InPlay Des Moines disappoints
Posted on August 8, 2007 in Around the metro by DM
Update 2/6/2008:
I feel compelled to update this post. I’ve noticed I’ve received several visitors to my blog who seem to be searching for information on InPlay Des Moines, and the post that’s showing up on Google is this one, with the headline “InPlay Des Moines Disappoints.” But, although we did have one bad experience with InPlay (or more specifically, The Stadium restaurant), we’ve had nothing but great food and great service ever since then.
After a fun visit to InPlay Des Moines one night a couple months ago, we were disappointed in the way things turned out last night. We walked in for a late supper around 8 p.m. - it was just my husband and I, and only about four tables were occupied in the restaurant/bar. All of these people appeared to be in the late stages of their meals. We sat in a booth, and waited… after about 10 minutes with no visit from a server, I went up to the bar and asked for menus. The bartender handed them to me and said she’d have a server come over. Another several minutes went by. We saw bussers working the now-empty tables around us, but never saw a server even once. I finally returned our menus to the bar and told the bartender we were leaving, that we had never been served, and that I thought it was pretty ridiculous seeing as how there was now no one else in the place. She apologized in between bites of her own dinner, and we left.
I don’t know why it always feels like such a major problem when things go awry on a restaurant visit. A customer should be empathetic and forgiving when servers are extremely busy, and I think we generally are that way - I can’t remember the last time we actually walked out on a place. But when all the other tables are empty and you STILL haven’t been greeted after fifteen minutes, and you have to go in search of menus and servers… well that’s truly poor service rather than just busy-ness.
I expect we’ll eventually give InPlay another chance. I hope last night’s experience was not the norm - the restaurant business is fickle enough without the added disadvantage of delivering crappy service.
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5 comments to “InPlay Des Moines disappoints”
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It has been a blessing to move to the city of Des Moines and open a new business that would bring a great entertainment venue to a revitalized downtown. As General Manager and owner of the facility, I would be the first to admit that opening such a project hit a few stumbling blocks, especially in the way of service. Now that we have been open for about 5 months, I can not thank this city for the thousands of people that have visited us already, some becoming friends, some just stopping in for a good time.
It can also be said that with as many people that visit us daily, occasionally we make a mistake. When a problem such as this arises, we jump at the opportunity to make a wrong, a right. (Even if I serve you lunch or dinner myself, which I enjoy doing often.) I would like to personally invite the writer of this blog to contact me to se up a nice steak dinner at my establishment with my Executive Chef. It would be our pleasure to make amends.
I would also take this opporunity to have any other person with constructive critisicm to contact me or my assistant general manager, who is also my brother and thrilled to be living in Des Moines, to discuss your thoughts.
We have truly bought into the Des Moines community and have enjoyed giving thousands of dollars back to it and its people already. Please allow us the opportunity to make your days and evenings enjoyable for years to come and do not hesitate to talk with our staff. You might just make a friend yourself.
Sincerely
Michael Stessman
michael@inplaydesmoines.com
WOW - Michael, as I noted to you in my email reply, I am so pleased to hear from you and impressed with your gracious response. I can assure you there is no need for a free dinner… we will be back to InPlay now for sure, and will gladly purchase our dinner from a company that obviously works hard to “make a wrong, a right.” (There’s something good to be said about a company that’s listening to bloggers in the first place - you’re ahead of the game on that score!)
THANK YOU for tuning in and for responding here. ~ Janet
[...] recently crabbed about the bad experience my husband and I had at InPlay Des Moines, where we left without being served. We’d been there before, with good results, and I [...]
[...] and everything was excellent both times. If you followed that post, you noted that Michael Stessman offered up a steak dinner as a make-good for our poor experience. I really appreciated that, but told him it wasn’t necessary. [...]
Don’t let Mr. Stessman’s response fool you. A few girlfriends and I were in for drinks after work, and upon bringing some poor service issues to the attention of the management’s attention, the arrogance of the brothers prompted us to leave soon after, and we will not return. This place clearly needs professional management from an outside management group. There is no way these two young men have the experience or credentials to manage an establishment of this size. I have worked in the service industry for over twenty years, and the way these people handle business is completely appalling.