A new twist to an old parable. Or problems at Shayna.

[OldDog]

On Monday a small group of us went to Shayna for lunch. It was the first time my wife and I had gone there in 12 months having voted with our feet after atrocious service last time. Eventually we were served by possibly the world's most sullen and uninterested waiter. Our drinks were forgotten, I had to ask twice for a plate which had not been layed and then when the food came one of our party had a gap on her plate where the chips should have been. But worse was to come. 2 of our group were drinking glasses of white wine. This was the normal light coloured, fresh looking Angora. I ordered the same. When mine came it was straw coloured resembling sherry. I refused it and asked again for the same wine that the others had had. The waiter returned carrying a much bigger glass with a larger volume of wine than before . The contents of the glass resembled Angora. Sadly it was not! It smelt of sewerage and tasted like water. This was sipped by 3 of our party all of whom agreed that it consisted mainly of water. Now if I were a suspicious sort of a chap I might be lead to believe that wine had been tipped into the larger glass and it's colour changed by dilution with water of dubious quality. Hence a new twist to an old parable. Not water turned into wine but wine into water.
I did complain of course. I asked see the manager but was told he was not there. So I informed the waiters that we would not be returning and would be sharing our experience on the forum and Trip Advisor. On our way out we came across the manager. He was appalled at our treatment and promised to telephone me when he had investigated what had happened with my wine. Well Deniz I've spent the last 47 hours deafened by your silence so now you can read along side many others just how poorly your restaurant is run.
An interesting footnote if you look on Trip Advisor people who must have been there at the same time as us have posted about deteriorating service and state that the waiters were not bothered what we did as we were not needed. Just as well as we will not be back until the staff are changed.

[happy feet]

not improved then ?

[happy feet]

not improved then ?

[Panchocat]

Have to sadly agree. A couple of weeks ago we went for lunch. Service was non-existent . After ten minutes of waiting for a drink, no-one came near us apart from the waiter grumpily asking if we wanted a menu. It never arrived and the waiter continued to fuss over a big party who we later learnt were Russians. Having read the trip advisor report mentioned in the above post perhaps we now know why. Clearly we don't leave large enough tips!
Another couple, the only other customers that day, went to the bar, ordered their drinks and got their own menus. We didn't, we walked out and went to Aligadi where we had an excellent lunch with cheerful service.
The owner at Shayna needs to act about his unpleasant and unprofessional staff before he loses the goodwill and custom of previously loyal customers.

[waddo]

Winter always tells the truth, when the tourists go and all that are left are the locals and regulars. When they move on - as they will very quickly - then the place just shuts down, no loss, no fuss just gone like so many others before it.

[happy feet]

Waddo this has been an issue for months, not about tourists...

[waddo]

Oh, sorry, I was under the impression - and have been for the past eight years I have lived here - that the majority of tourists came in the summer months and that once winter arrived on the Island the majority of tourists and swallows as well returned to their country of origin, leaving just the locals and regulars to prop up the income of the restaurants and bars. Probably why a lot of them close down for a month in the winter due to lack of custom. They all are aware that if the don't make their money in the "Tourist" months then they simply either exist or fall during the winter months. So if you are resident or local then poor service to you will come because they are concentrating on making the tourist income - change where you go and leave them to it. The long established places have learnt this over the years and now tend to treat everybody (with odd expected exceptions) exactly the same, they survive and flourish. Those who fail to learn wither and die. You don't need to yell at them and you don't even need to tell them, just leave them to learn the lesson the hard way and find another place that suits you better. Less stress for you and ultimately you are provoking a better service for all.