Jay R.
Yelp
We visited Montein for dinner on Saturday. There were six of us. We got seated pretty quickly because we had a reservation, but it was about a 15-minute wait before we had to chase down one of the staff to order our drinks and appetizers. It was a busy night!
Appetizers came first, then the drinks - but there wasn't much of a delay. Then we had to again chase down another staff member to order our main course. Their menu had a 'Vegan' option, which was great - we had two vegans in our party that night. The dish called 'Paradise' under the Vegan section looked great. The description was as follows -
"Sautéed with steamed Tofu, Mushrooms, Pineapple, Carrot, Scallions and Cashew Nuts in a light sauce".
Approximately 20-25 minutes later they brought the first of our orders. We expected the rest of our food to also follow shortly. But 20 minutes later, they brought the second order. 10 minutes later they brought the rest of our food. Up until now, it was just a delay associated with a busy restaurant in downtown Boston on a Saturday night (Although, by this time a lot of the guests had started to leave)
They brought the Paradise (the vegan dish I mentioned above), and it had pieces of chicken in it. Huge chunks of white meat. We called another one of their staff members and asked the question. She was not the least apologetic. In fact, she said their Paradise has chicken unless you specifically ask for it to be served without meat. This is probably the most outrageous thing I have ever heard. Why have something listed under the 'Vegan' section if it comes with chicken.
At this point, we asked her to take it back and bring us the true Vegan Paradise dish. This really was their chance to fix it. But what they brought back was basically just steamed vegetables in sauce. It did not include mushrooms, pineapples, or cashew nuts as the menu stated. Either their chefs had no clue what was listed on the menu or they completed missed the point. Finally, I had to go find their manager and ask him to fix it. His excuse was that they had a busy night. I understand that - it's Boston, on a Saturday night. But, it's no excuse to make mistakes over and over again and not even offer a single apology in return.
I am giving this place two stars because the food wasn't horrible. Service would be a big ZERO. They automatically added a 18% gratuity to our check, but if I had a choice about it, the gratuity would have been far less than 18%.
Advice to management: Treat your customers well, pay attention to what customers order. We all make mistakes, but have the willingness to learn from your mistakes and fix them.