Examples of Actual Review Responses
Reviewed on Yelp on February 21, 2018
This was a waste of 15 minutes. We were seated without menus and waited as 5 plus servers passed us. Finally one stopped when we yelled. We were asked if we seated ourselves because why wouldn’t they give us a menu. Exactly! People acted as if we were imposing and impatient. Not a positive experience considering it was 445 pm and not busy wonder how it is when busy. Don’t waste your time or money.
Response:
We are so very sorry you had such a disappointing experience. We did have some employee issues during that time, but we’re happy to say we have resolved them. That doesn’t fix your visit, or excuse us from our mistakes. But I promise you that we have a renewed focus on customer service and are dedicated to a much higher level of customer satisfaction. We are also working harder than ever on offering the very best food products made with love and concern. Again, we apologize for our failure. And we appreciate you bringing the problem to our attention. We do hope you may be willing to give us another try at some point, as we would love to show you just how far we have come.
Reviewed on Google on January 28, 2023
The reviewer left 4 stars, but no text
Response:
Thanks very much for your positive review! We do wish you had told us what it was you liked, …and even more important, what kept you from giving us that 5th star. We are constantly trying to improve our food and service, and it’s customer input that helps us hone in on the areas we should focus on. We hope you’ll come again, and that next time you’ll help us earn that last star.
Reviewed TripAdvisor on June 19, 2015
Not Worth the Wait…
We saw that Rick’s Reef was a top-rated spot so we stopped here first, of all places in town. We were immediately informed that the kitchen was on a 45-minute wait. It was busy but not bustling so it was confusing to us as to why they were so backed up. The food was average and there was nothing else special about the place other than it was open later than most. Now I realize the only reason it is so highly rated is because only a half dozen people had reviewed it before we went there. We were pretty bummed!
Response:
Thanks for taking the time to review Rick’s Reef. All our food is made fresh to your order, so it takes a bit longer than McDonald’s or Burger King. But most of our customers think the quality of the food is well worth the wait. We are a bit confused about your comment questioning why we are so highly rated “because only a half dozen people had reviewed it…” We currently have over 600 reviews, and about 550 of those are 4 or 5-star reviews! Based on those numbers we think our ranking is well deserved. So, the next time you want a hand-made meal from fresh ingredients, and you have the time to allow for that, give us another try. I expect that like so many of our other reviewers, you will see why we are so popular!
Reviewed on TripAdvisor on Jan 14, 2018
Disappointing and terrible noisy
Very poor service both from the welcoming person and the waitress.
To start with, Water served in a plastic glass! forks missing despite mentioning it to the waitress, asked several courses to share but only one regular plate for two.
Food very average and crab meat pizza with no crab taste.
But even worse, TV was running very very loud and one had really to shout to get heard by its neighbor. Staff must be stone deaf!!
Very unpleasant experience!
Response:
We’re so very sorry that you did not enjoy your experience with us. We work hard at customer service, and at providing a fun and interesting location to dine and drink.
Did you ask to speak to a manager? While we are a sports bar and cater to the desires of our sports fanatics if asked to lower the volume of the TV we most certainly would. Also, we would have liked to know about the slow, or poor, service you received immediately so that we could act on it, and save others from having a less-than-perfect visit.
We also work hard at providing excellent food and would have appreciated getting your comments immediately so that we could do a quality control check in the kitchen.
We appreciate you using this platform to make us aware that we need to try harder in these areas. But we highly recommend to you, and to any restaurant customer, that when you have a disappointing experience, here or at any restaurant, you do yourself, the restaurant staff, and the diners coming in after you a big favor by bringing it to the attention of a manager immediately. It’s possible we could have done something to improve your meal. And we certainly could have improved the experience of those coming in after you.
We hope you may give us another chance and are confident you will enjoy a much more pleasant visit with us if you do. We have heard you, and are working to do better.
Reviewed on Google on January 2018
They serve invasive tiger shrimp here and pass it off as native gulf shrimp. The difference is obvious when your meal arrives. They are unusually large and as tough as a cheap steak.
Response:
While we generally take a “the customer is always right” attitude, in this case, we must disagree with you.
