willing to prosecute. People are amazingly
stupid when they walk out on a $40 bill, its just like leaving a store
with a $40 watch in your pants.

Quote: rdw4potus

At work, one of my customers is a large national producer of low-price dry cereals. I've had a hard time buying their product since I found out exactly what was allowable in their product -

The same is allowable on high-priced dry cereal.

So there :P

Quote:

and how often they have to close the plants for scheduled "pest control." I guess scheduled is better than unscheduled, though.

That happens in every plant, factory, warehouse and restaurant that handles food. If you don't fumigate regularly, and take other preventive measures, you'll get vermin of all kinds. Not all places need to close to do it, but all need to close from time to time for a thorough spraying. It's normal.

It works very well, too.

I know a food processor who got an old couch for their offices, which carried a very bad infestation of crawling bugs. They had a devil of a time wiping them out of the offices, but the food handling ,prep and storage areas were clean. the bugs died trying to get there.

Quote: Nareed

The same is allowable on high-priced dry cereal.

So there :P

Mostly, I just thought that would be a way of naming the company without naming the company. But now that you mention it, most of my other food service customers have much less downtime. I wonder if that's a function of factory age/design/location, food type, or something else.

Quote: Wizard

I eat there a lot too, since I live close by, and have lots of points. ... I've never had a problem with the buffet...

One of our favorite buffets too, we usually eat there at least once each trip.

It is such a good deal that there is usually a line, but we usually end up
only waiting for 20 minutes or so.