Sorry about dat - it's on da house

Twice in the past week - once at Hugo's Frog Bar and once at Tufano's Vernon Park Tap - I was comped a drink by a server because of some perceived intrusion. Both instances were much more amusing than problematic, and brought to mind some other times when I or my party has ended up with a free meal / comped course or drink because something went horribly wrong.

I kind of wonder if this goes on more in Chicago than other places where culture is more polite / passive-aggressive and less direct and guilt- / pride-motivated. So: what are your favorite "it's on da house" moments?

I have two recent experiences. The first was online and it was pretty unusual. I ordered a pizza from Piece via Caviar. Everything was delivered as ordered but after the meal, I let Caviar know that I was a bit frustrated because some of the ordering options that are available in person and via phone are not available through their service. Their response was to refund the cost of my entire order, approximately $37. I was stunned because I made no request at all. But I was also very appreciative. Compared to my overall unpleasant experiences with GrubHub, this most definitely created some additional goodwill.

The second experience, also food-related, was at the iHotel and Convention Center in Champaign, IL, where I stayed recently when I visited my son. Per my SOP, after the stay, I responded to their solicitation for feedback. In addition to the mostly favorable feedback I provided, I also mentioned that the complimentary breakfast was pretty awful but that it was to be expected. The following Monday I received a call from the GM of the hotel. He said that he was so appreciative of my honest feedback that he was going to refund the cost of the entire stay, approximately $160. I told him that it was completely unnecessary but he insisted. Again, I was very appreciative. It's already my favorite place to stay in Champaign and my son's graduating in May, so it's unlikely to have much of an impact on how often I stay there but it certainly made me feel even better about the place.

=R=

Santander wrote:Twice in the past week - once at Hugo's Frog Bar and once at Tufano's Vernon Park Tap - I was comped a drink by a server because of some perceived intrusion. Both instances were much more amusing than problematic, and brought to mind some other times when I or my party has ended up with a free meal / comped course or drink because something went horribly wrong.

I kind of wonder if this goes on more in Chicago than other places where culture is more polite / passive-aggressive and less direct and guilt- / pride-motivated. So: what are your favorite "it's on da house" moments?

I split my time evenly between Manhattan and Chicago. Goes on equally in both places. I’ve been comped whole dinners or drinks or apps or desserts if something goes quite wrong but I don’t sense any difference by city.

Restaurant where I worked had a semi-open kitchen, cold station with a direct line of sight to one of the many TVs. There was an important soccer match* Mexico vs ~whomever and Rigo the salad cook was pumped to the point of hysteria. Rigo's home team scores a goal and he rips off his food-service gloves, he was mixing coleslaw, and almost faints with joy. Seems he ripped off and threw down the gloves, so he could clap, with no thought to where they landed as 20-minutes later a server comes into the kitchen with an odd expression and asks me to speak to a table about a mishap. Somehow a clear glove ended up in their portion of slaw.

Mom, dad, two youngish kids, I was expecting the worst, Lincoln Park parents often skew twitchy, turns out the family was on vacation and had just seen the show at the Apollo Theater down the block. They were a sweet unassuming family of the type that makes up small town America and both worked food-service in their well-spent youth.

I chatted with them, comped the drinks/meal, made giant off-menu ice cream sundays for the kids, the servers lavished attention on the kids, all the while they kept saying it was unnecessary and mistakes happen. The more they demurred the more we piled on attention.

They left smiling, happy, saying it was their best restaurant experience in memory. The only unhappy one was Rigo as he was immediately put on the pot sink and given the nickname Michael Jackson.

*Ridiculous, I know, but it flows the story line

Gordon.
Best friend and I taking our ladies out on the town back in the day. Our server that night, was from Philly. He "summered" in Chicago while playing some instrument with the CSO. Probably made way more per night waiting tables on a slow night than I ever have on a busy night. He was pretty snooty, maybe all of 22 yrs old, but that's beside the point. Anyway, he pours the tasting glass, we accept (as if we knew anything.) I mean, the wine was ok and all. I knew from serving in a fancy place, you pour the taste to the orderer, and then they nod, or say "that's fine, thank you," as some just really (imo) silly ass tradition. So, he pours a glass for each of the ladies, and spills maybe 2tbs of wine on the tablecloth. He immediately starts apologizing PROFUSELY, and scurries to get the mgr. We are all amazed, telling him it's completely not a big deal. We had all been servers before, and tried to put him at ease. Honestly, none of us even cared a BIT.

Bottle comped. We were all absolutely amazed.

Wow -- wondering how you make this magic happen. I was at Everest with friends, and when wine was being served, the serve dropped the open bottle, upside down, into my friend's purse, which was on the floor next to her chair. They brought napkins to clean it up. Nothing else. No comped drink or anything.

Only think I ever got comped was dry cleaning, when a server leaned over to serve someone across the table and accidentally poured all the (painfully hot) gravy from the serving platter down the back of my dress. Manager said I could send him the dry cleaning bill -- but no free meal or glass of wine to calm me down. And when I sent the bill, it took three phone calls to get them to honor the promise.

So I need to start following you guys around.