First, we do not indicate on our menus that we are serving “native Gulf shrimp.” The reason is that there are always times in the year when Gulf Shrimp are not available, and our customers like to order shrimp year ’round. And, the high demand for Gulf shrimp is rapidly depleting the natural supply, causing problems in the Gulf Coast fisheries. As a result, we serve sustainable farm-raised shrimp. They are not “invasive tiger shrimp.” They are Pacific White Shrimp, or their scientific name, Litopenaeus Vannamei.
While we encourage our customers to offer honest reviews of their experience in our restaurant, we do not appreciate anyone accusing us of deceptive business practices, or spreading false information regarding the foods we serve. Should you have any concerns about what you are eating while dining at the Brass Monkey, please express your concerns to the manager. We will be more than happy to give you accurate information, and if you insist we will provide documentation.
We take our business, and our reputation, very seriously, and work hard every day to provide high-quality food and excellent service to our valued customers. Please do not malign us based on a lack of understanding, or of actual facts. It’s just not fair to our valued employees, or to future customers.
Reviewed on Yelp on April 1, 2018
The mediocre food with horrible service made me write my 1st review on Yelp to warn others to avoid this place. Our waters weren’t refilled once, couldn’t even find the waiter to ask. Our food comes out and we notice a basket of fries is absent. The waiter said they went to the wrong table and he will bring them out shortly. We waited 15 minutes for those fries and already finished our meals we ordered by the time they came out. I asked if they would comp the fries for the wait and that was a no. If you like bad service and previously frozen food this is your spot.
Response:
We are very sorry your experience with us was a disappointing one. We identified the server who was assigned to you and have provided additional training for him. You visited us on what may have been our busiest day of the year, and while that is no excuse for poor service, we found ourselves a bit understaffed. So, we have gone to work on solving both of those problems. You don’t mention which food items you chose, but we are a bit surprised to hear our food called mediocre. We have an extensive menu, with more than 130 choices, and we take great pride in serving excellent recipes made from fresh ingredients. We work very hard at that, and the owner, herself, takes regular shifts in the kitchen to be sure our quality control is kept at an exceptionally high level. We hope you will give us a second chance, and if you do return, and ask to speak to a manager, the fries are on us! Just tell them Lee said so if Lee is not there.
Reviewed on TripAdvisor on May 28, 2014
What service??? Where you at?
My girlfriend and I went into Rick’s last Thursday for dinner, we were (almost rudely) told to sit where we wanted to. …and we waited, and waited, and waited and they didn’t even seem that busy, and waited some more before we just decided to pack it up and go to Silas Dent’s where we had one of our best experiences ever.
Response:
Thank you for your review, and for letting us know of the problem you experienced.
It is our policy to allow any patron to sit where they want. We have a wide variety of choices, outside patio dining, seating outside at the bar, lots of indoor seating, some well away from the bar, some near the TVs, and more seating at the bar inside, which is all air-conditioned. We can seat you right in the thick of the fun, or give you a little privacy. So, it only makes sense to suggest that the customer should feel free to select the location that works best for them.
However, we clearly had a problem, apparently some bad communication, if you sat more than one minute without being greeted by a server. We have a strict policy that each customer be welcomed to Rick’s Reef as soon as possible, and we try to take your drink order at that time.
So, I don’t know how we dropped the ball on the night you were there, but I can tell you we have reiterated to the staff that a quick initial greeting is essential, and we don’t expect to see that kind of a problem again!
We hope you’ll give us another chance sometime soon, and I assure you we’ll provide the Excellent experience you were hoping for the first time
Once again, thank you for making us aware of a problem, and allowing us to address it.
Reviewed on Google on February 6th, 2023
The reviewer left 2 stars, but no textResponse
Miguel, Thank you for doing a review, but we really do wish you had told us a little bit about why you only left us 2 stars. We use our reviews to better understand what makes our customers happy and, more importantly, to learn where we can improve. When a customer explains why they are disappointed we use that feedback to make improvements to our service or our food preparation. While we hope that if you visit again we knock your socks off, …if we don’t, please tell us why.