La Vina Tapas

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Permalink Reply by Hugh on September 25, 2015 at 15:53

With HoL, they don't need to keep a look-out. We always alert a local business that gets a negative mention on HoL and advise them to exercise their right to reply.

(Glad to see you looking out for the interests of local businesses, Jess).

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Permalink Reply by Hugh on September 25, 2015 at 16:13

I see. Thank you for clarifying.

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Permalink Reply by John D on September 25, 2015 at 17:46

Jessica

is it all right to post positive reviews ?

If so, what's the difference ?

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Permalink Reply by KP on September 26, 2015 at 14:05

I go to La Vina fairly regularly. The tapas is pretty good. In the past I have always been quite happy with the service. They usually manage to smile and be pleasant enough. But I had a very similar experience to Ruth on my last visit there. I was with a friend who also noticed the waitress's indifference. I had never seen her before. At the end of the meal it seemed like they couldn't get us out fast enough! We were the last people there but it wasn't late. She didn't even bother to look up from her phone when we left. I expected better!!!

On the subject of people posting negative reviews I agree totally with richwool. If you can post how great a place is then you should equally be able to speak freely when you have a bad experience. It's how you let other people know. There is nothing wrong with it and it's a good way for the restaurant/hotel/whatever to see where they are going right or where they need to make improvements.

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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on September 26, 2015 at 21:25

I do post on Trip Advisor if I think somewhere is worth a positive mention. But I also do look at the full range of reviews if I'm planning to go somewhere and make a judgement, weighing up the good and not so good. Of course it's true that some poor reviews are posted with the sole aim of rubbishing somewhere but posting gushy reviews for places that don't deserve it also happens. I think some of the people on this site may remember a new restaurant on Green Lanes receiving amazing reviews before it had even opened its doors!
On the whole I think people are sensible enough to accept that any restaurant will attract both good and bad reviews.

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Permalink Reply by KP on September 27, 2015 at 11:05

Exactly. It's the same with tradespeople on this site. You have to be wary and use your judgement because sometimes it's clearly putting up an advert for themselves

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Permalink Reply by Ruth on September 27, 2015 at 11:25

Thank you to everyone contributing to this discussion.

I was and remain positive about the food served at La Vina and my previous experiences there being good. I chose La Vina for a special birthday, my 60th, because I had enjoyed going there before.

I was negative this time about the attitude of those serving me and my group of friends that night. In response to those who have said I should have complained in the restaurant, I would like to point out that on many occasions when I've been unhappy with service or food at restaurants I have complained on the spot. I'm not a shrinking violet when it comes to that. I am very good at pointing out poor food, mistakes in bills, inefficiency etc. I once sent back a meal twice because it wasn't cooked properly.(Not la Vina!.)

The difficulty on my birthday at La Vina was more about attitude perhaps and not inefficiency or poor food quality.

As they knew in advance that it was a big birthday, I would have thought one of the waitresses might have smiled and wished me happy birthday. How would I complain about that? They seemed more interested in chatting to each other rather than checking we were enjoying our food etc.

I doubt very much that talking to them on the spot would have changed anything to be honest.

If they had an attitude of not seeming to really care for their customers, what do you complain about? They wanted  to get the food and drink on the table and clear the dishes, that's ok, that's efficient, but not show any sign that they welcomed our custom. so what do you complain about? How could I have asked them to be a bit nicer, a bit more pleasant, a bit more caring? This was not about inefficiency but attitude really. You can't change attitude with a few words on the spot as Jessica Vos seems to indicate. 

I was disappointed as it was a special occasion. On my 50th, the restaurant I went to made some effort to make the table for me and friends a bit festive, and the service was friendly. Complaining about unfriendliness on the spot is hard to do. 

Re- use of social media to give reviews: this is the modern world. We cannot turn back the clock and uninvent social media or censor ourselves every time we write to delete negative impressions. Many of us use online reviews and weigh them up to see if we want to give a place a try. I'm sure people reading this will recognise that La Vina serves up good food but maybe their staff are unhappy for some reason at the present time? 

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Permalink Reply by KP on September 27, 2015 at 11:52

Ruth - I didn't complain on the spot either for the same reason. It was just a general attitude of not giving a stuff. If the food had been bad I would have said something. It was almost amusing the way we were being glared at to leave --- if it had been a special occasion like your's I wouldn't have been quite so amused. But I really hope this is just a temporary situation because if I continue to get this type of service I will go elsewhere. There are more places competing for our attention now so they need to raise their game!

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Permalink Reply by Ruth on September 27, 2015 at 13:42

Thanks KP, you understand how it was having had a similar experience there. I hope things change too otherwise they'll drive away customers and end up closing down. That would be a real shame. 

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Permalink Reply by KP on September 27, 2015 at 13:45

Definitely because it's quite a decent place to go with friends for a relaxed meal and the tapas is good. Would be a shame to lose it. But they can't afford to be this complacent

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Permalink Reply by Michelle M on September 27, 2015 at 17:01

We love La Vina, but we had the same experience last Saturday there. The regular waitress we really like, but a waitress we had never seen before looked grumpy throughout the meal. As we hadn't see her before we assumed she just covered during busy periods. It wouldn't put us off going again but I can imagine it would spoil a special evening.

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Permalink Reply by pechster on September 29, 2015 at 4:14

Having been a regular at La Vina for a couple of years I have to agree that something has gone wrong and I really hope they will listen. It was a few Saturdays ago when we booked and were looking forward to another great night out. Sadly when we got there we were told they didn't have our booking but begrudgingly gave us a table anyway. This I really don't understand as there was a table free so why make a big deal about something that is their mistake in the first place. Whether that had upset our waitress somehow I don't know but we proceeded to get some of the worst service we have had in a restaurant. In fact we struggled to get service at all, we actually like to take our time in a place but first of all we couldn't get them to take any kind of order for about half an hour and then couldn't get them to bring our wine. When the food did arrive we found half the dishes didn't seem to have been cooked properly like the chorizo al vino that clearly hadn't had enough time cooking and some soggy patatas bravas. We believed we knew the manager (as he usually seemed to know us on walking in the door) so asked to speak to him and although saw him walking around couldn't get him to come to talk to us. In the end we gave up trying to complain and went home very disappointed.

Rather than write a nasty review I found their email address on their website and wrote to them to complain and find out what had happened - I clearly explained I was not looking for any sort of freebee but just wanted my old and loved La Vina back. Unfortunately feedback is clearly not required as I haven't had a response. In the end this has led us to give up on La Vina and have been going back to La Bota in Crouch End if we want great Spanish food - they have had a refurb and switched front of house staff and I have to say we couldn't be happier but I am sad to see the decline of La Vina. If they can receive feedback they really need to take notice.

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