Recent experience at Boma (5/22)

[bunnyfoo]

I ate at Boma last Thursday and just wanted to share my experience with everyone. The food and service were good (as usual). We were a little disappointed that they didn't have any ribs but that was okay. Actually, another table near us asked about the ribs and the chef came out and brought them a huge plate of ribs. I would have asked too, but we were already eating dessert Okay, this is the part of the meal that I was not happy about.

Apparently, Boma had just installed a new computer system. Our waiter was very apologetic and seemed to be very frazzled by the situation. He explained that he was unable to pull up our bill or bills for any of his other tables. We asked if we could leave a room # and have it charged, but he said that he couldn't. It took 45 minutes from the time we asked our waiter for the bill and until time we actually paid and left. I didn't realize how bad the situation was until one woman, who was just being seated as we left, complained about having to wait for a table for 2 hours! She was angry about the long wait since there were so many empty tables. After we paid, we decided to mention the situation to the hotel manager. She reimbursed us the cost of the meal after a long discussion. When I mentioned that some guests were having to wait two hours to get in, she said that there was nothing they could do since the computer system would be up for 5-10 minutes and then go back down.

Our table, along with several others had asked to speak with the manager of Boma but she was no where to be found. What ended up happening was, many of the diners ended up taking out their frustrations on the wait staff which I thought was unfair. I probably will go back to Boma for dinner on my next trip since I love the food but I was just puzzled by the behaviour of the
manager there. Thanks for letting me share

 

[Eeyore2U]

Maybe she was working on the situation?

 

[bunnyfoo]

She probably was ... but I was rather hoping that she would come out and talk to all the tables that had asked for the manager. Or she could have done up the checks manually and let the people who wanted to go, go. A lot of people were angry at the hosts and wait staff and I didn't think it was right for them to deal with the situation by themselves. Oh well, at least it didn't happen over the Memorial Day weekend.

 

[Muffy]

Sounds like a tech problem. Hope they got it worked out as I am sure it was very inconvenient!

 

[Fantasia Sam]

Wow 45 minutes

We had to wait 15 at Spoodles because our servers till had gone down and I was all but ready to walk on out of there not through anger but we had to pack up all of our stuff and check out of the hotel as we were on a tight schedule. In the end she asked us if we could pay cash - if we hadn't been in a rush we may have insisted that it be charged and seeing what happened. The Manager did come over and apologise.

I'm glad that you got your money back. It does seem that Bomas have got a bit of a problem with the system at the moment. I saw someone else on these boards had to wait over an hour for a table and they were on a PS !! Glad to hear you'd go back fo the food and your right it's so easy for people to take it out on the

 

[DancingBear]

That's ridiculous. They need to have a way to handle things manually when the computers go down. I never would have waited that long to get the check.

And at some point they should have given up on the computer for PSs and just started keeping a list. They could ask people what their PS time was and just accept what they said without checking, or perhaps check by phone with CRO or something similar.

 

[DVC-Don]

I saw someone else on these boards had to wait over an hour for a table and they were on a PS !!

That happened us also at Boma's a little over a year ago. I was on my way back to the hostess to turn in our pager and then going to leave and it went off.

 

[caitycaity]

I saw someone else on these boards had to wait over an hour for a table and they were on a PS !!

yup - that happened to us in december as well.

 

[phanomouse]

this is a little off the topic but similar. We were there last tuesday and I was standing in line (the line was long going back towards the stairs) and this family gets off the elevators and walk up to the hostess desk as if there was no line. I was next in line and when the hostess said next I stepped forward. One of the guys in this party makes some comment outloud about who I thought I was butting in line like that. My wife says ummm the end of the line is back there (motioning behind us) after I was done we went and sat to wait with the rest of our party. We had priority seating and I thought we would get in quickly b/c not a lot of people checking in did have PS. So any way this guy sits with his back to us and makes another loud comment about how he wouldn't have to have waited so long if people weren't butting in line. Well we get seated about 40 minutes later and as luck would have it, about half way through our dinner their party gets seated next to ours. I did my best to ignore his comments all throughout dinner, I couldn't believe he was making such a big deal out of it. Then when we left he gets up and say "Hey!!! Hey jerk I am talking to you!" I just kept walking we exited to doors to head toward the pool and he follows me and pushes me. Now he is pretty gutsy b/c he was rather small and I am not a small guy and neither were the other 5 gentlemen with me. When I turned to ask him what his problem was, Two life guards came running over and told the guy not to be stupid, he got upset and told them he would never come back to Boma to eat again and he went to get his family to leave! It was a very strange situation, any way just wanted to share that story lol

 

[gepetto]

Originally posted by bunnyfoo
We asked if we could leave a room # and have it charged, but he said that he couldn't. It took 45 minutes from the time we asked our waiter for the bill and until time we actually paid and left.

If they couldn't figure your bill manually, the manager should have come through and comped your dinners to start with rather than making you sit there that long.

 

[LAWalz23]

Phanomouse, I guess even at WDW there are jerks! It is sad though that you had to endure somebody else's abuse because he really sounds like a big jerk (and that is being nice).

 

[KaterBell]

Originally posted by phanomouse
this is a little off the topic but similar. We were there last tuesday and I was standing in line (the line was long going back towards the stairs) and this family gets off the elevators and walk up to the hostess desk as if there was no line. I was next in line and when the hostess said next I stepped forward. One of the guys in this party makes some comment outloud about who I thought I was butting in line like that. My wife says ummm the end of the line is back there (motioning behind us) after I was done we went and sat to wait with the rest of our party. We had priority seating and I thought we would get in quickly b/c not a lot of people checking in did have PS. So any way this guy sits with his back to us and makes another loud comment about how he wouldn't have to have waited so long if people weren't butting in line. Well we get seated about 40 minutes later and as luck would have it, about half way through our dinner their party gets seated next to ours. I did my best to ignore his comments all throughout dinner, I couldn't believe he was making such a big deal out of it. Then when we left he gets up and say "Hey!!! Hey jerk I am talking to you!" I just kept walking we exited to doors to head toward the pool and he follows me and pushes me. Now he is pretty gutsy b/c he was rather small and I am not a small guy and neither were the other 5 gentlemen with me. When I turned to ask him what his problem was, Two life guards came running over and told the guy not to be stupid, he got upset and told them he would never come back to Boma to eat again and he went to get his family to leave! It was a very strange situation, any way just wanted to share that story lol

He probably felt like he had to yell at you and make a big deal to make up for his "other" shortcomings.... like in his pants.

I bet he drives a sportscar too.

 

[JudithM]

We ate dinner at Boma's last Monday evening, May 26 & everything went smoothly. We had PS that I made earlier in the day. We waited maybe 5-10 minutes. My sister & 6-year old niece were with us, & it was their first visit to Boma's. They were quite impressed. The waiter, Ali, was very good with my niece. He got down to her level & to talk to her, get her drink order, etc. He even brought her ketchup before he knew what she had selected to eat on her first round - he was right! She had french fries on her plate . My only disappointment was they do not serve the carrot ginger soup on Sundays & mondays. It is one of my favorite items at Boma's - oh well, next time !

 

[bunnyfoo]

Originally posted by gepetto
If they couldn't figure your bill manually, the manager should have come through and comped your dinners to start with rather than making you sit there that long.

I thought so too After I realized that she wasn't going to come by, I just wanted to leave. It was kind of hard to sit still after having eating so much food