Tribeca - Never again

[Stevo66]

I wonder if she red the posts and if this will make her change her attitude?

Scotlizzy

From memory there have been many complaints on the forum about this particular woman over the last few years.If she does read them then she must be very thick skinned.

 

[Rosie34]

I have never met Maureen but she sounds lovely so I wonder why she puts up with working with this person? I know jobs are hard to come by but having previously run her own restaurant, why would she tolerate such awful behaviour by this owner?

Maybe it's just that - jobs must be very hard to come by at the moment I just keep hoping that it wont be too long before she and Kenny are back in business together again

 

[ragdollabbi]

Maybe it's just that - jobs must be very hard to come by at the moment I just keep hoping that it wont be too long before she and Kenny are back in business together again

Fingers crossed Rosie Citrus will be missed this year by many

 

[Gommar Goffer]

We had an almost identical bad experience in Tribeca 2 years ago including the bill being thrown at the table and being asked what our problem was even though we had only commented that the wait for main courses had been quite long (30 minutes after starters)

 

[animagic21]

It's beginning to sound a bit like Faulty Towers!!!!!

 

[ragdollabbi]

On a good day

 

[LJH]

As normal on our visits we try a couple of places to eat that we have not before as well as visiting our usual places a number of times. On this occasion knowing Maureen formerly of Citrus was back working there & after hearing mixed reviews we thought Tribeca could be on our new places to visit. We booked a table for the four of us and were welcomed by Maureen on seeing us in her usual nice & welcoming way along with the other younger girl who works there (sorry forgot her name now). The place was probably only half full but for some reason the other lady in the place which I believe is one of the owners did not seem very happy at all. We ordered starters of which I had mushroom & cheese pate. The service was incredibly slow though this seemed to be due to the kitchen & not the waiting staff which we found strange as the menu is limited, therefore should produce food in a fairly reasonable time, plus the place was not even busy. After what seemed an age my starter arrived which looked more like wallpaper paste than pate, runny with very little taste. Then another epic wait for the main course. I had stuffed chicken on a bed of mash that arrived cold, but to be honest by this time I was so hungry I just ate it, again very bland with no taste. I noticed the problem of cold food as at least two other tables sent there food back because of this. In all this the owner for some reason seemed very frosty towards us, though at no point had we shown any indication that we were not happy (even though we should have). As our boys wanted a desert we ordered them one & took ourselves off with our wine to the bar area to have a chat with Maureen while they had desert. While chatting away the owner kept coming over hanging around us & throwing looks at us as though we had just been scraped off her shoe. She never spoke or asked how our meal was. We asked for the bill from her & on her return she as good as flung it at us across the bar. At this point we should of said something, but why bother as we had our children with us & did not want to cause as scene. I really don’t know what her problem was, either she has had a really bad day or she is just plain ignorant or what, but with all the good restaurants around she can’t have an attitude like that any time even if the food was good. We said our goodbyes to Maureen & the other girl who looked mortified though through no fault of their own. Every restaurant can have a bad day though serving cold food is very poor. As for her attitude, it is just not acceptable at any level. I have always given most places a second chance but on this occasion it is never going to happen.
On a plus point this was our only bad experience of eating out for 18 nights.

We usually go to TriBeCa on each visit and find the food and service really good. The chef and woman front of house are a couple. The place is almost always busy. It is good food well prepared, European portions which is a change from some mediocre set menus in other establishments. I like their curries and beetroot starter. Anyway I will continue to visit like many others.

 

[mwc]

We usually go to TriBeCa on each visit and find the food and service really good. The chef and woman front of house are a couple. The place is almost always busy. It is good food well prepared, European portions which is a change from some mediocre set menus in other establishments. I like their curries and beetroot starter. Anyway I will continue to visit like many others.

To be honest I have never had mediocre portions that I can remember though glad to hear you are one of the few that have had positive feedback for the place. The fact is judging by most of the posts on this thread my experience was not an isolated Incident. Everybody is entitled to there opinion & my opinion & advice to people would not to take the chance & waste a night of your holidays or your hard earned cash when there is so many places that you will be guaranteed good food, service & god forbid common curtacy.

 

[tangofan]

It is so interesting to read the contrasting reports, though it does seem that there are more bad reports than good. I had a quick look at Trip Advisor and there are glowing reports, 76% would recommend! In fact someone actually said they had trouble finding non-touristy food at reasonable prices in the area and another said most of the PP restaurants they tried were overpriced with poor quality food but I have to disagree most strongly with these comments!

