Zenon Taverna

Review: Zenon Taverna is a local Astoria Queens restaurant located at[redacted]. I have ordered food from their restaurant and decided to visit and dine in with my mother today.The food bill came to $81.75 and they do not accept credit cards. When I got home the take out menu had the same food for far less price. If I would have ordered the same meal to go I would have paid $58.80.Thats a 30% difference!I called and spoke with the manager, [redacted]. She explained that they charge more for their food to dine in for expenses like linen cleaning, electricity, overhead. But that is the cost of running a business and the prices are usually more for take out, maybe 10% or just the price for the containers of food. She let me know that they would charge for containers too. I take issue with a single item being $5.45 more- the lamb meatballs, $18.95 in house vs $13.50 take out.her reasoning is that they are experimenting with a new item on the menu and they don't know of customers will like it, she went on and on explaining portion sizes etc, but their take out food was more generous!My concern with this business is that they are ripping off customers with this sliding scale pricing and not letting the public know about this upfront. They should be fair and report the disparaging price difference. Below is a breakdown of my meal in house vs take out, item by item:Saganaki fried cheese 9.95 vs 7.75Tzatiki yogurt dip 6.95 vs 4.95Zenon pitta sandwich 9.95 vs 8.95Lamb meatballs 18.95 vs 13.50greek coffee (2) 7.90 vs 3.90white wine 7.95 N/Ared wine 7.95 N/ADessert cake 5.50 vs 3.75This price difference needs to be investigated especially for a business that does not offer the convieniance of paying by credit card. They surely are charging enough for the food and over head.The meal and gratuity comes to over $100.00 [redacted] was quick to say that they don't charge a service charge, but would they have servers if we stopped tipping??Desired Settlement: I want the Revdex.com to take a c lose look at these practices to see if this is just and fair. They should have the owners contact me personally with an explanation for my trouble. I am a resident in the astoria neighborhood and frequent all the restaurants in the area and I never have been made to feel like this. Other businesses are quick to offer a refund or something free for the sake of customer service but Zenon Taverna is looking to make money in cash only by misleading their clientelle.

Business

Response:

Our

family has owned Zenon Taverna since 1988; June 2013 marked our 25th

anniversary. Since its inception, we have prided ourselves on bringing

traditional Greek & Cypriot food to Astoria and the tri-state area through

our “dine in”, “take out,” Catering and Banquet room services. Several years

ago, we also created our website that states all of this information, including

the full pricing of all of our menus.

This complaint was brought to our attention August [redacted], 2013 when [redacted]

called our establishment after dining at our family’s restaurant. [redacted]

advised us that she was unaware of the price difference between our “dine in”

and “take out” menu and requested that we remedy the situation by giving her

something “free” or a “refund.”

Below, we seek to address the issues cited in [redacted]’s complaint.

1. In order to operate a successful business, there are specific and unique

overhead costs which must be taken into account and incorporated into the

pricing of an establishment’s menu.

When we created our “dine in” menu, we factored in the expenses incurred to

maintain the dining room and items used by our customers when dining in our

restaurant (i.e. dishes, linens, utensils, electricity, wait staff, staff and

supply costs associated with cleaning these items, etc.). Although it is not

necessary for us to make our “take out” menu prices cheaper, we do not believe

it to be fair for our “take out” customers to pay for services they are not

using in our dining room. Accordingly, we do not include these costs into the

“take out” menu because “take out” customers are using their own linens,

dishes, etc, when they are not dining at our establishment.

2. Furthermore, as we advised [redacted], some of the portion sizes may be

smaller when ordering “take out” due to the size of our serving containers

compared to our “dine in” dishes. For example, the “take out” size of the

saganaki that [redacted] listed in her complaint, is smaller than the “dine in”

size because the “take out” container is smaller than the “dine in” plate.

3. At our establishment, we pride ourselves on the quality of the products that

we serve. As an example, although many other restaurants serve the cheaper

quality lamb from New Zealand, we only serve the higher quality American Spring

Lamb. Unfortunately, these quality products carry higher prices which can

increase several times over one year. As [redacted] was informed, our “dine in”

menu prices were updated in 2012, and reflect the recent increase in costs but

our “take out” menu has not been updated since 2011. We are currently in the

process of making these updates to our “take out” menu.

For the reasons listed above, our “take out” menu prices are lower than our

“dine in” prices.

In conclusion, we do not and have never intended to “mislead” our clientele, as

[redacted] states in her complaint. All of our prices are clearly listed in each

of our menus and are easily accessible on our website, as well as in print. We

respect and appreciate all of our clientele and know that without their

support, we would not exist.

Desired Settlement:

In response to [redacted]’s “desired settlement” which she also mentioned during

her telephone complaint to our establishment, we do not believe it to be fair

to offer her a “refund” or “something free” in an effort to make this complaint

disappear. Doing this gives the impression that we are bribing our customers to

avoid bad reviews. In contrast, if a mistake was made by our establishment, we

would gladly attempt to remedy the situation by reaching a fair compromise with

the customer. In this situation, however, we clearly outline the prices in both

menus and therefore, we do not believe that [redacted]’s desired settlement is

appropriate.

We regret that [redacted] felt it necessary to make a complaint to the Revdex.com but

hope that our explanation and reasoning for the discrepancy between our “dine

in” and “take out” prices addresses her concerns. If [redacted] needs further

clarification, we will gladly contact her in order to further discuss this

explanation.

Thank you for your time and attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# [redacted], and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

[Your Answer Here]

I am convinced that the Papageorgiou family could learn something called hospitality. Any company looking to be successful in the market place and serves the public knows clearly the importance of customer satisfaction. The fact that a manager did not reach out to me personally clearly demonstrates this.

Let me also make clear that my phone call was simply an inquiry and NOT a "request for a refund or free food", and only when I was asked by the manager [redacted] what I would normally expect in a situation like this is when I replied with that answer. Most companies be it retail or culinary offer some discount, adjustment or refund as a courtesy. That is not an obligation but in the nature of conducting business with the public, it is a demonstration of doing good business and good business ethics to make the client happy.

Had they offered to refund my meal or merely the difference I paid would not have been act of "bribery for making a complaint" as they state in their response, however they would have demonstrated good business practices within the community they claim to have conducted business for 25 years.

Zenon Taverna admits to not having updated their take out menu and my bill to dine in their establishment was considerably greater than if I had ordered the meal for take out. I have spoken to a number of co workers and friends, none who have heard of prices being greater to dine in and irrespective of the restaurants claims for expenses, that discrepancy appeared no where on my menu when I visited.

Although I seek no free meal and no intention of entering their restaurant again, I would like full refund for my inconvenience for the amount of $81.75 for the full price of the meal that I paid for in cash. This amount doses not include the gratuity that I paid for the service.

In order for the Revdex.com to appropriately process your response, you MUST answer the question above.

Sincerely,

Business

Response: