Archive for edinburgh:

Monteiths Bar in Edinburgh

If you are ever thinking of visiting Monteiths Bar for a drink or meal, please read this first!!!

Christy and I like to go out for a meal once every week if we can, and sometimes we’ll get together with friends and do something special.

Last week, Thursday July 2nd, Rob invited me out with his girlfriend Amy, and we went along with Stephen and Catherine too. Stephen also brought his cousin, who was over from South Africa. Christy’s birthday was the day before so it was nice to get out with friends and have a few drinks.

Rob had booked Monteiths Bar on the Royal Mile, so I did a quick Google check and unfortunately read some not-so-good reviews. Rob had been there before and assured me it was a nice place, so we ignored the reviews and went ahead.

Upon arrival, the waitress – who turned out to be the manageress – forgot Stephen’s drink, then turned up with three cocktails instead of two. Easy mistake, so we let it slip, despite waiting a further 10 minutes for his drink.

When it came to ordering food, the menu had only a handful of dishes on it, and a few were not available, making our choices very limited indeed. However, we let that slip too, and I ordered a pastry covered meat dish…which the waitress advised would take 35 minutes to cook as I wanted it well done! 35 minutes to cook a mains is a joke, especially in a professional kitchen!

I can’t remember what Rob ordered, and that’s because his meal was never cooked. You see, the waitress forgot to order Rob’s food, thus we all ate whilst he watched. He was told about 3 times his meal would be “5 minutes” and after about half an hour, he cancelled his order. Seemingly the food was “being dished up” by that point.

Whilst he was waiting, Rob ordered a cocktail, which the waitress – remember also the manageress – didn’t know how to make. She asked one of her staff “do you know how to make this drink”. Who allows someone to manage a cocktail bar not knowing how to make the cocktails on the menu? Rob’s drink didn’t turn up until he reminded the waitress about it.

Upon fishing our food, Rob asked to speak to the manager, which we found out was the waitress who had been serving us. She apologised without much sympathy and didn’t really do much to retain us as future customers. She removed Rob’s cocktails from the bill and discounted 10% from it, however it felt like she couldn’t wait to have us leave because of the embarrassment.

I left my business card as the bar had no contact information for the owners. I requested one of them contact me and I was assured this would happen. 7 days later I am still waiting on that call.

One mistake you can live with, two is simply careless and three or more is a joke, especially in a place that charges £25 for a main meal and £7 per cocktail. As a result of their gross negligence, general attitude, crap service and failing to call me, Rob setup Monteiths Bar Sucks to ensure others know what to expect.

We’re not out on a mission to sabotage the business, but after the service we received we wanted to let the World know how rubbish Monteiths Bar in Edinburgh was.

If the owners ever read this, I hope it has served as some useful information on how your business is being run.

Khalid.

Festive Drinks

Last week I had the pleasure of attending another domainer/net entrepreneur meet-up at a nice bar called Cargo here in my home town of Edinburgh. This event was created by Fraser, another dot com entrepreneur involved in affiliate marketing.

The spread was lovely, the people were very nice and all-in-all I had a nice evening. I got a chance to speak to a few other local folk and it is amazing to see how many different little entrepreneurs there are in the capital. Everyone from web designers, to domains, to affiliate marketers and copywriters were there and it was a great chance to network.

I enjoy picking the brains of others that are like mentors to me as I’m still new at this game. I also enjoy hearing some hilarious domain stories and just how people make their money. I ordered some cool Moo.com mini-cards for the next one so I can pass around my business card this time.

If you ever get the chance to attend these meetings I would encourage you to attend. A few hours of your time can result in a fast track education and some great networking opportunities.

Good luck with your persuits,

Khalid.

Edinburgh Meet Up

Calling all domainers and internet entrepreneurs! Rob has posted about a proposed meet on 8th November, so if you are interested in coming along post on this thread to informed of any updates and allow Rob to get in touch with you.

I will be attending, as will Scott and Al of Self Made Minds.

Look forward to meeting anyone else who joins us!

Good luck with your persuits,

Khalid.