I wouldn’t trade LA for any other city in the US in terms of food quality, breadth, options, and pricing, but something that is typically sorely lacking is the level of hospitality in FOH staff.
Maybe that’s why out of town imports such as angler and majordomo have wowed me in terms of service because they seem to be so much more hospitable/professional and well trained.
But also living here this long I guess I’m used to it and thankful when I get a water refill and someone that actually knows the menu lol.
Warrior: There is an easy fix that would make me forgive and forget the fact that Republique (and this applies to Bestia and Bavel too) routinely doesn’t honor our reservation times because they’re trying to pack in too many tables per night. Instead of telling me that I can go to the bar and buy a drink, they could say: “We’re so sorry – can we give you a drink on the house?” It’s about the attitude. It is a service and hospitality industry, not the DMV.
This is not a club. Literally ignoring a few of us to allow someone to the front of the line when the place is 15% full is ridiculous not even taking into account the way in which they do it.
The fact that this has become a real discussion compared to the other 95% of restaurants on this board instead of the FOOD says it all.
Lol I feel like I’ve gotten myself roped into a conversation about wait times at restaurants. Nope. I’m restricting my comments to the memorable but probably departed, tall, curly, diva host.
Lol we definitely used to make risky decisions planning the seating map before service/in the moment to accommodate regulars/vips and would pray for everything to work out. Hell we’d do it for guests just to see if we could squeeze one more table in.
That said a bad attitude bugs the shit out of me. Handle that shit with grace.
Not like there was just a 1.5 year seismic event in world history that shut down any chance of dealing with legitimate hospitality in any capacity. Who could imagine?
he’s not back with the team for the Front of the House. I thought this post was kind of weird cause he hasn’t been there since they reopened - now I finally realized this complaint was from over 1.5 years ago but being made now.
I do think their host stand has a very aloof presence - but the check in process is a bit haphazard with the way their entrance is set up. When the hosts were stationed outside when they only did dining outside, they seemed way warmer and talkative.
If I have to praise a front of the house - MajorDomo’s check in people are so unbelievably cheerful everytime I’ve gone.
I didn’t want to open the can of worms any wider, but my personal Republique shopper aka hubs has reported aloofness from the bakery & takeout staff. And pre-ordering is sometimes a fruitless exercise as they sellout anyway with little apology.
They may be too busy to notice because biz is so great and complaints haven’t reached fever pitch. But I’m sure it’s turned more than a few off.
This. We found out at pickup. They were slightly apologetic and said they made too little of whatever it was and sold-out early, but I was free to check the case for something else. If it’d been something very specific or for a special occasion it would have soured me up on them for sure.
This was in July btw. We stopped going in the pre-vaxx days because the line looked a little too spreader-ish.
Haha… I haven’t experienced anything as egregious but I might possibly have a higher egregious threshold. Once past the momentary chaos and snootiness of FOH the dinner and service is superb. I still Republique.
If it’d been something very specific or for a special occasion it would have soured me up on them for sure.
Republique.