Antietam

Reviews 3

FR

Frederick Casey

I made a dinner reservation over the phone. It was confirmed for 7PM. My GF and I had not been able to see each other for over a week due to travel, so we were looking forward to a date night. Walk in the restaurant at 7:02 PM. The inside decor is really nice. The restaurant was about half full. It was not busy. The hostess takes our name, and then stares at the computer for over 4 minutes in complete silence offering no explanation of what she is doing, or any dialogue whatsoever. I repeat the initial information of my name, the time of my reservation, and also, tell her that I made the reservation over the phone, and when I made the reservation. The hostess says, "she will try to find us a table." That seemed fair enough. She disappears for another 3 or 4 minutes, and is walking around the restaurant, going in the back and possibly serving water or drinks from the bar. She returns to the front where we have been standing, and waiting, for a good 7-8 minutes. She says absolutely nothing, and does not acknowledge us. She stares down at the computer again. I repeat in a calm voice that I have a reservation for 7PM, and give her my name. She casually says a table is not available, but that we can sit at the bar. We walk over to the bar. We each order a drink. The drinks were fine ($23 for a beer and a cocktail). Fifteen minutes elapse, and Im starting to think we should eat at the bar. GF says should would rather not, because she is feeling a bit hunched over, and finds the seats uncomfortable. The hostess seats other customers. Another 5 minutes go by, and I start looking for the hostess. She walks by, and I catch her attention. I say something to the extent of, "excuse me, but we see 3 or 4 open tables (these are small tables suitable for two people), and are just wondering if its possible to be seated at one of those." She says something to the extent of, "oh yeah, those tables are reserved," and then walks away. Im thinking: 1. I have a reservation. 2. I confirmed the reservation 3. Why has she not offered any apology? She walks by again after a couple minutes, and I quietly say to her, "you know, I have a reservation for 7PM, and weve been at the bar for over twenty minutes. I think you should offer some type of simple apology." Apparently, she decided against that. Instead, she grits her teeth, loudly tells me she had to talk to a co-worker, stomps her feet into the kitchen, looks back and screams at me. I was shocked. I told her to get her manager. She hollered, "FINE!" We wait for another ten minutes at the bar in disbelief. The manager never comes! I tell my GF that Im going to ask a different employee for the manager. We agree to leave shortly. An employee walked by, and I asked him for the manager. He said he was the manager. I asked him his name. He said "Rico." I told him what happened, and he did not seem concerned, which was disappointing. We left, and passed by him and the hostess laughing with each other, and cracking jokes. We were planning on each getting a steak ($ 140 ), probably a few cocktails each ( maybe $ 80 or so) and maybe an appetizer or salads (maybe $ 50 or so), but I suppose this place does not want our hundreds of dollars for dinner, or repeat business. We went to Republic instead. Go there. It was awesome. The food was great, and the service was like night and day - A surreal contrast. Also, I see the owners immature replies to people. I remember the people working this traumatic evening. You were either 1.not there or 2.in the back, so dont try to spin this. You were not present! My GF and I are committed to telling all our friends that like to spend money, and go out to eat, to NEVER EVER COME HERE!!!!!!! Most frustrating restaurant experience ever.

JO

Jo Seidel

I have never written a poor review of a restaurant, but, after my experience last night at Antietam in Eastern Market, I need to share. The following is my review on Yelp. "The experience we had last night was so horrible, I dont even no where to begin. We did not have a reservation Saturday night and called around to a few places. Greg (owner or manager...his title was never real clear) said he would do his best to get our 5 top seated if we came down (this was the evening highlight). We arrive and are seated around 8:30. We dont see a drink for at least 30 minutes and no food for over an hour. When we complained to the waiter he apologized and said they were down a server. We then suggested they bring us bread, considering we have been drinking and still NO food. As we are becoming irritated, the table next to us turns over (at 9:15) and the 4 men who have just sat down are served their appetizers and main course before weve seen any food. It was absurd. We eventually complain to Greg who offered us champagne and a gift card for a future meal at his establishment WHAT??? No money off the bill??? (Did I happen to mention one of the entrees never even make it onto the order, so my husband never actually ate a meal?!?!) When we told Greg he needed to sharpen his pencil and try again (perhaps offer to adjust the bill) his response was, "you didnt have a reservation in the first place." So, no real apology, no money off the $250 bill and we were made to feel like second class citizens that were lucky to get seated. He also blamed the server, saying he will never work a Saturday night again. What owner/manager throws his employee under the bus and doesnt take responsibility for an obviously unacceptable dining experience. Greg was rude, mean, snobby and could care less if we ever returned. The only adjustment made were 2 free glasses of wine. In a city thats restaurant scene is booming and word of mouth is critical, how could an owner, who cares about the success of their restaurant, treat any patron the way we were treated. Greg, you should be ashamed. Restaurants with poor ownership dont make it. I feel for your staff. Im sure they take pride in providing good service and were mortified by your behavior. Oh...and we never received that gift certificate...not that any of us would consider stepping foot in Antietam ever again."

D

D Harris

WE WERE NOT WELCOMED IN THIS RESTAURANT. This weekend I entertained family from out of town who were supposed to travel to Miami to celebrate a birthday, but due to the hurricane Irma they had to postpone and visit Detroit for the weekend. I made reservations at 7pm and arrived promptly. I walked in behind a party of 5 and watched as they were greeted and seated without issue (guess where this is going). I waited for the host to return and once he did, he reached for the phone and began taking what sounded like a full order starting with wine selection then on to the appetizer. As I stood there silently looking around, I couldn’t help but notice all of the other staff members trying not to make eye contact as they walked by. Finally after the phone conversation ended I couldn’t wait for the host to finally ask me ANYTHING…. Well, he didn’t. He started searching on the computer as if I hadn’t been standing there in front of him for 5 minutes (very awkward). I couldn’t take it any longer and finally asked, “Am I standing in the wrong place to receive service?” He finally looked up and seemed to be surprised that I was standing there as he began to ask if I had a reservation. Moving on to finally being seated, my party joined me minutes later and I explained to them the uneasy feeling of being there and how I didn’t think we were welcomed in the establishment. Even still, they decided to stay and give them a chance. After waiting on anyone to come over, we all arrived at the same conclusion that I had earlier and we left without ordering. Funny thing is NOT ONE PERSON attempted to ask us anything as we walked through the restaurant on our way out. There is no question that we were not welcomed in Antietam. The night was great after that point as we went to another restaurant in the downtown area and where we were welcomed and enjoyed running up a $300 tab on drinks and food. This is NOT the new Detroit and if you visit this restaurant, please don’t judge the area based on the horrible service.