I had one of the poorest dining experiences last evening and wanted to write about it and alert my readers so they can avoid such an experience. The restaurant where this lousy dining experienced happened was the Common Plea in downtown Pittsburgh.

Brad ad I were at an event, and had planned to eat in Market Square, using a Living Social deal he had purchased and was about to expire. we arrived in Market Square, only to find that the restaurant was no longer there. We were both tired and hungry, and so we looked at what other Groupon or Living Social specials we had purchased and could use. We both love these services- Groupon being the bigger of the two, but Living Social has many great deals as well. We especially like them when it comes to exploring places we have never been before. and that is how we got to the Common Plea.

If you aren’t familiar with Groupon or Living Social, here is how it works. Everyday, they have a special, and each special has a set number that must be sold, fir the deal to be a go. Usually the deal is a really big deal; often 35 to 50% off or more. You buy the deal, and then have a period of time to use the deal. Because the deals are so cheap, the vendor offering it isn’t making a ton f money on each one. But a business has other ways to make money from a deal like this. The most important perhaps is turning a new customer into a returning customer. We have visited a few different places that because of having such an excellent experience, we have been back many times. We most likely will never be going back to the Common Plea.

I’ve always thought about the Common Plea as a caterer. Their location downtown doesn’t seem like the type of place to draw a big evening crowd, but I was excited to go- mostly to taste the food. When you enter, it is near the bar, and the bartender directed us towards the dining room, where we were seated quickly. The room is extremely dark due to the dark paneling, ceiling, black table linens, and smoky mirrors along the one wall. It is actually lit pretty well, but has an overall dreary feel despite the lighting. Once seated, we seemed to wait forever to be given menus. A drink order was taken, but we waited and waited, first to get a menu, and then to order. Brad asked if I wanted to get up and leave, it seemed to be taking so long. It was perhaps 8:15pm by this point, and I believe there were two other tables of guests. We were handed the menu, and told of the day’s specials. Interestingly, the specials seemed more basic than the menu items, and no prices were mentioned for the specials, but the printed menu was more expensive than we were expecting, so we were guessing that the specials would be pricey. after another long wait, a waitress came for our orders, and I again asked her about the specials. She said the exact same thing about them, which left me to have to explicitly ask, how much they were. Brad and I each made up our mind, and we ordered. Because we had come from an event, we had each rated a bit, so we ordered only a main course with no salad. and then again, we waited.

It seemed like a different waitress brought us some bread which was really wonderful, dipped in an olive oil and pepper mix. And soon, our dinners arrived. Both plates looked very good, and we dug into very tasty, well made dinners. I had a filet which was done perfectly, although the mushroom cause on it was quite boring. Brad’s dinner was especially good, altho he had a bit of sand in one of the clams. At that point, I was thinking that the food, while not very imaginative, was well made and tasty, and I was feeling good about eating there. Both of us are watching what we eat, so no desert for us, although I heard the waitress tell another table what they had to offer, ad the choices sounded good. The waiter brought our check, and Brad paid with cash, and the Groupon. I had brought the Groupon up on my phone, and the waitress was writing down the group on number, when all of a sudden she said, “this Groupon was only for drinks and appetizers,” neither of which we had ordered. We looked at the Groupon, but didn’t see that anywhere on it. She insisted that on the website it was clear about what was covered. We then brought up the website, and she was right it was detailed in the fine print what was covered. I was embarrassed , andy the way the waitress was treating us, I felt as if we were being scolded and reprimanded.

I couldn’t get over how we were being treated. The waitress had been short with us for the entire meal, although not rude or inappropriate until this point. And as this went on, it got worse and worse. I felt so embarrassed, and felt as if the way we were being talked to was catching the attention of the other restaurant guests. It was as if we were being treated as if we were trying to pull a fast one over on the place, when it reality, we had just not realized the details in the fine print. This mess was partly created by Groupon, and the way the Mobile app displays the deal, but our poor experience was 100% the result of the way the waitress was handling this.

In any situation where there has been an error or a problem, the best outcome is some type of “win/win” where both the customer and the business ends up ahead. In this case, we had a waitress treating us as if we were trying to get outs without paying, and every moment of the way she was treating us, was wiping away the memory of how good the food had been. (It wasn’t all that good, really, just acceptable- not a meal to write home about, but not a bad meal, but any means.) It seemed we had only one option which was to pay the full fare, which I did, but putting the meal on my credit card. After she brought my card back for me to sign the receipt- after she had already rung up the sale, she asked if I wanted to speak to her assistant manager. By then, it was too late. All we wanted to do was get out of there, and put this lousy experience behind us. She was downright rude.

Maybe a restauarnant downtown in such a location does all of their business at lucy, and doesn’t care about the customer service they provide in the evening. Maybe a place with so few diners present has trouble attracting a higher quality wait staff. Or, maybe this is a business who doesn’t see the value of the Groupon for introducing new guests to the restaurant, and so they don’t care about trying to create repeat business.

The thing is that the business has already received their money from Groupon. And while the amount they received is not huge, in a real way, did it matter if this was $35 off of drinks and appetizers or $35 off dinner. In the bigger scheme of things, would it really impact the bottom line of the sales for the evening? The restaurant had the opportunity to make happy customers who would return at full price, but they (the waitress) chose to be a real bitch about it by belittling us, and refusing to find any option that was a win/win for everyone.