 

[cumberland8]

We had such a distasteful experience with the owner for no apparent reason my wife refuses to even look at their sign.
Yet Maureen is a lovely person.

 

[Bootledodger]

totally agree....

It is so interesting to read the contrasting reports, though it does seem that there are more bad reports than good. I had a quick look at Trip Advisor and there are glowing reports, 76% would recommend! In fact someone actually said they had trouble finding non-touristy food at reasonable prices in the area and another said most of the PP restaurants they tried were overpriced with poor quality food but I have to disagree most strongly with these comments!

I read the TA reviews also - and was bemused by these comments regarding "overpriced with poor quality food" - beyond belief. They must have been visiting in a parallel universe! The range of restaurants from fast foodish to fine dining sets the beloved PP apart from the majority of holiday locations I've been to.....

 

[ragdollabbi]

Just read some of the more recent TA reviews and can't believe this is the same place There are some bad reviews going back a few months or so but all of the recent ones seem to be very good. Have they pulled their socks up........perhaps since Maureen went back It will be interesting to hear how it fairs over the season

 

[Fifer]

Just read some of the more recent TA reviews and can't believe this is the same place There are some bad reviews going back a few months or so but all of the recent ones seem to be very good. Have they pulled their socks up........perhaps since Maureen went back It will be interesting to hear how it fairs over the season

As I said earlier, we've been frequent customers at Tribeca for years and we have never encountered anything other than excellent service and excellent food. It always seems busy when we are there, not generally a sign of a poorly run business when there's so much worthy competition.

(Is Maureen the Glaswegian lass? If so, we noticed she was back in April/May when we were last there. She and her partner used to run the place when we first started going, before the current fixed price menus was introduced - a good few years ago now).

 

[ragdollabbi]

I agree Fifer, it does always seem busy, but it's the old, old story.....once bitten twice shy If you have a bad experience somewhere it does put you off going back, especially, as there are so many good places to eat elsewhere in the port. Maureen is the Scottish girl working in it at the minute so hopefully it will improve with her input. I am sure there must be lots of places, both home and abroad, that you have had a bad experience and have not returned to. It's only human nature after all. On a positive note, it is good to hear that you have enjoyed all your visits to Tribeca over the years....maybe we've just been some of the unlucky ones

 

[mwc]

Like I said our experience was not a one off according to many posts on here. It is fairly obvious the lady in question has a real attitude problem. I have a feeling if Maureen left this establishment it would not last much longer as she will be a big draw for a lot of people who know her, hence the reason we gave it a go in the first place. Let's hope in the near future Maureen & Kenny will reopen somewhere in the port, as she wants a medal to be able to put up with a boss like that. Though as previously said jobs are very, very difficult to come by at the moment & she has little choice.

 

[annascotland]

Frosty reception TriBeca

We have also had the frosty, unfriendly reception at TriBeca and decided never to go back! However last year seeing the fixed price menu decided to try, it is alright - no better than alright - for that. At least now the aircon seems to be on, previously they advertised on a board outside their door 'full aircon' but that was not the case, the food is value for the price but if you get the s**t on the shoe reception you won't want to go back! And it might happen, we also have seen the warm welcome to the 'special friends'

 

[poshbeck@gotadsl.co.uk]

Have just come back from three weeks in PP during which time we ate at Tribeca's 4 times. All of the evenings the meals were lovely served quickly and the restaurant was full; in fact they were having to turn people away.
We have been going to this restaurant for at least the last 8 years and have never had a bad experience and the owner is always friendly. We also used to eat at Citrus a lot and know Maureen well in fact we met her at Tribeca's many years ago. Restaurants are a personal thing and I know we had tried Trio's two or three times and always vow never to go back. The service and food is always awful. We tried Brisa Marina this year and again the service was ok but the food was poor. Value for money Tribeca wins hands down they come in third in my top five this year. We also do not like O'lume but it is very popular with a lot of people on this website so it just goes to show one man's meat is another man's poison.

 

[Fifer]

LI have a feeling if Maureen left this establishment it would not last much longer

That can't really be the case as Maureen has just returned to Tribeca after an absence of several years and it's done very well in that time. As ragdollabbi says, there are restaurants we haven't returned to due to poor service so I understand why people would be unhappy receiving the same at Tribeca. I just can't reconcile it with the Tribeca we know (and I don't think we're 'special customers' as we only eat there four times a year at the most).

 

[mwc]

Well, like I said you only have to look at many other posts on this thread to see our experience was not a one off. She seems to make a bit of a habit of it.