Oh my god… Can I just start by asking: What the hell happened here?? Never in all my years of dining have I have seen staff in hospitality look so morbid and depressed. Nobody was even trying to hide it. At one point I was about to ask what was wrong to literally everybody. Now on a more serious note, this is not funny at all, it pains me to see waiters clearly in deep despair. I know that there has been a huge blow-up about service charge and tips within this group and something seriously must be done about this. My visit to Jon and Vinny’s unfortunately was another desperate attempt to find a decent lunch in Beverly Hills, at this point I wish I had a kitchen to prepare my own food in… (Giving me new ideas for my next visit.)
Here they are serving Italian food, what can possibly go wrong? Nothing you would think… I tried to order fast and swiftly in order that I did not have to sit in this depressing establishment any longer than I had to. (Yes, it was that bad and I did feel sad, guilty even for eating here.) I decided to take a dish that is pretty fail proof and easy to put together- Rigatoni, Broccolini, garlic, crushed red chilli, pecorino. But by American standards they still found a way to ruin it. Firstly, the whole dish had far too much oil in it, resulting in a huge, greasy mound of overwhelming stodge. Serve this to an Italian and they would throw it directly in the bin in a passionate rage. Using olive oil elegantly and in a balanced way is an art form, and something that should be respected. The bread was ok but once again, greasy and I could feel my arteries crying out for help. Please can I go home now back to the land of ‘all in moderation’?
Often waiters do not understand how important they are to eating out, and here at Jon & Vinny’s they looked obviously very unhappy. Why would I want to come back to such a place where everybody looks like they are going to cry? It tells me something is wrong here. Service charge is already included in the bill, yet you are expected to tip on top because in America this is standard practise, and it helps fund the wages of the staff. Whether or not I agree with this is another matter entirely, but a lot of people do not feel the need to tip if there is already a service charge… This could be where the unhappiness is stemming from or the group itself have a lot more work to do to keep their staff happy. Sit down and talk to your staff! And stop wasting the olive oil…
