Daily Delish – The Grovewood Tavern – Bittersweet

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Daily Delish

This weekend the Mister and I had dinner with two of our two dear friends, Sean and Matty. This dinner was important for two reasons: 1.) we hadn’t made a date with them in AGES; 2.) It had been way too long (almost a year!) since we had eaten at The Grovewood Tavern. 

From the Website:

The Grovewood Tavern & Wine Bar offers an atmosphere that is clean, friendly and relaxed. Customers can socialize with friends and new acquaintances in an easy-going atmosphere while choosing from our wide selection of fine wines; domestic, imported and micro-brewed beer; and select liquors. The patrons of the Grovewood Tavern & Wine bar are a diverse and friendly bunch, who come to enjoy fine beverages, fine food, and, of course, fine company.

Our menu features “familiar-exotic” foods from around the world at down-to-Earth prices. We present weekly specials along with customer favorites, so you’re sure to find something to please!

I really love the Grovewood Tavern’s laid-back kitschy look. It’s cozy and inviting, making you want to stay for hours (too bad we couldn’t – but more on that later).

Upon being seated, each table is given a plate of freshly baked bread and garlic dipping oil – check out those whole cloves!

Having a considerable amount of time to scan the menu (I did my research online ;) ), I already knew what I was going to order. Moroccan Mahi-Mahi: Grilled and served with artisinal lemon oil, with roasted spaghetti squash and lentil salad. 

Sorry for the poor picture quality – the restaurant was very dark!

This was delicious – exactly what I was hoping for. The Mahi Mahi was cooked quite well and the lemon oil infused the entire fillet with mouth-watering, fresh flavor. The lentil salad was incredibly refreshing. Crisp and tangy, it did a great job of cleansing the palette. But my favorite bites were spent on the spaghetti squash! This was cooked to the perfect consistency and seasoned with something sweet (maple syrup, perhaps?) but balanced with subtle spices.

Everyone else really enjoyed their meals, as well. Great food…better company…fabulous evening!

UNTIL…

Now, let me give you a bit of context. While the Grovewood looks super laid-back and comfortable, the prices are not. The Mister and I spent more than $50 total for just two entrees (no drinks!). That being said, I don’t mind splurging for a good meal and an opportunity to relax and chat with good friends. What I do mind is being PUSHED OUT.

Le me give you the run down. We had just finished our meals and paid the bill. The Mister was in the middle of a story and we were all having a really great conversation. Note: other patrons were doing the same — i.e. enjoying each-other’s company after finishing their meal. But they must have had an “in” with the manager or something, because what happened next was simply not cool. Dear Grovewood Tavern, perhaps KICKING patrons out of your restaurant isn’t the best way of getting them to come back. This is simple customer service, people. I understand if we lingered for an extra 30 minutes…but it had been 5 (tops).

The “manager” (or bus boy with a huge ego) came to our table and said the following: “Hey guys, I hope you enjoyed your meal. As you can see we are kind of busy and I could use the table, so….yea….” —AWKWARD SILENCE — 

Dude, are you kidding me? This has never, EVER happened to me before. I was actually a bit in shock – we all were! The thing that REALLY put me over the edge, though, was the fact that I had seen this “manager” making the rounds to other tables to “welcome them” and ask them about their meals. We were never “welcomed,” just “goodbye-d.” And we’re cool people – totally approachable! Grovewood Tavern, I MIGHT give you one more chance, but if you pull these shenanigans again, I might need to add you to my Black List — even if your food is spectacular. Because what’s the point of having an amazing meal if the whole experience leaves a bitter taste in your mouth?

Moral of the story: if you go to Grovewood Tavern — ORDER DESSERT — because $8 is definitely worth being able to enjoy an extra few minutes of conversation with your friends.

Have you ever experienced something similar? How did you handle it?

21 Responses to “Daily Delish – The Grovewood Tavern – Bittersweet”

  1. rebecca lustig said:

    Hi! I’m glad you found my blog, bc now I have yours to read :)

    Moroccan mahi-mahi sounds SOO delicious, i’m glad you enjoyed it.

    have a wonderful wednesday
    bec xo

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  2. Tiffany @ A Dantat's Life said:

    wow, what horrible service! i hope it was an isolated incident. that has never happened to me, but i would probably write them a letter about it and note the name of the manager/bus boy. good luck if you decide to give them a second chance!

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  3. Heather (Heather's Dish) said:

    wow, that’s incredible (in a bad way) that happened to you guys! there are definitely other places you could take your business, but they should be thanking you for choosing their restaurant. at least dessert is good, right?

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  4. Mishy said:

    that has happened to me once before, at a restaurant that i’d never been to and i’ll never go back to. we were a rather largeish pary – 8 people. they asked us to leave so they could have the table. i wasn’t too offended, there was a bar we could move to. but others in my party were quite upset, stating they’re regular customers and how dare we be treated this way. after leaving and thinking about it, i realized it was a pretty tacky thing to do. afterall, we’d spent a fair amount of money there, our large party. we didn’t realize you’re supposed to eat your food and get the heck out!

