Caren C

Formal Complaint Regarding Service on Christmas Day

Dear Management / Owners of La Parada Rosebank, I am writing to formally lodge a complaint regarding the extremely disappointing and unprofessional service I experienced at La Parada Rosebank on Christmas Day. I had a confirmed booking for 4:30 PM. Upon arriving at the restaurant, the waitress at the entrance informed us that the restaurant was very full and that some staff members did not want to take any more orders due to being overwhelmed and because patrons were allegedly being rude to the waiters. We were then told that if we chose to sit down, it would be “at our own risk.” Despite this warning, we decided to sit down. It took approximately 15 minutes for the same waitress to bring us menus, after which she left without further engagement. After another 30 minutes of waiting, she asked another waitress to assist us. That waitress openly refused, laughed, and continued speaking in her mother tongue with colleagues, before walking away. This entire interaction happened right in front of us and made it very clear that we were not welcome or going to be assisted. At that point, we decided to leave, as it was evident that the staff had no intention of serving us. This experience reflects extremely poor management and a lack of basic customer service etiquette. If the restaurant is short-staffed, bookings should not be accepted. Furthermore, staff should be trained to handle pressure professionally. Laughing, refusing service, and openly displaying unwillingness to assist customers in front of them is completely unacceptable and unprofessional. This incident has left a very bad taste in my mouth, and I can confidently say that I will never spend a single cent of my hard-earned money at a restaurant that allows such disrespectful behaviour and demonstrates such poor management skills. I hope the owners take this complaint seriously and address both staff conduct and management practices to prevent other customers from experiencing the same treatment. Yours sincerely Caren  A Very Disappointed Customer