Grace's American Burgers: The worst costumer experience

[kittight]

I've visited Grace American Burgers a few times and the burgers and service have been fine. Before I go any further I have to say that I am one of the friends that was there with CF and as I live in Hua Hin and they were down from Bangkok for the weekend. I suggested that we go there.

We were not pissed or looking for some any trouble (it was at lunchtime). I suggested that we ordered the burgers as I've had them before and they were great.

As CF said 2 of them were fine but his was dripping with blood. We didn’t see this as a problem as I've had this before at restaurants and I guess it’s better underdone then over. (You can send it back). The Thai staff seemed so friendly and just said no problem we can cook it more.

This wasn’t about how we asked for it done it was just how we wanted it. They seemed fine with it.
A few minutes later an American guy came over and asked me if everything was ok and I replied yes. I had checked my burger and it was Medium / well done so it was fine for me. The others were also fine apart from CF's. To us medium well done should be pink and little if any blood.
CF said "Mine was a little red but it's no problem I’ve sent it back"
The reply he got was “well you asked for it medium so that's what you got.” CF replied that there was blood coming out of the burger and that the bun was wet with blood and he can't eat it like that.

The American guy then introduced himself and said “well I’m the chef and owner and that was a medium well done burger “what's the problem? Do you want it done well done then? CF just said “yes do it well done”. He stumped off and last we heard of him.

It was clear that the food was underdone and that's never the issue. I eat out all the time in many countries and have sent food back. Normally the response I get is, that’s fine. (Remember the customer is always right)

We should have said something more to the chef / owner at the time but it seems that he would have been arguing all day about this. I just can't understand why he can't just say sorry about that I'll place it back on the grill for you for a few minutes. Doesn’t matter who’s right or wrong.

I've said before, I've been to Grace a few times never seen the American chef the Thai guys cooked for me and I’ve never had a problem.

I'll never be going back there I won’t recommend it to anyone. What happens if my order is wrong or I ask for something else / changes?

I just don't want that hassle. Maybe you need to understand the chef’s way of cooking first and explain how you like it. It seems that the chef is the one that decides how you should eat.

I'll try that place best beans coffee and see how that goes. I don’t want a blast of insults from everyone here I wasn’t going to post but I thought I should back CF up as I was there with him. I’m certainly not bias towards CF as I suggested going there, I never realised that we would have such confrontation about a burger. LOL

[Siani]

I've visited Grace American Burgers a few times and the burgers and service have been fine. Before I go any further I have to say that I am one of the friends that was there with CF and as I live in Hua Hin and they were down from Bangkok for the weekend. I suggested that we go there.

We were not pissed or looking for some any trouble (it was at lunchtime). I suggested that we ordered the burgers as I've had them before and they were great.

As CF said 2 of them were fine but his was dripping with blood. We didn’t see this as a problem as I've had this before at restaurants and I guess it’s better underdone then over. (You can send it back). The Thai staff seemed so friendly and just said no problem we can cook it more.

This wasn’t about how we asked for it done it was just how we wanted it. They seemed fine with it.
A few minutes later an American guy came over and asked me if everything was ok and I replied yes. I had checked my burger and it was Medium / well done so it was fine for me. The others were also fine apart from CF's. To us medium well done should be pink and little if any blood.
CF said "Mine was a little red but it's no problem I’ve sent it back"
The reply he got was “well you asked for it medium so that's what you got.” CF replied that there was blood coming out of the burger and that the bun was wet with blood and he can't eat it like that.

The American guy then introduced himself and said “well I’m the chef and owner and that was a medium well done burger “what's the problem? Do you want it done well done then? CF just said “yes do it well done”. He stumped off and last we heard of him.

It was clear that the food was underdone and that's never the issue. I eat out all the time in many countries and have sent food back. Normally the response I get is, that’s fine. (Remember the customer is always right)

We should have said something more to the chef / owner at the time but it seems that he would have been arguing all day about this. I just can't understand why he can't just say sorry about that I'll place it back on the grill for you for a few minutes. Doesn’t matter who’s right or wrong.

I've said before, I've been to Grace a few times never seen the American chef the Thai guys cooked for me and I’ve never had a problem.

I'll never be going back there I won’t recommend it to anyone. What happens if my order is wrong or I ask for something else / changes?

I just don't want that hassle. Maybe you need to understand the chef’s way of cooking first and explain how you like it. It seems that the chef is the one that decides how you should eat.

I'll try that place best beans coffee and see how that goes. I don’t want a blast of insults from everyone here I wasn’t going to post but I thought I should back CF up as I was there with him. I’m certainly not bias towards CF as I suggested going there, I never realised that we would have such confrontation about a burger. LOL

You will like the burgers at BBC, Pat is a great cook. A lot of forum members have been there too...
read the reports
viewtopic.php?f=16&t=18164

[dtaai-maai]

I never realised that we would have such confrontation about a burger. LOL

You're not the only one! Welcome to the forum, kittight.

(Mind you, I seem to remember quite a fuss about a Greek olive some time ago...)

[hhfarang]

Yes, welcome to the forum both ChicoTheFox and kittight. Too bad you had to start with a bad experience.

