Worst Reservation Experience in Taiwan

初魚 鮨 - 泰順店 (大安區)

We were very sincere in trying out this restaurant based on all the good reviews we've seen.  As tourists the usual trick is to ask our hotel to make the booking for us.  Of course we didn't have a local mobile phone number to receive the reservation confirmation and pre-payment information.  We called this restaurant directly at our hotel front desk to see if we can reconfirm our reservation and we're prepared to even make a credit card pre-payment over the phone - basically doing what we could to make this work

Unfortunately the woman who picked up our call did not have even the most basic customer service mindset.  She kept on emphasising that if we didn't have a local mobile phone, there's no way.  She kept talking about technicalities and things she couldn’t do as opposed to helping to make things work.  I finally lost my patience after 5 full minutes of her helplessness and snob.

A good restaurant should win customers not only with its food and ambiance but with its service – it’s the total experience.  This woman is the first contact point for a lot of customers and I wonder how many such bad experiences she has single-handedly created.

We had many experiences in making dining reservations in Taiwan.  While we recognise that there are restaurants which have technical and process difficulties for visitors, the experience we had with this particular Chu Yu restaurant is by far the worst!  I believe such bad experience in trying to make a reservation can give everyone an indication of how customer-service oriented this restaurant is!

To the woman working for Chu Yu who talked to us (not talking with us), I'd say Chu Yu is not the only game in town.  There are so many great choices in Taipei.  Your level of customer service is giving Taipei a bad name and your helplessness and snob will affect your business with local customers too.