Carlos O'Kelly's Mexican Cafe - www.carlosokellys.com

Talk about a bad dining experience.

2 Aug 07 My wife and I decided to take our daughter to Carlos O'Kelly's in Manhattan Ks. for dinner. My daughter who lives in Manhattan got there first. She got us a table and herself a drink. We came in a few minutes later and went over and sat down. So far so good. My wife decided to go use the rest room. We live out a ways so it is a common practice to have to go when we go, or at least when we get, to where we have gone.

As my wife gets up she asks me to order her a margarita. The waitress comes to the table as my wife is walking away. I order our drinks. My order is met by "can't order your wife a drink till she is back physically setting at the table" Now I ask, what kind of crap is that? I told her that's silly she's right there you saw her get up. (I pointed to my wife now just reaching the restroom). Again the girls reply was a long way from what I would term a customer friendly voice and she told me NO! I can't do it.

I reiterated how silly that was and was now a little pissed. I ask why I could not order the drink. I was told that I might be buying a drink for an underage person. Now I am insulted on top of upset. She is implying what I "might" do. A person "Might" do anything. I do not think it is her position to tell me what I "might" do.

It gets worse as I have done this in the past (order drinks that is). I am an older guy and ordering drinks, opening doors, and general Chivalry is what I do. So I ask to speak with a manager. The manager comes over and I proceed to let her know I am upset that I could not place my order. I had to order one drink and now wait until someone noticed me again and then order another. This is a misuse of my time. She (the manager) never once apologized for the inconvenience. Instead she incited me by asking if I know the law. What the h*@ll? She further went on to inform me that we were in a college town and "people" try all kinds of things.

When I think my dinning experience could not get any worse she added that little implication that I may be trying to do something illegal. She successfully added injury to the insult by this implication as everyone is now looking at us. I was embarrassed, my daughter was embarrassed, and my wife is now trying to hide her face. I actually had to tell the manager to "go away". She kept trying to quote laws to me.

We tried to salvage our dignity by trying to pretend that we were not upset. We carried on with our drinks (we had just two each) then dinner. How I have eaten in this same restaurant many times. I think I know what the portions should be but that night… I had what I would describe as “baby portions” they were currently not what I usually get.

My wife and I will meet our daughter in town 2-3 times a month. We have eaten at Carlos O'Kelly's many times, probably more then 100 times over the years. Ordering drinks has never been a problem in the past and the portions have never been so small. I am at 100% belief that the portions were a retaliation for my complaint. But worse yet, I think the service attitude has changed. It seams, they are not there to serve me, it is my responsibility to go in sit down and eat without expectations. That is wrong on Sooooo many levels.

We as customers need to stand up against bad service. Every time we ignore or brush off someone’s rudeness because we don’t want to make a seen only makes the next experience worse. I am a good customer when I am treated with courtesy and respect. I not only expected a simple “I’m sorry, let me fix that”, but I as the paying customer deserve that.

I can go on as I complained to Jim Wright, Regional Manager, Carlos O'Kelly's 785-565-1748 He defended the bad service practice by saying “It sounds like the waitress followed our procedures as far as checking I.D's before serving”. I would like to point out that no one ever checked our ID. He too, should have handled it as if the customer was his primary concern.