Josephine H.
Yelp
I ventured out to Haymarket this past weekend just for Monroe Bay Oysterette. I'm an avid fan of seafood and especially Blue Point oysters ever since having them in Boston. My husband was away for the weekend and I want to try some of the dishes beforehand and if it lives up to the high ratings, go along with my husband later on.
Sadly, it was disappointing in more ways than one. I spent almost an hour mulling over the online menu as there were so many dishes I wanted to try. It's a 20min drive from where I live to Haymarket so oysters were out of the question. I was truly excited to try the dishes and decided on: scallops over elote, truffle fries, and calamari. I messaged the chat for clarification of what's on Eugene's fries and not so shocking, I never received a response from the message box or to my email (it's 3 days later and still no response on what's on a Eugene's fries). Also fyi. The online ordering does not have all of the offerings as it would at the actual restaurant. Ie: clam chowder was not offered in online ordering. Disappointing that not everything is listed or available.
I made this order online at 5pm, received confirmation, and waited a bit before driving since it was rainy. Finally reaching the restaurant, I'm greeted by Ashley and I tell her I had an online to go order. She goes to the back to check. Returning, she tells me that their online ordering system isn't working right and that they had to manually go and look for my order because they weren't notified.
Now this is where the experience steadily declined and brought me to deciding to never return here again. She made no attempt at an apology and said that they don't have my order but they are working on it now. She continued and said, if I'm gonna order, to just call in. One: it's my first time coming here. To Haymarket no less. Two: how would I know if their online ordering system is on the fritz? There's no mention of it on their website or their ordering. If you prefer to have online orders be called in, why in the world have clover online ordering. Ms. Ashley basically implied it's my fault for ordering online. She didn't say sorry for the delay nor did she tell me I can sit and wait, she just disappeared to the other 4 customers in the small restaurant.
Another thing, I had to wait another half hour for my order. I'm completely understanding and have patience as long as service lives up to the wait. Ashley does not live up to the low bar of expectations. If I'm required to wait longer than I have to, there should at least be some form of apology or even an offering of a glass of water while I wait. I was literally sitting in the front unattended and felt ignored as if I did something wrong because she truly made me feel that way.
By the time she came out with my food, I had one last tinge of hope she would say sorry for the wait because it truly is common sense in this situation as a person working in the service industry to do the bare minimum. Alas, I should've just resigned myself to getting food near where I live than come out here and feel neglected and unappreciated.
Finally home, I do feel the food was marred by the experience with Ashley. The food was underwhelming but I enjoyed the sear on the scallops and the green sauce for the calamari. I just wanted to quickly finish my meal and be rid of the experience altogether because nothing I ate was exemplary enough to go back.
End note: 2024... And they're still using foam containers? No thank you.