Tina T.
Yelp
I'd never eaten at Dolce before. They used to be just Dolce and have since added "Osteria"...not sure why. I placed a pick up order through the restaurant tonight (Mon, 5/13) for the chicken cutlet dinner. You can see from the photo I posted what it looked like when I got it. NOTHING like the picture on the website. Just a slab of dry chicken cutlet, no garnish, butter sauce on the side - which I'm not sure why it was packaged this way because I did not ask for anything "on the side". And the chicken was so tough I was unable to eat it. I drove 7 miles/20 minutes through heavy Charlotte rush hour traffic - I was so disappointed to find that once I got the meal home, I found the chicken too tough to eat. I even tried different sections of the chicken cutlet, thinking maybe I'd just gotten a particularly tough section. None of it was edible. I called the restaurant and asked to speak with a manager. The woman who answered the phone, I believe her name was Marguerite...? Not sure - I know she had a spanish accent and I believe that was the name. She said she wasn't the manager but she was "the one in charge". She also proceeded to tell me that I would need to bring the meal back TONIGHT in order to get a refund. Here are some other things that she said during my call: "We can't refund a meal unless it's brought back", "We can only refund your money if you bring it back tonight", "You won't be able to speak to the owner/manager because she is Italian and does not speak English" (I'm sorry but this place has been around for 8+ years...I'm not sure I believe the owner doesn't speak enough English to at least chat with me), "We have never gotten any complaints about our food before", and when I challenged her on this she edited her comment to "We have never gotten complaints about this dish". Everything she said to me sounded like a lie. In complete disbelief that this woman was refusing to refund my money based on what I was describing to her, I asked again, politely, if she would just refund the $28 - especially since it was going to be impossible for me to get back in the car and get back there this evening - and she refused - again, insisting that I would need to drive the 20 minutes back to the restaurant tonight in order for her to "decide" whether or not she would refund my meal. I asked if I could come back tomorrow - and she said no, because they were closed on Tuesday - and she said by Wednesday would be too late to get a refund. It was bring the meal back tonight, or nothing. What a scam. I feel utterly shocked and ripped off. In all my years of dining out and getting take out, I can honestly say I have NEVER received this kind of horrific treatment. The fact that this place is still operating with "management" and food like this is beyond belief. I fully expect to hear that this place is closed within the next 6 months. I genuinely hope that the owner does the right thing and reaches out to me - and I hope that the woman that I spoke to on the phone is held accountable. Most restaurants train their personnel on how to handle complaints - and I will say that most places do it very, very well. It would NEVER suit a restaurant to treat a customer in this way - because especially in this climate of super inflated prices - people expect to at least get good food and great service for the high prices they're paying. AND dissatisfied customers can just do what I'm doing now - go online and leave a very bad review. What restaurant would ever want to risk that for $28?