Pistachio Bar & Grille

08/25/08

WORST CUST SVC/MGR IS VERY RUDE AND INCONSIDERATE/PREJUDICE AT THAT!!!

by sari46 at Citysearch

THE WORST EXPERIENCE EVER!!! Not only do they have POOR Service/ The manager is prejudice, inconsiderate, selfish!! I invited my daughter and a few friends for dinner there. I set the 7pm reservations.

When we arrived, I noticed that the restaurant was NOT even FULL for us to wait; so we decided to sit at the bar and have a few drinks. WE waited a good 1/2 hour, but yet we noticed that other people were getting seated before us. SHE didn't even tell us the table was ready, my daughter had to go up there and the girl/hostess was having fun on her phone/texting and not paying attention to the customer. So we finally got seated. The waitress, it took her a good 5-8 mins to come to our table and see what we wanted to drink.

After she brought us the drinks, she took our order and WE WAITING A FULL hour to get our main mea.

Technically some restaurant have our food in 15-20 mins tops, but since we had prior engagement at another location, we decided to CANCEL our order. What was that for? The manager came to our table asking "What is the problem" and as we were explaining it to him, we told him we had a party to go to and there is not reason to have us waiting for a FULL hour for dinner. You what he said, he said "DON'T COME BACK HERE ANYMORE". We were shock. Instead of saying, "We apologize for the delay OR maybe even knock off 10or 20 percent of the check, he threw us out, because we cancelled our meals. What a b......d!!

We were furious. I have a good mind to call my lawyer. I would not recomment this restaurnat to anymore. You go out to a restaurant to have a good meal and good service. Not be humiliated.

I will NEVER go to that restaurant AGAIN!! He willl end of losing that restaurant in the long run!!

10/20/09

Desserts to Die for!

by wak at Citysearch

From the Key Lime pie to the Chocolate cake, the portions are huge! Enough to share with another person or to eat some there and take the rest home. I have been here a handful of times just to eat dessert and I end up getting something different each time because each option is better than the next!

• Pros: Large Portions!
• Cons: A little cold inside.

10/02/09

Happy Hour

by adam m at Citysearch

I went back to Pistachios recently and found a new watering hole. This place now has not only a happy hour everyday of the week but it now has something i have never heard of. A reverse happy hour on friday and saturday nights from 10pm till midnight. Me and my friends thought we were going out for a drink and decided to make a night out of it. These happy hours could be one of the best kept secrets in the valley.

• Pros: Open space and atmosphere
• Cons: Acoustics

07/24/09

We tried again but...

by HVitae at Citysearch

Let's just say the food is good. Nice. Ok. Husband and I ordered a few Thai entrees. Drinks were nice. . BUT...

As we waited, some tables were offered artisan bread with olive oil dipping, others (read: "ours") was not. We had our drinks, our entrees. Waitress came to ask how everything was. I asked of her, "How do you, as a server, decide which tables GET bread and which do not?" (An issue my husband and I had a few times before!) She looked a bit nervous and responded, "Oh you just have to ask for some bread. Do you want some???" To which I responded, "No, we are done with our meal now!" She next said, "Sooo many people are on low carb diets and such!" I responded, "Huh!"

Not a good practice to treat different tables differently. It sets up a very bad dynamic. Our food was good, yet given the service issues, over-priced. If everything was even, table to table, we'd have left relatively happy customers.

PISTACHIO, get your act together! This is not the first time, as Allentown residents, we've felt this crazy, indiscriminate treatment. Offer ALL TABLES bread. Treat all customers exactly the same.

You're business will prosper because of it.

• Pros: Food is pretty good!
• Cons: Service is not consistent table to table

04/03/09

Terrific Cuisine

by picassp at Citysearch

I had a great experience at Pistachio's last weekend. Took my family to celebrate our Mom's 75th birthday. Guests ranged in age from 22-75 and with the diverse selection of appetizers and entrees, everyone found something that they loved.

The appetizers were delicious and Ienjoyedd the seared scallops with smoked salmon ravioli in dill sauce. Plating was beautiful - everyone was happy.

Our server, Jessica, was attentive without being intrusive. It seemed as if our glasses were immediately refilled as we took our last sip of drinks.

Will definitely be back!

• Pros: Attentive Server - Jessica, Delicious Food.

