Horrible Experince
My wife and I visited The Beach House Restaurant on our honeymoon and had an absolutely horrible experience there. The experience made very clear to us that the manager of this restuarant is aware that he is in a resort location at which he does not have to concern himself with repeat business. I honestly have never, every in my life been so offended at the way I was treated by a wait staff/management. The treatment was so bad that it, quite literally, ruined what should have been the nicest night of our honeymoon.

Some friends of ours had given us an unlimited dinner at the restaurant for our wedding gift. They had made it very clear to us that the restaurant had their credit card on file. They emphasized that they wanted us to splurge as much as possible on dinner, and at the end we would have to do nothing but sign the slip.

When we sat down to dinner, our waitress immediately brought us a wonderful bottle of champagne that our friends had ordered for us. We proceeded to enjoy that, as well as a very good meal, while watching a stunning sunset. To emphasize, the location was perfect and the meal was good. The food was only average when compared to meals you would eat on the mainland or in Europe, but for Hawaian dining, it was excellent.

The trouble came after the meal. Our waitress, who had been tremendous up until that point, brought over a bill for the entire meal, minus the chamagne. When I asked her where we needed to sign, she indicated that I had to pay first before signing anything. I explained that this was not correct - that our friends had given us the entire meal as a present. She went and checked their records, and then came back and insisted that only the champagne was paid for. While I knew she was incorrect, I did not want to cause a scene, and so I just gave her my credit card. It was at this point that she made a snide remark about how our friends much "just have been talking big at the wedding." I was disturbed by her rude comment, but did not respond.

When she brought back the credit card slip, I indicated to her that, while the meal, and her service, was wonderful, that somebody in the restaurant had screwed up then entire situation. I did this very quitely, indicating that I just wanted her to know, so that she could pass the information on to the manager. I told her that whomever had screwed up had left me in a very awkward position, as I would now have to go to my friends who had given us this wonderful gift and ask them to remiburse us for the meal. Obviously, an unenviable situation. The waitress indicated that her manager was there, that I could tell him myself, and that she would send him to the table.

When the manager approached the table, instead of trying to rationally discuss the matter, he immediately got in my face and started accusing me of disrupting his restaurant, causing a scene, lying, etc. I wish I could emphasize how shocking this was - what was a very calm, quiet discussion with the waitress had suddenly been turned into an embarrassing disturbance by the general manager of the restaurant. I tried to discuss the situation rationally with him, but he essentially continued to accuse me, and/or my friend, of lying. It was unbelievably embarassing, so much so that my wife had to leave the restaurant, in tears.

I have never in my life been treated so rudely. And on what was supposed to be one of the nicest nights of my honeymoon.

The manager finally agreed that the next day he would telephone my friends who had left the credit card for the meal. While continuing to express skepticism about the veracity of my claims, he indicated that if they said that it was supposed to be paid for, he "would probably just take care of the entire meal." That was essentially the end of our conversation.

After he left, I walked up to the table next to us, at which a 5 or 6 year old girl had been seated. I apologized to her parents if anything I had said to the waitress had caused a scene and/or upset them or their daughter. They indicated that they had no idea anything was going on until the manager had approached the table and started his diatribe, which had included loudly repeating four letter words.

The manager apperntly spoke with my friend the next day, who assured him that they whole meal was supposed to be paid for, and that she had made that expressly clear when she had made the arrangements. He indicated that he would comp us the meal, but that he refused to refund them the cost of the champagne. Not only that, but when we returned from the honeymoon, I checked my credit card statement. The manager had refunded the price of the dinner to me, but did not refund us the price of the tip! Instead of refunding our entire bill, he actually calculated the new amount so that we would be left paying the gratuity for this "service"!

Again, I have never in my life been so offended at the way I was treated in a restaurant. I certainly would adivse as strongly as possible that you never attempt to give a gift through the Beach House Restaurant. And I warn you that, in the unlikely event that something during your meal results in your interacting with the General Manager at the resaurant, you run the risk of being ridiculed and embarrassed.    [13 Sep 2004 16:25:59]

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