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  5. Deirdre said:

    This has never happened to me before, but I did work at a restaurant. My manager NEVER would have kicked someone out just to turn over a table. His whole mantra was good restaurants should try to be like Cheers ‘where everyone knows your name’. The only way to get repeat customers is to guarantee that people enjoy themselves and want to come back. I used to have to work until 2am sometimes because my manager would let people linger over their drinks. It annoyed me but I know he did it to ensure the customers had a good time.

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  6. Anna @ Newlywed, Newly Veg said:

    Oh my GOSH– that is SO rude!! Ugh– I would not go back to that place! I don’t know where some people get off…

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  7. Joelle (The Pancake Girl) said:

    UGH that is so rude! I hate when restaurants do that.. I mean I understand where they’re coming from , but geez. You paid for a nice meal- that includes the ability to relax with your company!!

    I hope you’re holding up in the freezing weather!

    http://www.joelygolightly.wordpress.com

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  8. Kelly said:

    WOW! How rude! I can’t believe that! I am not sure what my response would have been but I can definitely tell the hubs would have had a few “not nice” things to say! :)

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  9. Heidi @ Fighting with Food said:

    Seriously?! I waited tables for several years and would NEVER do that! I occasionally did grumble under my breath and silently wish that some tables would leave if they lingered for a while (maybe 20-30 minutes post dinner), but actually saying something is just plain rude and inconsiderate. Did you ask to speak to a manager/owner? I would consider writing a letter to the owner.

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  10. RED said:

    That is unbelievable! With so many other great restaurants out there they wouldn’t be getting my service again!

    Posted on | Reply
  11. Retta @ RunRettaRun said:

    I’m sorry you had to deal with that! That is awful. I wouldn’t go back and I agree with the previous poster about going up the chain!

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  12. The Brunette said:

    Not acceptable at all! With the restaurant industry in the less-than-stellar state it’s in, you’d think they’d want to foster frequent patronage, not alienate people! This has happened to me in a busy college-y BYOB place (and, to be fair, we had been finished for a LONG time and were just drinking our JUG of wine. Now everytime we go we’re sure to not eat our entire entrees and not let them take our plates until we’re ready to go. Sneaky, right), but NEVER inan upscale place. Complain!

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  13. Kristilyn (My 29th Year) said:

    Wow – that is so not cool! I agree, if they want people to return, they have to provide excellent customer service TO ALL CUSTOMERS. I’ve felt rushed before in restaurants where they’re not that busy and just a little too attentive to our table. I like to linger and visit and enjoy my food and/or wine. What’s so wrong with that?

    Hopefully they read this post because that is totally unacceptable – even if they’re having a busy night!

    K

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  14. Karissa @ CardioFoodie said:

    I haven’t had that happen before, but so rude! I don’t think I would go back to a place that treats their customers like that.

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  15. KT said:

    Thanks for stopping by Sneaker Teacher! In Germany, it is the total opposite in restaurants. Unless you specifically call the waiter over and ask for your bill, they will let you sit for a loooong time and don’t often check in. It is expected that you will want to chat and relax. We had to get used to it when we first moved here because we were accustomed to getting the bill right away after finishing the meal.

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  16. Fattie Fatterton said:

    I agree, I hope that they read this and contact you. How awful!!

    Posted on | Reply
  17. campinggirl said:

    This happened to me last Friday night. I had dinner with a couple of girlfriends and after dinner while we were chatting the waiter cleared everything off of the table and stood by waiting for us to leave. He didn’t say anything but the intention was clear by his body language and glaring. Awful!

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  18. uberVU - social comments said:

    Social comments and analytics for this post…

    This post was mentioned on Twitter by thedailybalance: Published a new post: Daily Delish – The Grovewood Tavern – Bittersweet @http://zz.gd/8a6e29…

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  19. Cara - iCarabout.com said:

    You should really call them and see if that was in fact the manager who asked you to leave. If not, you should ask to talk to him about that. So rude and completely unacceptable. If that was the manager, you should ask to talk to the owner! I would, and I never complain!

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  20. Christina said:

    If they really needed the table a more gracious thing to do is to invite you to the bar for a drink on the house so they could turn the table.
    I hope you addressed it with them and please report back to us.

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  21. Victory said:

    That is really too bad…. it is a nice place and they do have really good food. Who knows?? I was at Bravo recently (Beachwood, aka Bitchwood) and had taken 2 clients out for drinks…. we were sitting at the bar, and ordering light food and several nice bottles of wine. We were finishing off the last bottle when the ?? dining room manager?? actually turned off the lights on us. HOW RUDE!! And get this, it was 9:40 pm. I mean reallY ?? I am in sales, and instantly let them have it… not that I wanted to stay after that – I was horrified! Get a life Cleveland, not everything needs to be shut down by 9:30!

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