OH Trina! Restaurant in the Atlantic Hotel

We were looking forward to having dinner at Trina that night. We read that it was one of the hottest restaurant in Fort Lauderdale and how convenient - located in our hotel!

We thought it had to be great, because the hotel staff, even though we had small glitches, were amazing to deal with at every level. But afterward, we all agreed that it did not live up to our expectations.
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We arrived at Trina on time at 7:30 and chose to sit outside which was admittedly our choice, but part of a host or greeter or maitre d’s ability is to be able to “read” his/her guests . We are four middle-aged men of a certain girth, who are more prone to conversation than observation. The greeter should have let us know that as the deck is on the main thoroughfare and its Saturday night, it would be quite noisy. At that point we would have opted for a table inside, if this information had been shared. We got settled at the table outside and realized that we should have taken a table inside, but we did not want to inconvenience anyone, so we stayed at our table.

Our waiter approached us and took our drink orders. When he returned he told us the specials and his recommendations. We don’t mind receiving recommendations when we ask for them, but when they are offered without provocation, it’s a very annoying practice(BAD SERVICE). Again, it’s the ability to read your guests’ and know what they do or do not want.

It became very clear to us that after about ½ hour, the restaurant was filling up too quickly and that restaurant management team did not staff accordingly (HENCE BAD SERVICE). My partner has worked with the Open Table reservation system, he knows that it is a great tool for controlling flow and business levels, so both the FOH and BOH are able to perform their jobs competently. Either the reservation template that is set-up isn’t feasible or they took too many walk-ins. As a result, we had a meal that was neither inspiring nor memorable. And after speaking to some other guests the next day, down by the pool, they had a similar dining experience.

The managers on duty seemed to be scared to bus or serve a table in order to expedite the service (BAD SERVICE). One of them "F" as I found out his name after the Trina experience would walk onto the terasse - many tables are sitting there with empty plates - and not once did he assist any of thw wait staff with service (REALLY BAD SERVICE). I was so pissed off when we left the restaurant that I asked him what his name was and what was his position within the organization. He said is name was "F....." and that we was an assistant-manager - time to go back to Hospitality school again!

While we knew that the restaurant was passed the “controlled chaos stage”, an acknowledgement as simple as to say “we apologize for. . .” by a manager would have been appreciated (WOULD HAVE BEEN GOOD SERVICE)