FRIED COFFEE

Diners taken aback by chef’s response at Jonathan’s The Rub  -  Fork and Cork, Houston Chronicle

Tiffani Miller and her husband were impressed with their first meal at Jonathan’s The Rub (9061 Gaylord). Not so with the second one. Her group of six all requested the Black and Blue, a filet mignon with blue cheese sauce.

Everyone at the table ordered it medium rare,” Tiffani Miller says. “My husband added ‘emphasis on the rare’ to the server. When dinner came, my husband cut into his steak and we both noticed that his was much closer to medium than he likes. He very politely called the server over and let her know that his was a little too done. He asked to have another steak and told her to just send back the same sides with it. Another staff member returned immediately with the same plate and said, ‘Chef says that this is how he does medium rare. If you wanted it raw, you should have requested that.’

“She put the plate back down in front of him. Everyone at the table was so dumbfounded by this remark that we were briefly speechless. We decided to avoid further embarrassment, swallow our pride and address it another time. Two of our guests showed us that their steaks were more rare than my husband’s had been and even offered to switch with him.

“We never saw the server again until she presented the check with all charges included. She even asked if my husband wanted to take his untouched food home with him. It was never mentioned again by anyone on the staff.

“Obviously, we will not go to Jonathan’s again. I made a point of letting everyone know what a great experience we had the first time and many of my friends went on my suggestion. I will now tell twice as many people about this experience. Apparently, even in a recession, the customer is not always right at Jonathan’s The Rub.”

In the comments section, many people came to the restaurants defense with tales of much better experiences. 

My response:

1.  The term “BLACK AND BLUE“  is universally accepted to mean, charred outside / rare inside, another term, “PHILADELPHIA-STYLE” is synonymous.

2.   Alienating customers will result in closed doors.

3.  “Blue”  should be  “Bleu” denoting the use of cheese.