Monkatsu

[Sue]

We were hoping to have a meal at Monkatsu  last night (Sunday), after having been out all day.

Online information gave the closing time as 10pm.

We got there around 8.30pm and they wouldn't give us a table because "the kitchen closes in half an hour."

Surely it doesn't take half an hour to make a meal? We've never had to wait that long when we've eaten there before.

Has anybody else had this happen? We ended up going home and getting a delivery, which wasn't how we had envisaged the end of a nice day 🙄

[Spartacus]

It's was a Sunday night, they might have had a low turnover and said to the kitchen staff finish and go home early as it saves on wages (shift workers are often paid for working hours) and had already started cleaning down. When a new order comes in they have to reset things up, prepare and cook and then clean down again after. 

Quite understandable if the kitchen was shutting to be honest and as a business they react to demand rather than waiting to see if they get a sudden rush half an hour before closing time. 

Agreed its disappointing for you, but I guess equally you could have called ahead to book and maybe things would have been different.

At the end of the day it's a first world problem and you had alternative choices. 

 

[Sue]

2 hours ago, Spartacus said:

It's was a Sunday night, they might have had a low turnover and said to the kitchen staff finish and go home early as it saves on wages (shift workers are often paid for working hours) and had already started cleaning down. When a new order comes in they have to reset things up, prepare and cook and then clean down again after. 

Quite understandable if the kitchen was shutting to be honest and as a business they react to demand rather than waiting to see if they get a sudden rush half an hour before closing time. 

Agreed its disappointing for you, but I guess equally you could have called ahead to book and maybe things would have been different.

At the end of the day it's a first world problem and you had alternative choices. 

 

That's true on the one hand.

On the other hand they had deliveries going out, which presumably required the kitchen, which was not "shutting". There were other customers eating in  who appeared to have just got their food.

Given we were an hour and a half ahead of the publicised closing time, not "half an hour before closing time", it did not cross our minds to call ahead to book.

In any case we had been out all day, our journey home involved two trains and two  buses,   and we didn't know what time we would be back.

Plus if a business "reacts to demand", it should say that its opening times may vary. Monkatsu clearly says on its website that it is open from 5-10 on Sundays to eat in or take away.

Eating out anywhere is a "first world" thing, and yes there might have been alternatives,  but we had chosen to eat at Monkatsu! 

It's not as if we had got there at 5 to 10 and expected to be served! 

My post was to ask if anyone else had experienced the same thing. I wasn't expecting to be attacked for living in the first world and also  apparently  for having unrealistic expectations that information on a business website would be correct 🙄

Edited May 7 by Sue

[Sephiroth]

I find this happens more and more these days - especially on Sunday evenings or early in the week. I just no longer believe advertised opening hours in bars and restaurants

I find it annoying and I understand Sue's annoyance

But as Spartacus' excellent post makes clear - it's not really any of the business fault these days. Overheads are astronomically higher and I'm sure they would like to have a full restaurant and keep place open. Customer behaviours has changed and loads of places are having to be nimble and do the best they can. That won't always align with what I want. Sign of the times

 

(sidenote: no,  Brexit didn't cause this. But as with everything in GB, it's there as an additional factor and makes it that bit worse than other countries face with similar post-pandemic challenges)

[Dogkennelhillbilly]

A bit unfortunate but worse things happen at sea. Hope you had a nice day anyway, @Sue

[Sue]

2 hours ago, Dogkennelhillbilly said:

A bit unfortunate but worse things happen at sea. Hope you had a nice day anyway, @Sue

We had already had the nice day 😂