Originally posted by The Travelin Man quote:Originally posted by Baah Ben
So, what do you do when that happens.............You're paying $14 plus for the pastrami sandwich and you see that it is not the big wide slices you get when they just put a new one on the slicer. Do you ask for another one? Tough call...Can you imagine calling oveer one of those old timers (waiters) and telling him why you don't want the sandwich......Oh boy!
I don't know what I would do at Carnegie - never has happened. And, I don't know what I would do if it was pastrami - as I am more of a corned beef guy, but this happened to me on my last visit to Katz's....
Arrived on a Sunday night - drove in straight from Newark airport. The place was busy, but not overwhelmingly so. I waited in one of the cutter's lines and almost immediately realized that I wasn't in the "right" line, as my guy seemed to be taking quite some time - a little chatty maybe. But, I am in no particular rush. Besides, I recognized some of the other guys, and knew better than to switch to theirs. Scary when you start to know the staff of a restaurant you live 1200 miles from.
I finally make it to the front and order a corned beef. The guy has one out already and slices off two skimpy slices for the "taste." That should have been my first clue. It was way too fatty. The fat should compliment the taste of the meat - not overpower it. I admit to being a little distracted by what was going on - engaging in conversation with my friend who I hadn't seen in awhile, etc. When he put the sandwich in front of me, I questioned the guy and said that it looked pretty fatty. He told me it was fine - the top pieces just looked fatty - and it adds flavor. OK...maybe I missed some of the good stuff going inside.
I get to the table and I took one bite and almost spit the thing out. It was nauseating. All I could taste was fat. I took the sandwich and brought it back up to the guy - told him, politely, that the sandwich was unacceptable and that I would prefer another one. Well, now the people in the line behind me start to give me a hard time. One Kramer-esque character starts yelling at me to get to the back of the line - the cutter tells me not to worry - he'll fix it. Finally, when I had enough of "Kramer" yelling at me (and, basically, calling me an uneducated tourist), I turned to him and recalling all the NY attitude I could muster said - "Look pal, I know what a sandwich from here should taste like - been coming here 20+ years. This sandwich was awful, and I already waited in the line 20 minutes to get that bad one." I turned right back to the cutter and loudly said - "this is the kind of sandwich you serve to a guy who doesn't tip you - *I* tipped you!"
The sandwich I got was perfect. The meat was juicy and flavorful - and there was enough fat to keep the concept intact. About ten minutes into eating, the cutter comes by my table to ask how everything was and apologize. I told him that everything was fine - and he need not apologize - things happen. He sits down at one of the other chairs and says "you're not going to believe this - but, sometimes we do serve those kinds of sandwiches to the guys who don't tip." I said "I know." He says "yeah, but get this, the guy who was giving you trouble...he stiffed me!" I told him that he seemed just like that - which is why I made the comment that I did.
On my way out, I dropped another $5 into the tip jar (I was on business travel anyway!) and thanked him for the new sandwich.
It is service like that - that keeps me going back to Katz's.
