Malik K.
Google
I booked a table one month in advance and gave my credit card as a guarantee. The morning of the booking, I received a cancellation notice, which said to email or call them if I had any questions. The email address bounced, and the phone was not picked up (I tried all morning and through lunch).
I went all the way to the restaurant to check what was going on, and the man there said that was nothing he could do about it, the reservation had been canceled and given to someone else automatically by their booking system because I had not reconfirmed my reservation. It turns out that even giving a credit card is not enough to get a confirmed reservation, it needs to be reconfirmed before the date of the booking.
He made it clear he was not going to do anything to try and remedy the situation, not even to offer another date. He pointed out that the booking email from a month ago said that the reservation needed to be reconfirmed the day before. However, when I showed him the contact information given in the cancellation email, he said that was just an automated email and the contact info was not accurate.
Sadly, this place seems to be a victim of its own success, and are busy enough to not bother providing customers with any personal service anymore.
Quick update to respond to the nasty and dishonest reply from the owner:
I never said that MY email address was invalid, rather, it’s the email address of the restaurant that was not working. And on top of it, they don’t answer the phone number they ask you to call.
In any case, clearly this unexpected cancellation issue is not new, see the negative reviews here on Google Maps and you will see that many people are caught by surprise by it (including a poor Japanese tourist who was turned back at the door), and you will also see that every negative reviews is answered by accusing the reviewer of lying.
And the restaurant could very easily fix this issue, every restaurant I’ve ever been to that requires a confirmation contacts you by phone (either a call or an SMS). That feature is available on ZenChef, but Zakuro has chosen not to enable it probably to save a couple of euros, at the expense of disappointing and turning back customers who genuinely wanted to dine there. A very sad choice by them, but as long as they are full every evening, they don’t care…