January 14, 2009

Subject: October dining experience

Recipient: Wayne Patterson

I don’t have the specific date of the October evening we were in your restaurant for dinner but you’ll remember us. I was the woman who insisted the ‘white peach’ cobbler was really crafted from apples.

Yes, that customer couple. I’m in the process clearing papers in my office and came across the business card you offered us for a ‘complimentary’ appetizer.

The experience capped by the card has been a subject of friends/family/business colleague conversation but unfortunately in the guise of very poor customer service extended personally by an owner/operator.

So as I ready to toss this card I’d like to share a few observations: • If a customer states they feel a food they are eating is not as advertised, specifically a totally different ingredient, don’t come to the table and question the diner. Start in your kitchen and question your staff. o To be questioned by first our waitress, then you personally bordered on battering. When I held my ground I was eating apples, only then did you question your own kitchen staff. What a wonder to you to find out I was right. Somehow the staff had ‘run out of the peaches you personally carried into the restaurant and had substituted apples’. o While you and your staff endured repeated walks up the stairs during your questioning of me the growing discomfort from the attention, proving my point and ultimately lack of apology lodged its effect in our never setting foot in your establishment since. • If you offer as recompense, for a more than uncomfortable dining experience, a simple business card good for a ‘free’ appetizer in a future visit the ‘free appetizer’ should probably not have all the following restrictions. Bottom line, it’s a bad idea to grow future business in this manner. o With the purchase of 2 entrees o Expires 12/1/2008 o Dinner only o Valid Sunday through Thursday • We eat at $$ to $$$$ restaurants on a weekly basis when at home. Since our experience with your restaurant we have shifted any of our dining in your place to our other local options; Centini’s Lounge, 503, Winestock, etc.

At the end of the day I am old enough to know restaurants are launched frequently. Diners always grow or close these starts based on their user experience and pocketbook. I’m sure this venture is important to you and as an Oregon City resident I know that viable dining options are an enhancement to our quality of life here in this burgeoning historic city. I’m just sorry you are not growing your business well.

Our meal was so comically bad that it is something that I'm sure we'll remember for the rest of our lives. We had a party of 10 and LITERALLY had 11 things wrong with our meal in terms of just the actual food not including other service related issues. I'll highlight some of them: my little brother didn't get his food until 25 minutes AFTER we had got ours and when he did it was a burger that was still cold in the middle, my other brother got his food about 10 minutes after we got ours, I ordered a steak with red potatoes and greens for $18 fricking dollars and I've had better at a Denny's (the steak was tough and overcooked for "medium rare", the greens tasted like boiled rubber balloons, and the potatoes were alright but who pays $18 for potatoes? I guess I do), they got something wrong on everyone's order but 3 people and all the food was terrible, the chef in the rear of the restaurante was cooking and wiping the sweat off of his forehead with his bare hand (as you can see this since it is a open kitchen), the menu is really small and they lack selection (it used to be more of a southern cooking restaurant and if you’d like a good version of this restaurant go checkout the Delta Café that place is fantastic), it is a "rib house" but they were out of ribs in the first 45 minutes after they were ready, after botching the order so terribly we were pretty irate and got a hold of the manager and tried to resolve our complaints with "free desert" although we didn't want any as it was probably just as bad as the food. Then they offered us desert again for our plight, and again once more each time us refusing it as payment for our shitty, expensive and poorly served meal. Then the owner of the restaurante informed us that "there was nothing he could do", "sorry, but there is a larger party upstairs..." these are the kinds of things I'd expect to hear from a Jr. Manager of a Taco Bell, not the owner of a steak/rib house where you pay $18 for a 12 oz. steak (that is horrid, btw). After some bickering we got him to reduce the bill by 25% which was almost enough to cover the amount of toilet paper we had to buy as the collective diarrhea that resulted hours later (slightly sarcastic only, we actually spent more than that on toilet paper). But we all had a good laugh about it so… thanks for the memories!

I was quite disappointed in the food. My wife had the fish and chips while I had the ravioli. The fish and chips were just mediocre and the ravioli was quite less than that. As far as pricing goes, they are definitely on the high side for what they are offering. I just want to get what I paid for and I feel that is just not the case at the Oregon City Grille.

the best place i've ever eaten. the smoked flavors on the pork and beef was magnificent and the organic foods from the west coast is what caught our eye. But, the food was absolutely spectacular. i believe it may be the best place to eat in all of oregon city. we will return again and again.