Our latest payday adventure took us to Turtle Bay. I’m not going to go into a full review of the place, but the food was delightful. If you’re around, the pulled pork with mango was probably the best thing I’ve eaten all week (doesn’t sound like much, but I eat a lot) and I would recommend.
But – the inevitable but- without being too melodramatic, one thing ruined the whole experience for us: three times we were asked to speed up and move out of our seats so they could get our money and move on to the next people. Three times! Once was before we had even had pudding. As one of my friend’s text back to my story – “That’s just RUDE”.
More than that, it’s a waste. The place was beautiful. You stepped through the door and you left Birmingham and enter into the Caribbean capsule they had created. The food was served like art: in tin bowls and metal mugs, presented like a gift. They almost had it all, until they made it perfectly clear they only cared about getting us fed and getting our money.
With an average age of 24 we found ourselves contemplating the decline in quality of service in the service industry, laughing because we sounded like our parents, and being pretty disturbed by the whole thing. We spend all day perfecting branding. We frequently pour our souls into creating beautiful brands and menus at GDA, that we are so proud of, yet can be so easily dismissed by something out of our control.
You can spend a small fortune on creating a brand, an investment that can really pay off, but if you provide bad service, you can shatter it all.
(Photos from the Turtle Bay site)