November 15th, 2021

Barbeque!  Ahhhh!  Smoking and grilling.  Meat!  Fire!  I feel as if I should be inserting "Tim the Toolman" grunts here, but in point of fact, I do most of the grilling at our house and I almost never grunt.  Nevertheless, barbeque is good stuff.  It gets very high marks from the people in this house.

We used to have a local Barbeque place here in Venice, just off island, that was our favourite. We visited at least once a month. Minimum.   But a few years ago (pre-Covid) it closed much to the shock of it's many loyal customers.  It was a very sad day in our household.  So we began to search for other Barbeque restaurants to take it's place.  But while none of the other ones we tried were really bad, they just weren't great, y'know?

Then a few months back we heard about a new BBQ place  that was going to open in Sarasota which is just a short half hour away.  We can easily drive 30 minutes for dinner!  No problem!  We waited eagerly for them to open and finally we headed up there yesterday.  And now I have a tale to tell.

The restaurant is called Mission BBQ and because clearly I am an idiot, I was thinking Mission like the architectural style.  Victorian Style, Arts and Crafts Style, Contemporary Style, Mission Style.....I'm not making it up. It's a real thing.  Which doesn't matter at all because I was completely totally and entirely wrong.  It's mission, as in, military mission.  Oops, my bad.  

It is a chain that originated in Maryland in 2011 to honour and support police, firefighters and our military services.  It has now expanded to more than 200 different locations so clearly they are a successful chain.  They must know what they are doing, right?

The decor is simple and I like that, especially for a BBQ place. It's not fancy, but it is very clean and very tidy.  The menu hangs from the ceiling in a series of very large, very clear, easy to understand signs.  Once you know what you want, you step up to the counter and place your  then take a seat.  We chose a booth. I liked the wooden seats and the solid tabletops.  There were six different kinds of bbq sauce at the table to choose from. I like having choices too.

We didn't have to wait very long for the food to arrive.  Tim ordered baby back ribs because that is one of his favourite things.  He also asked for cole slaw and cornbread to go with it.  And that's where the problem began.  The ribs were clearly over cooked, Very Very Very dark in colour and even  black around the edges with big charcoal looking air bubbles. I was dubious.  Tim had a few bites and I asked him how it was, He swallowed hard and said, "Dry, very dry".  That's not good.  So he selected one of the sauces and slathered it with sauce.  "Any better?" I queried.  He shrugged and struggled to try to eat a tiny bit more.  But after a few bites, he gave up then moved on to the cole slaw  which he said was great and the cornbread which was also really good.  But those ribs.  Man, what a disappointment.

Now normally in a situation like this we just shrug and call it lesson learned then we leave and never return.  But since this place was so newly opened, Tim decided to at least let the manager know that the ribs were seriously over cooked. Clearly the staff has a few bugs to work out.  If he was the manager, he would want to know. So he asked one of the staff for the manager.

It's always a little nerve wracking to ask for the manager and we rarely do it.  You just don't know how people are going to react.  Sometimes managers are really defensive and will argue with you.  We didn't want to argue with anyone or cause a problem. It was just a matter of pointing out the obvious, really that's all it was.  " The cole slaw and cornbread was great but just in case you don't know, your guys are over cooking the ribs". End of message.

As it turns out, Tim didn't have to say a word.  As the manager approached the table he pointed to Tim's plate and said, "uhoh, looks like those  babybacks are seriously over cooked, I am so sorry.  I will make this right.  Can we try again, may I bring you more ribs?"  Tim shook his head and declined politely. "Well then, something else perhaps. What else can I bring to you"?  Wow!~  Tim shook his head and insisted that he was fine, he wasn't upset or angry, he just wanted to be sure that the manager knew about the overcooking that was going on.  The manager thanked Tim for bringing it to his attention and said that he definitely had some more training to do with his staff.    We were fine with that response and ready to go. 

The manager asked again if there was something else he could bring us  and he began a rather lengthy list of possibilities.  Once again, Tim declined but added that he appreciated the managers response.  The manager stood quietly for a moment and then asked for our receipt, which Tim handed over.  "I'll be right back" the manager promised with a smile.

When he returned moments later he had taken the cost of the meal off of Tim's credit card AND he gave us a gift card for another visit and asked us to please come back another time so that they could show us what they really can do.

Wow!  We accepted the gift with appreciation and promised that we would return another day.

And that my friends, is how it's done!

Every day I am hearing and seeing stories in the news about horrible customers, spitting on staff, yelling at them, pushing, shoving, hitting (!).  I saw one just yesterday about a lady who was angry that her soup was too hot so her solution was the throw the soup on the manager who was just trying to help.  Threw it on her!   Occasionally the stories are of the clerks or managers who are being horrible to their customers but not nearly as often.  And every single time, I am left absolutely baffled by this trend.  Baffled!

Adults acting like toddlers and pitching hissy fits! Tantrums!  Adults!  Grown arsed adults screaming and yelling and hitting?   That is not how adults solve problems.  Why aren't they embarrassed to seen acting that way?  I have no idea what is going on in their minds. I just shake my head in confusion. I do not understand it. It makes me want to ask them, "What is wrong with you?"  Because clearly it's something......

Let me explain how this should be handled.  Problem exists.  Customer politely brings it to the attention of the manager.  Customer politely and succinctly makes their complaint but also makes it a point to mention sometime positive about the experience.  Then management  acknowledges the problem and does everything in their  power to make it right.  Which is followed by customer showing their appreciation.  The End.   Problem solved by Adults! No tantrums necessary. Geez.

Anyway, we will indeed go back to Mission BBQ and give it another try and I'm sure it will be awesome at our next visit.