First off, I Just want to share that I love Bon Chon. I love the spicy chicken. When I first went there with Miggie we ordered 2 large chicken meals and ate ALL OF IT then took another order home for my mom and sister.
That being said, there is no excuse for the attitude I received during my last visit 2 days ago. I understand that they're having birthing pains from the demand they have. I'm sure they are very happy that people are arriving in droves and swamping the store, but please, rude is rude and there is no excuse for bad behaviour, especially when you're starting the business.
Heck, on my first visit, I didn't mind that their bathroom smelled really bad that I was sniffing it from the counter where I was ordering. Neither did I bother telling them that I could see the floor of their kitchen had mud and water mixing (both are gross and are the two places I peek into to tell how well a restaurant is managed).
So Miggie and I walk into Bon Chon at Ayala Triangle hoping to eat then have takeout AFTER we had our food. Miggie ordered a large chicken box, two rice (which she says we should not eat with Bon Chon cause they don't eat it with rice in Korea) and a medium order of drumstick for her brother.
She got me a large drink and we started standing hoping to find a seat. five to ten minutes later we still could not find a spot. I asked the waiter if he could help us find a seat since we had food coming and we were getting tired of standing while holding our tray with a drink. The waiters reply?
"Sorry first come first serve"
So I asked, so you can't help me at all? "Sorry, we don't do that here" was his reply. "But we bought and paid for our food nah! That's a horrible policy" so I asked again, "ARE YOU SURE YOU CANNOT HELP ME?" His snide reply was "We do not help people get seats. We do not reserve seats for people. You have to do that yourself" I asked him again, "ARE YOU SURE? I'M NOT ASKING YOU TO RESERVE A SEAT FOR ME LATER, I'M ASKING FOR YOU TO HELP ME GET A SEAT NOW SO I CAN SIT AND EAT, I PAID FOR MY FOOD NA, PROBLEMA KO BA YUN AT DI KA TUTULONG?" He replied, "di namin problema yan, di kami nag rereserve"
WTF. I asked him to tell his manager their policy sucks. He didn't bother. I bumped into a lady that turned out to be the manager. Obviously she was busy running around making sure people got their orders, nice lady, so I told her about the rude incident. It wasn't just what was said but the tone and how it was said. Curt and walang paki. She said sorry for the guy and then went back to taking care of other orders. By that time I was tired holding the tray with the plates and just left it next to their office. You can see the time was around 8:40PM. So we were waiting for around twenty minutes na.
To make matters worse, we see the first hiccup, which we eventually let go. A TABLE WAS FREE!!! Since we were next to the office we asked the waiter to save us ONE TABLE with TWO SEATS LANG. The waiter did not have the guts to stop people who just entered and were only ABOUT TO ORDER from taking our seat. FINE FINE maybe the waiters are gutless or not trained to tell people not to act like those weirdos who send people down to reserve parking spaces.
What really got me pissed was the SECOND TABLE that was free, and at that time I WAS NEXT TO THE MANAGER NA and asked her and two other waiters to reserve me a seat. The two waiters let ANOTHER PERSON WHO JUST WALKED IN TO GET THE SEAT. EVEN IF WE WERE STANDING THERE.
At that point na, my blood was boiling but I was also sick and hungry so we just told the manager we'll have all our food to go nalang.
Then, the coup de grace, another table opened up, we were already standing for close to forty minutes and no one bothered to even get us a seat. Everyone was running around like it wasn't their problem anyway. Birthing pains but bullshit ones at that.
Managers reply? "But you said you were gonna have it all to go nalang" PUNYETA. YOU COULD HAVE AT LEAST GAVE ME OR MIGGIE A SEAT TO SIT. FUCKING A I WOULD HAVE LEFT AS SOON AS I GOT MY FOOD NA RIGHT?
At that point I just told the manager her policy and thinking was bullshit. "Nakuha mo na pera ko punyeta tapos ganun na?"
By then it was already nine something and I was super hungry. Food arrived ten minutes later and I'm sure the manager was glad we left. Will I come back for the chicken? YES. Maybe not that branch though.
Like I said AWESOME FOOD GREAT CHICKEN, FIRST TIME I WAS THERE WAS AWESOME despite obvious starting hiccups but jeez, I really hope they open their branch in Greenbelt soon and they fix their system. Maybe something like Pepper Lunch where they let people order then get them a seat.
RANT OVER. NOW FOR HAPPY THINGS LIKE MY GIFT REGISTRY!!!