Robin E.
Yelp
Really just sick of trying to like this place, despite it being so conveniently located adjacent to a hotel where I've stayed for over a year... five visits on different days and times, hoping for the best, but always regretable experiences; tonight was the last time.
The only good point about Doña is the decent food, but it is overpriced and every other aspect of being there is very disappointing, even unwelcoming.
The music is almost deafening and too loud for a date or a meaningful conversation, and the service is inattentive at best -- and lying and sneaky the rest of the time.
Sneaky? They automatically add 18% gratuity. I typically dine alone or with one other person on business, never as a party of six or more. Adding an automatic gratuity, then suggesting additional gratuity amounts further down the bill? Absolutely, no, thank you.
When I requested that the automatic gratuity be removed tonight, my waiter claimed that it was because I was a guest of the hotel. I looked him in the eye, told him that was not true, and asked again that the extra charge be removed. HE LIED TO MY FACE AGAIN, claiming the hotel guest policy.
If that was true, then Doña would deliver to my hotel room if I ordered takeout, and they do not.
If that was true, then I would be able to add my room number to the receipt and have the meal charged that way, and that's not possible.
The same automatic gratuity was added to a drink tab at Halloween. I asked it to be removed and the bartender apologized that it was *their policy* to add it like that but she would be happy to get her manager to over-ride and reverse the automatic gratuity. So sneaky and shabby of Doña that this is their SOP!!
I asked my hotel's night clerk moments ago who confirmed the Doña and the Hampton Inn hotel are not affiliated in any way beyond sharing one wall.
I normally tip well, but I'm not about to be swindled if I can help it! Look closely at your receipts, my dears!