Coffee grinder-gate: Will the Union please give us our due?
But is she a regular customer?
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After spending far too much time on toaster-gate, I figured I could thwart a potential grinder-gate with this post last week that stated the weekend brunch at Union Bar & Grille includes bottomless coffee.
Nope.
On Saturday, as I enjoyed my second brunch (the eggs with the first were barely cooked) the waitress told my two acquaintances they would get free coffee with their brunch because they were with me. What!?
This annoyed me because 1) I know the main consultant behind the project and told him that my policy is to be treated like any other customer, and 2) as mentioned above, last week I was told that coffee is free with brunch. Given the misinformation surrounding the toast at Union, I thought something of the same might be going on with the coffee.
First, I found out that two readers who regularly go to Union receive free coffee and that two readers do not. Second, I called someone at Union and learned the free coffee is for “regular customers.” Thus, it seems that the coffee policy is simply bad.
For example, if someone reads here that coffee is included with brunch and goes to Union only to find out is not, it both damages the potential for return business for the restaurant and makes me look stupid. The policy also depends on the staff remembering who is a regular. What if one employee thinks I’m a regular and gives me free coffee, then on my next visit a different employee doesn’t recognize me and charges an extra RMB20 (this is especially relevant given there is new staff on board)? I find it surprising that Union has such a confusing policy given that the group behind the place, Windy City, has more than a decade of experience in the restaurant game.
My suggestions: 1) Include coffee for free with all brunch orders, or 2) do not include it with brunch, or 3) make a special deal, such as allowing customers to add bottomless coffee for RMB10. But whatever the policy, make it clear.
In any case, given I am not sure of the “official” policy of the Union, I retroactively paid for the coffees I have received and am downgrading the brunch from the “best” in town to “good.”
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ah, china… i miss it already
Inconsistency in China…no way! Seriously, I’ve been there twice, the first time I received bottomless coffee (I must have been mistaken for a regular) and the second time they charged me even after I told them I wasn’t charged the first time. Needless to say, I won’t go back. There are too many choices to have to settle for poor management and lack of internal communication. It surprises me that the people behind the scenes have been managing for over a decade and can’t get straight on something as simple as coffee policy. Shame on them. Thanks for shedding light on this.
I ate brunch at Union Grill this weekend and found it to be a pleasing and confusing experience.
The pleasing: the service was extraordinary (by BJ standards) from the moment we were led to our seat to the moment our fapiao was delivered we never felt forgotten. Even when one of my most feared moments in dining out actually happened – the cap to the pepper shaker fell off, dumping 3/4 the bottle of pepper onto my food – the staff was quick and gracious about replacing my meal and having the replacement returned ASAP.
I believe our coffee was 20RMB for the initial mug, but they refilled and topped-off that mug for an hour and my bill only reflected the cost of the initial mug. Maybe I was lucky or I have a twin out there who dines at Union a heck of alot more often than I (Sunday was my 1st visit). Either way, our coffee mug was never empty and our water glass rarely less than 1/2 full. So kudos on that!
The confusing: the toast!!! I hate to bring up toast-gate during the throes of grinder-gate, however I experienced an unreported aspect of the issue – Eggs Benedict. To serve toast or not to serve toast with the Bennie?
I believe the traditional route is to not serve toast as the dish already includes a bread product. Much to my surprise, Union Grill’s menu says the Traditional and Salmon Bennies are served with your choice of toast! Not only that – the server made sure to check the menu to see if she had to ask about toast and so, asked us what kind of toast we would like!
A short timel later, our meals were delivered – sans toast! I waited a few minutes, thinking that toast would arrive on a separate trip, but no luck. When we inquired in the whereabouts of our toast, the server told us she would check on it…we should have known by her smile that our toast was never going to arrive.
We decided that eggs bennie is filling enough without additional toast, that we would only be wasting perfectly good bread, so we didn’t inquire further on its whereabouts. However, it does make me wonder what the policy really is!
@ texaschris,
That’s the thing: The definition of “regular” is hard to implement staff-wide.
Cheers, Boyce
Ah hah! I am vindicated. When I had the EB (actually the SB as I had the salmon version) I was asked what sort of toast I would like. I asked for wheat, the same as my GF. We received 2 slices cut into 4 pieces to share between the two of us. But our dining partner for that brunch, the very same Beijing Boyce, received the same allocation as the two of us combined. I am not suggesting that Boyce asked for or wanted any special favours (because I know he abhors that sort of thing), but it seemed to me that because Boyce is a regular he was receiving better attention.