davidgagne.net

The Daily Grill is one of my favorite restaurants in Los Angeles. It’s a bit pricey, but the portions are huge, the service is great, and the food is delicious. The night before I left for Ryan’s wedding, I visited the Studio City Daily Grill with my girlfriend and family.

It was the first night of their new “Summer Menu” and I bravely ordered the Chicken in a Bucket. I had eaten most of my mashed potatoes (a DG favorite), my cornbread, and my salad and was well into my third piece of fried chicken when I noticed something just wasn’t kosher. I was engaged in a fairly animated conversation and hadn’t been paying close attention to my food, but something tasted very strange. I inspected my chicken breast a bit more closely and realized it was raw!

I’m not talkin’ “a little undercooked”. I mean it was bloody! Gah! So of course we called the manager to our table and complained and such. I was quite scared that I would be knocked out with food poisoning the night before I was supposed to get on a plane to be the Best Man! The manager, Charlye Martin, was painfully apologetic and polite. He took my address and was honestly concerned; he made sure that I knew they were sorry and handled the situation very gracefully.

A few days ago I received a tremendously nice, personal letter from Charlye and the Daily Grill expressing their regret. He enclosed $35 worth of gift certificates, took full responsibility for the mistake, and in no way tried to make excuses. It was refreshing to see such a display of good customer service and I just wanted to make a note of it here.