Aura

My apologies for taking so long to respond to your “Feedback” from Friday night 13 April 2012. When I first read the email I actually thought you had sent it to the wrong Restaurant as the description of the person serving you was similar to a Waitress who works in a different Restaurant in the Street.
I have real difficulty with your racist comment which has offended both myself, of mixed race, and also the 80 % of my staff who are also of mixed race.
It was not until over the weekend after I printed out the email to show the staff how not to serve people that the person you mentioned said that it sounded like how she was dressed on Friday night. I questioned everyone who was on that night and found the more I asked the less your “Feedback” makes sense.
Looking at my security footage from that night I observed that in the time your group were in the Restaurant – between 6.35 pm and 7.53 pm your group was attended to by the waitress you describe no less than seven times as opposed to the “Pakeha” couple beside you no more than three times, another group of four people behind you no more than three times, the single person beside you twice. I will mention that other staff also attended both your table and the surrounding tables during that time also.
I also observed that the Waitress came to each one of you while taking the order and spent extra time to make sure the order was correct. The table beside you she stood straight up while taking the order – took the order quickly and was gone. At the group of four behind your group she also went to each person while taking the order, when I asked her about this she replied that it was fairly noisy that night with a group on the other side of the Restaurant and she wanted to make sure that she got the orders correct.
When the mains came out she then demonstrated how the Stonegrill meals were best eaten and checked with you later (this is standard practice in the Restaurant and she checked with all tables in the same way during her shift). In my observations you were not treated any different from anyone else in the Restaurant at that time.
I also observed that one of your group left the Restaurant with a child approximately five minutes before the main meals were brought to your table and did not return. During this time the meal that person had ordered sat on the table for a long time before any of my staff noticed, this should have been attended to earlier and for that I apologise.
The question about the vinaigrette also had me puzzled as all salads served with a meal have a Ranch Dressing on unless requested not to be included. We do not have a vinaigrette on our menu but will make one on request. However when I looked at what had been ordered I saw that the Chicken Liver Pate had been ordered – this dish has a small green garnish which does not have a dressing, so when she was asked about the vinaigrette she did not understand as that dish does not have a dressing on it at all. She did go to the chefs to organise a vinaigrette to be made which was delivered to your table by another waiter.
The extra charge for a “Dipping Sauce” was a pure mistake by one of the Managers on duty that night and was meant to be put on another table completely, for this he apologised to me and said it did cause confusion when he was taking payment for your table.

John Knight
Owner Operator