This blog post is about a restaurant. More specifically, it is about a restaurant where we often dined when visiting relatives in Hilton Head, South Carolina. More precisely, it is about how the current management of the restaurant is failing. Ultimately, it is about how hard it is for some to listen and learn.
The restaurant in question is Old Fort Pub, which neither looks like a fort or feels like a pub, but no matter. I think that both management and customers would agree that the concept is “fine dining with a view” where the relative importance of dining and view is a matter of personal preference.
Without getting into details, I was not happy with our last visit to Old Fort Pub, and I wrote a review on TripAdvisor that outlined my concerns. The view from the table was the same, but the quality of the food had declined and the staff had become pretentious and inflexible. I had to assume there had been an ownership or management change, because so many elements of the dining experience were so different than I remembered.
One of the items I complained about in my review was the frenzied clearing of plates (and everything else on the table) once the bus staff noticed we were finishing our meals. Here is what I wrote in my April 13, 2015, review:
I questioned the server about this afterwards and she gave us this explanation about “being a four star restaurant” they did not have a choice — “we have to clear a customer’s plate within 30 seconds of the person putting down his fork.” I never heard such a dumb rule in my life, and I told her that, and also told her that it was their choice whether to follow rules or please their customers.
Two days later, on April 15, 2015, a representative from Old Fort Pub posted a response to my TripAdvisor review. I present their response below, in the first box. In the second box, I present the restaurant’s response to another customer review (titled Bad Service) posted two months later, on June 22, 2015:
Thank you for taking the time to relay your dining experiences at the Old Fort Pub. I am dismayed and more than a bit embarrassed at the details of your visit. I have shared these details with our staff and our management team. They share my reaction and collectively with to send our sincere apologies. We strive for excellence on many levels but none is as important as our guest’s satisfaction.
It is evident that we failed to hit the mark on several levels. I can only tell you that this is certainly not how we run our business. Our intention is to give you a positive experience and hope that you will give us another try so that we may satisfy your expectations.
Your comments are well received, thank you again for the time you took to help us understand our shortcomings. If at any time you are not happy in our restaurant, please immediately ask for a manager, we are here to help and will always do our best to make sure your experience is enjoyable.
Thank you for taking the time to relay your dining experiences at the Old Fort Pub. I am dismayed and more than a bit embarrassed at the details of your visit. I have shared these details with our staff and our management team. They share my reaction and collectively with to send our sincere apologies. We strive for excellence on many levels but none is as important as our guest’s satisfaction.
It is evident that we failed to hit the mark on several levels. I can only tell you that this is certainly not how we run our business.
Your comments are well received, thank you again for the time you took to help us understand our shortcomings. We will make sure nothing like this will occur again.
One good sign that the managers of a restaurant have more important priorities than you is when they use a form letter to respond to criticism. Another sign is when they pay lip service to criticism but do nothing to change how they operate. To wit, I had ended my April 13 review with this comment:
…the attitude says to me that [the establishment] is more concerned with stars and accoutrements of “fine dining” than what they used to do, which was serve great food at usual fine restaurant prices in a gorgeous setting without the pretentious-factor.
The management of Old Fort Pub must have disagreed with my assessment, because a few weeks later they again brandished their stars in a response to another TripAdvisor review:
We are delighted you enjoyed the Bouillabaisse, it’s my favorite as well. We do have to keep our service and menu standards high to be held accountable to the AAA Four diamond standards.
With such an inflated concern for their reputation, one might think that the restaurant had been taken over by Donald Trump. Perhaps that is who they would rather be serving.
I updated my article 
This blog post is about a restaurant. More specifically, it is about a restaurant where we often dined when visiting relatives in Hilton Head, South Carolina. More precisely, it is about how the current management of the restaurant is failing. Ultimately, it is about how hard it is for some to listen and learn.
The restaurant in question is Old Fort Pub, which neither looks like a fort or feels like a pub, but no matter. I think that both management and customers would agree that the concept is “fine dining with a view” where the relative importance of dining and view is a matter of personal preference.
Without getting into details, I was not happy with our last visit to Old Fort Pub, and I wrote a review on TripAdvisor that outlined my concerns. The view from the table was the same, but the quality of the food had declined and the staff had become pretentious and inflexible. I had to assume there had been an ownership or management change, because so many elements of the dining experience were so different than I remembered.
One of the items I complained about in my review was the frenzied clearing of plates (and everything else on the table) once the bus staff noticed we were finishing our meals. Here is what I wrote in my April 13, 2015, review:
I questioned the server about this afterwards and she gave us this explanation about “being a four star restaurant” they did not have a choice — “we have to clear a customer’s plate within 30 seconds of the person putting down his fork.” I never heard such a dumb rule in my life, and I told her that, and also told her that it was their choice whether to follow rules or please their customers.
Two days later, on April 15, 2015, a representative from Old Fort Pub posted a response to my TripAdvisor review. I present their response below, in the first box. In the second box, I present the restaurant’s response to another customer review (titled Bad Service) posted two months later, on June 22, 2015:
Thank you for taking the time to relay your dining experiences at the Old Fort Pub. I am dismayed and more than a bit embarrassed at the details of your visit. I have shared these details with our staff and our management team. They share my reaction and collectively with to send our sincere apologies. We strive for excellence on many levels but none is as important as our guest’s satisfaction.
It is evident that we failed to hit the mark on several levels. I can only tell you that this is certainly not how we run our business. Our intention is to give you a positive experience and hope that you will give us another try so that we may satisfy your expectations.
Your comments are well received, thank you again for the time you took to help us understand our shortcomings. If at any time you are not happy in our restaurant, please immediately ask for a manager, we are here to help and will always do our best to make sure your experience is enjoyable.
Thank you for taking the time to relay your dining experiences at the Old Fort Pub. I am dismayed and more than a bit embarrassed at the details of your visit. I have shared these details with our staff and our management team. They share my reaction and collectively with to send our sincere apologies. We strive for excellence on many levels but none is as important as our guest’s satisfaction.
It is evident that we failed to hit the mark on several levels. I can only tell you that this is certainly not how we run our business.
Your comments are well received, thank you again for the time you took to help us understand our shortcomings. We will make sure nothing like this will occur again.
One good sign that the managers of a restaurant have more important priorities than you is when they use a form letter to respond to criticism. Another sign is when they pay lip service to criticism but do nothing to change how they operate. To wit, I had ended my April 13 review with this comment:
…the attitude says to me that [the establishment] is more concerned with stars and accoutrements of “fine dining” than what they used to do, which was serve great food at usual fine restaurant prices in a gorgeous setting without the pretentious-factor.
The management of Old Fort Pub must have disagreed with my assessment, because a few weeks later they again brandished their stars in a response to another TripAdvisor review:
We are delighted you enjoyed the Bouillabaisse, it’s my favorite as well. We do have to keep our service and menu standards high to be held accountable to the AAA Four diamond standards.
With such an inflated concern for their reputation, one might think that the restaurant had been taken over by Donald Trump. Perhaps that is who they would rather be serving.