Rita received the email below tonight. As the meal description was so specific I thought I would publish it here, for comment, if anyone would like to comment......... "Today we went to Cargo, the newish pizzeria at salamanca. Pizzas ok, the crusts too biscuity for my tastes. However the service was appalling. Upon arrival the three staff behind the bar didn't look up, smile or greet us in any way whatsoever. The waitress sauntered around unsmilingly as if in slomo. They were all young & bored looking. You pay & order at the bar & as they had my credit card (we were running a tab) when the waitron came over to dump our pizzas on the ridiculously wobbly table, we asked her for some more drinks, not unreasonable as she had to go back to the bar anyway AND we had a tab going.
'Err...Okay..' came her puzzled response. I assume she was unable to comprehend that we were in fact asking her to get us some drinks & this was clearly at odds with the policy of ordering at the bar. I could practically hear her eletrodes fizzing & popping as she struggled with this simple directive. With an air of 'OK just this one time I'll break the rules', she left, clearly shaken by our request. I mentioned to them that the table was moving dangerously & threatening to spill our drinks & I was concerned that the weight of the food would send the whole lot tumbling.
I was sternly told that they were 'aware' of the problem. There was only one person taking orders at the bar & the queue had six people waiting whilst three waiters did laps of the room. There was another terminal, why one of them didn't jump In & process our orders is beyond me. All the while they avoided eye contact, chatted amongst themselves & generally behaved as if we were all invisible. They were just indifferent to us which was weird really?"
ADDITION TO ABOVE POST - Tuesday 16th June - prompted by the above, plus other comments on this post, I late-lunched with Bron today at Cargo. There weren't many customers there, and we ordered a large Roast Pumpkin Pizza - $20. The topping also included rosemary, fetta and onion jam. I actually enjoyed it, but I must admit, for the number of people there, we had to wait quite a while for it (ordered at 1.30, left at 2.45 taking half the pizza with us as it was heading towards afternoon tea time and we needed to be back at the office). I'm glad I went and checked it out, but no way would I venture in there on a busy Friday or Saturday night.
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19 comments:
Cargo is a train wreck looking for a place to happen. My legal and i went there for a quick lunch and it was a total disaster. No service, no assistance and no cutlery. When we suggested a knife and fork would be useful, .... well you can't print what they said.
I'm intrigued about Cargo now, as previous to having received the email which I posted, four people over the past few weeks have made a point of telling me I should get along there and have one of the pizzas as they were fantastic! No one mentioned the service there, either negatively or positively but I must admit now I'm not hurrying in there after these comments.
I went there recently. The pizza was unremarkable but okay for a pub. The service was fine (though we bought from the bar without a tab).
Place doesn't stick in my mind as exceptionally good or bad.
We had atrocious service there on two occasions (in for separate functions for friends, wouldn't have gone back otherwise). Everything too much trouble, particuarly oficious waitresses clearly in possession of shiny new RSA certificates handing out ridiculous judgments over clearly sober but outgoing people. Topped off with a one of those Hobart industry 'professional's' who bounce from new venue to new venue who should know better by now.
Really grinds my gears!!
*napkin man*
Well, Cargo - it looks like there are a few unhappy ex-customers round town. If I were you, I'd check out their claims, and rectify asap.
I had great service at Cargo on the one occasion that I ate there (and I'm fairly critical). However, it was in the middle of the day and not very busy.
The pizza, while a bit weird, was nice, but I'm not in a hurry to return to Cargo
Maldini’s on Sat nite was ABSOLUTELY outstanding….. AND, get this, the waitress over heard our conversation of our friend whom we were celebrating her birthday….. SO, when she brought out her dessert, she had popped a candle in it!!!! Can you believe that….. we gave her a $50 dollar tip – she was AWESOME!!! Isn’t it amazing how brilliant service just makes the evening everso special!!!
I think the owner of cargo has $$ as the objective... and the $$ comes from the sale of booze... nothing else.
he also only started fish bowl (what cargo replaced) to cover the time while he applied for the appropriate liquor licence...
maldini staff didnt get there tip all the punters put there cash on the bar there a guy came along picked up cash and payed on this card its not about the tip its more that the punters think we got the tip but we didnt but we still give great service
The staff at maldini didn't get their tip. All the punters put their cash on the bar there, and a guy came along picked up the cash and paid on his card. It's not about the tip, it's more that the punters think we got the tip but we didn't, but we still give great service.
***Just corrected the spelling and grammer in the above post, it was hurting my eyes to read it, granted even without the corrections!***
Anon 10.13 - I consider your corrections above to be hugely insulting to Anon 9.20 - if Anon 9.20 and 10.13 are, as I suspect, different Anons.
This blog is for anyone to be able express their opinions and feelings about a subject, not for any others of us to be the spelling/grammar police. It's the opinion that matters here, not who is the best speller.
I respectfully suggest you start a blog solely devoted to correct spelling, punctuation and grammar in todays life, rather than potentially hinder opinions being expressed here.
Good on you Rita!
BTW Anon 10.13 - on re-reading, I just picked up that you mis-spelled the word 'grammar' yourself.
That in itself tells me things about both you and I!!!
I know someone who does this and it's really shits me!
As we dine out often in a group we are all now aware that this happens and the person in question has been told that there is a tip included and we make sure the staff get it.
How bloody rude is that!
I hope someone who attended on the night knows who paid with a card and calls them on this!
Its 9.20 THANKS Rita who gives a fat rats if i can spell. You go and get a life.I think you have way to much time on your hands.
Damn now I'm hugely insulted!!
Would it work if I claimed I was wondering who would be the first to spot that one??
If you go to Quarry on a friday or saturday night now days you'll see exactly where Cargo is headed in 12months time! What was once a bustling 6 deep at the bar every table full restaurant/bar is now a funked up relatively empty room! The problem is the too cool for school 18-25 year old staff that think they're there too look pretty and people will just come to see them because they're SO cool! Thankfully they'll have saved the next decent operator a heap of money on renovating :)
Agree last anon, cargo staff are omongst the worst I've encountered
We walked past Cargo about a fortnight ago, you guys remember the last sunny Sunday we had. i
It was PACKED!!
We were like "whats going on?" Seems like the in place to go. Must have some secret we don't know about.
As for The Quarry, we took interstate visitors in early June and I was disgusted. I used to go when it first opened and it's seriously gone down hill since then.
On the day in question there were broken toilet seats in the ladies, a big crack in the outdoor area window and the area was closed, ripped curtains in the cubicle etc. It was nearly like they were going for the "Goth" look. We decided not to eat eat there and headed instead to Irish Murphy's. Not great I know but even a couple of petrol heads from Sydney didn't want to pay top dollar at a second or thrid rate establishment.
In my view they started at the top and had so far to fall!!!
And they have fallen hard.
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