B.L.D. Poaching Hatfield’s Customers?
Saturday, January 19, 2008 21:39A few months ago, B.L.D. was having poaching problems of a different kind.
The Finicky Lawyer recounts his experience of arriving late for his reservation at Hatfield’s, only to wander into B.L.D. next door. Seems like an honest mistake, we were a bit turned around ourselves when we went to Hatfield’s. Both spots could use better signage.
The plot thickens though, when F.L. finishes his meal, realizes he is at the wrong spot and goes next door to Hatfield’s:
I sheepishly walked into Hatfield’s afterward to apologize for inadvertently skipping out on my reservation. The person at Hatfield’s was livid. Apparently, I was not the first victim of this scam, and BLD had “stolen” customers from Hatfield’s before. It was then that I learned that BLD does not even take reservations.
Hatfield’s was one of my favorite meals last year. I would definitely be disappointed if I ended up in the wrong spot! I have a hard time accepting that B.L.D. would willfully deceive customers, but it does seem that both the Finicky Lawyer and the folks at B.L.D. share some responsibility here.
Has anyone else heard of this happening?
By Jonah (see more of his posts). Jonah is the founder of la.foodblogging and also created Digesty, a food blog aggregator and Cheww.com, a spam free foodblog search engine.
KT says:
January 20th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
I think it’s a bit of an overstatement to call it a “scam” and engage in histrionics over it. Honestly, it’s not like people from BLD is coming over and dragging customers away from Hatfield’s. They are just seating customers who accidentally wander in. I am also not convinced that the people from BLD are cackling wickedly as they knowingly seat customers that they are aware should be at another restaurant.
And honestly, I have to say that iI have a hard time understandig how one gets through an entire meal without realizing what restaurant they’re in. Even if someone accidentally walked into BLD and was seated, they should figure out they’re not in the right place when they get the menu and politely excuse themselves.
However, if it really is such a problem for Hatfield’s, I would say the remedy is to make their existence a little more prominent. I had no problem finding the correct place, and distinguishing between the two restaurants, but it’s true that the entrance to Hatfield’s is pretty understated. Rather than complaining about another restaurant seating and serving people who accidentally wander in, they should address the problem by making sure that people don’t accidentally wander next door. Do something about the situation rather than whining that others aren’t playing fair.
Honestly, I love both restaurants and I don’t want to think ill of either of them, so I am hoping that this is just an exaggeration for the sake of drama and not an accurate account of the situation.
Jonah says:
January 20th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
I would agree that if Hatfield’s is having an ongoing problem, it may they should be proactive about guiding their customers to their door. Sharing the same valet is a bit confusing, but probably unavoidable in that area.
As I said in the post, I was guilty of being a bit confused when we left our car with the valet. I would hope that I would have figured out where I was when I sat down though.
Also, to give the Finicky Lawyer a small amount of leeway, he is from out of town, arrived on a late flight and drove straight from LAX to eat. He was familiar with the Hatfiled’s cooking, though, I’m a bit surprised he didn’t realize that he was in the wrong spot.
KT says:
January 21st, 2008 at 12:05 am
Yeah, I guess I am just reluctant about this story because it’s pretty inflammatory, using words like “scam,” etc. The poster is implying motives in the BLD staff on the one hand, and reactions in the Hatfield’s staff on the other that are not too flattering to either one of them in my perception. But it’s all subjective insinuation, and could just as easily be misperception as fact. I’m cautious to take stuff like that on hearsay. I would rather wait until I read something with Karen or Quinn Hatfield saying that they feel BLD is purposely stealing customers to get outraged about this.
Also, BLD and Hatfield’s are two very different restaurants. I also would be very disappointed if I had missed out on the experience I was expecting because of a mistake like that. But I wonder how much those feelings of disappointment affected his perceptions of the evening.
Regardless of whether this is the literal truth or not, I don’t believe that the Frasers are the kind of people that would desire that kind of behavior on the part of their staff. By all accounts, they handled the salmonella incident in an exemplary manner, and so perhaps if they were made aware of the concerns they would instruct their staff as necessary to avoid this kind of incident in the future.
MaxMillion says:
January 22nd, 2008 at 11:43 pm
I don’t think this story is a beat up at all — everything about Finicky Lawyer’s post rang true as a fair representation of events. KT, I don’t agree with your term “histrionics” in this case — it read like a pretty level-headed account to me — but I do concur with everything else you wrote in your comments.
And yeah, it’s true the menus at these two places are vastly different. Poor guy probably had jet lag (haha!)
It’s patently obvious that the staff have been instructed to roll with the walk-ins. As soon as someone arrives mentioning they called from the airport etc it’s pretty obvious they were in the wrong place. So you do the classy, honorable and *ethically correct thing* and say, “Oh, I don’t remember taking that call. We don’t take reservations — are you sure you’re at the right place?”
When the person asks for the chefs *by name* [see above]
Not a scam, per se, but definitely duplicitous.
Shame on BLD!
I’ve eaten there once on a slow weekday morning - party of four - and the service and food was less than stellar.
I really want to try Hatfield’s one day soon.
PF says:
January 24th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
I wholehardily agree with KT. They typically have a front page on most menu’s I’ve viewed with the name of the restaurant prominently displayed. 1st clue!!
He ran from the airport straight to the restaurant. So he’s heard something about it. Look for the items that were recommended and won’t find any of them. 2nd clue!!
I have great difficultly believing any of this post.