I haven't heard of Grace's before, but it sounds like a place I would have tried for lunch. Now I don't know. Let's hope this is an isolated incident and the guy was just having a bad day as we all do sometimes. Otherwise, he will not last long as this is a small tight knit foreign community and good will goes a long way towards winning customers just as arguing with a customer will also go a long way by word of mouth and could seriously impact a business.

I just hope the owner/chef reads this forum and is man enough to learn a good lesson from the experience. After all, "The customer is always right", works even if the owner, chef, server thinks otherwise. It's always better to go out of your way to accommodate that to confront.

[ChicoTheFox]

I guess the only thing I really wanted to achieve here was to let everyone know what happened when we asked for food to be cooked a bit more. The guy came out and was clearly confrontational. I have never posted anything on a forum of this nature before, but thought people should be aware of a possible bad attitude from the owner / chef should you ask for food different from what he deems to be the right way to do things.

Honestly, I hope he reads this and just takes it on board in the future because that is not how to interact with customers. Perhaps he was simply having a bad day, but perhaps not. I don't know and wont be going back to find out.

Just bear in mind that, if you do go there and send food back, it could result in problem. I have no idea how far this problem would have progressed if we had stuck to our guns, but I got the feeling that it had potential to escalate.

[JimmyGreaves]

Hey..if you want a really good burger Go and see Pat at the Best Beans Coffee, Khao Takiap just near the market. Best beans coffee, Nongkae Takiap road, Nong Kae Hua Hin. Just a few mins from the flyover going down to Khao Takiap on the left, very end shop. Also very cheap and cooked to order The owner is American..so sure knows how to cook a burger!

Yes if you want to wait about 30 minutes to get served!

Went there a week ago whilst at Cicida, place looks great but the service is atrocious, waited 15 minutes to get a beer and a further 20 for the club sandwich. There was only 1 table occupied, two thai staff serving, one of them was the cook. Won't be revisiting. After we had a walk round cicida we needed another beer, went to the first restaraunt in the block thai owned and run, before we could get to our seats staff were trying to serve us, got a beer at the bar in less than a minute. Pat needs to get his finger out and get service sorted instead of chating away to friends at the one table that was occupied!

[charlesh]

I hope poor old Chico didn't hear a dog or cat wailing before the incident ha, ha! Lucky to get a piece of meat that thick that you can see the juices running!

[Homer]

The seaside setting at Grace's is nice. About a year ago I stopped to take a look at their menu. Saw a waitress carrying plates of burgers and fries. Compared their size to the prices and decided the setting wasn't worth that much of a premium to me. Put the menu down, walked toward the ocean, looked around. Less than a minute after I put the menu down a man came up to me and told me I had to either order or leave. Never went back.

[bapak]

..... Less than a minute after I put the menu down a man came up to me and told me I had to either order or leave. Never went back.

Was the man a Thai or Farang?

[JimmyGreaves]

..... Less than a minute after I put the menu down a man came up to me and told me I had to either order or leave. Never went back.

Was the man a Thai or Farang?

I would have thought Farang, I have rarely experienced Thais telling you to leave anywhere. It's a common occurance in farang land though!

[Toni4484]

funny conversation here. but i.d like to here from RUNINYA how it really was

[redzonerocker]

funny conversation here. but i.d like to here from RUNINYA how it really was

Reckon he missed it all to busy stuffing his boat race

[crazy88]

How much are these burgers? I would think that for a 6 oz prime beef burger with chips and various trimmings 200-300 baht is fair, any more than that and I would expect something very special. My missus and her partner do not serve beef burgers as in order to maintain the quality that they strive towards the cost of the beef alone would force them to price them way higher than anything else on the menu. So you won't get a beefburger but you can rest assured you will not be told to order or P-off

Crazy 88

[Nereus]

Hey..if you want a really good burger Go and see Pat at the Best Beans Coffee, Khao Takiap just near the market. Best beans coffee, Nongkae Takiap road, Nong Kae Hua Hin. Just a few mins from the flyover going down to Khao Takiap on the left, very end shop. Also very cheap and cooked to order The owner is American..so sure knows how to cook a burger!

Yes if you want to wait about 30 minutes to get served!

Yes, I would agree with you Jimmy. The day I went there I was the only customer. About a 15 minute wait, which I do not mind, but as soon as it was served the only guy in sight picked up his lunch (sent in from outside), and then went outside and sat in one of the outside areas to eat it!

I am surmising it was the owner (a younger Farang), that came in just after I finished my burger, by which time the "server" was back inside, walked straight past me to his computer and made the comment: "only one chicken burger" to his staff.

I do not want to be fawned upon, quite happy to be left alone, but a bit of a surprise given all the free press he has been given on here.

[Toni4484]

Reckon he missed it all to busy stuffing his boat race
@redzonerocker sorry i don.t understand one word.

what i try to say is that it is clear who is the nice owner of grace burger we are talking about thats wh i said ask runinya.
when i signed in here people said i wanted to promote my restaurant and i am a lier... but comon what is that .......... ..... sweet and sour BBQ sauce hahahahah