08/12/08

TERRIBLE FOOD AND BAD ATTITUDE FROM THE MANAGER!

by randjmom at Citysearch

I was in Center Valley for a team meeting (about 25 of us) and we went to dinner at Pistachio. Interestingly, the focus of our meeting was customer service and we observed the best example of POOR customer service during our dinner. Our table had 4 servers (which was great), but the food came out in such a haphazard random way that no one could enjoy their meal. There was at least 30 minutes between the time that the first person received their meal and the last two people. Then the last two people were yelled at and bullied by the manager. When they did receive their food (which was supposed to be the same dish that the 1st person served received-I have to ask why not prepare them at the same time), it was the wrong order. One of them was supposed to have lobster in their pasta. When it wasn't there, the manager gave huge attitude and basically threw a side play of lobster on the tabel for him to add to his own meal. The meals were terrible. Personally, I had two or three bites and couldn't get the lysol taste of my meal out of my mouth. For our trouble, the servers offered the last 2 people a free drink (not free meals, just drinks). Additionally, the manager was yelling so loudly at the servers that we could hear him from our table which totally ruined our meals. He came over several times to tell us basically that it was our fault that the food came out so late since we were a large group. But 1. what take the reservation if you can't handle that size party and 2. technially, we were four smaller parties, since we had 4 servers with about 6 people each. What was most infuriating was that after all was said and done, we paid about $2000 for this meal that left us all feelig extremely frustrated and hungry.

Again, if you are looking for "training" on how NOT to make your customers happy, then this is your place. If not, stay away. There are other restaurants in the area that have better food, better managers...well, better everything.

• Pros: none
• Cons: Bad food, rude manager

07/27/08

Poor customer service and long wait times for meals...

by PFL at Citysearch

Our lunch party of 10 visited for a business lunch and unfortunately we

were all quite disappointed not only with our meals but the overall

restaurant's experience.

First issue, even though the restaurant was practically empty, our business luncheon took a very long time to be prepared and served,(over 30 minutes!). While other tables around us were offered different varieties of freshly baked multi grain breads and rolls , our larger table , on the

other hand, was only given a few tiny ,(and rock hard), crustini croutons with a tad of hummus, one of which almost damaged my colleague's dental work.

The overall quality of the meals were also lacking given the highly priced

selections offered. We also felt the menu lacked a reasonable amount of

more appropriate lunch type portion selections.Actually there was NO LUNCH MENU.

Finally either a waiter or "manager" was yelling loudly at one of the cooks about an order. Highly unprofessional conduct given it happened on the restaurant floor, and not to mention, right next to our table. It was extremely embarrassing to all of us.

I have been to Pistachio's many times in the past and have never had this

sort of unexcusablly poor experience for any meal before in the past. So

you can imagine my complete and utter disappointment and embarrassment

as I had actually highly recommended this restaurant to all my business

associates. My huge mistake.

• Pros: Large menu selections
• Cons: Service, long wait for meals, overpriced and ala carte everything

06/17/08

Where to start.....Part II

by Courtney13 at Citysearch

We sit and wait for a 'while' at least 10 minutes as wait staff whiz by. We had already eaten, so we werent in a hurry to order and chatted happily. We both made eye-contact with servers and the owners. My companions family owned restaurants in Manhattan, so he is versed in handling this situation politely and compassionately. With the guest to server ratio, there is no way they could be that busy and most poeple were finishing their meals. It became apparent that the owner, The SYD, had been telling them to not wait on us. After 25 minutes past, I yanked up out of the booth and headed for the door. The hostesses were engaged in gossip and texting and didnt even notice us. The owner, on the other hand, walked briskly over to the door and gave us a huge "GOOD NIGHT! HOPE YOU ENJOYED IT" . He had a grotesque smile on his face like he won this battle of wills. He won, He won? He lost two customers at least, wait until i start telling everyone I know. I found out from a former employee that Mr SYD really has no self-confidence and loves to hang on the big name of others. huh. Makes sense for his 'lacking' personality and tremendous people skills, doesnt it? And I said earlier, if he had any clue who me and mystery boy are....he'd be you-know-whating-himself right now. But let me say: NOBODY deserves his treatment: from famous person to homless person.....staff or customer. This guy is an idiot. Please spend your money somewhere else. Most of the staff is superb and Im sure you will see them waiting table at another fine (finer) establishment shortly. The food is close to what a good cook could make at home for 1/20th the cost without the attitude or childish behavior. Do yourself a favor and explore some of the lesser known haunts of the area, ask friends about established places that they go for fun or just good food.... this place is an over-rated hang-out for pretentious people that need to feel important by throwing money away.

• Pros: Parking, Wait staff
• Cons: The SYD, noise, big-time attitudes in a Pennsyltucky area

06/17/08

Where to start..............

by Courtney1317 at Citysearch

Believe what you read on here. i was personally touched by the "prince" on Friday night. Call him Syd, Sid, Psycho, Satan, Creep, Mentally Ill, whatever you want........he will always have a place in my heart. For in this down-turned economy, he let me know how much my business doesnt matter to him and saved me from spending money at his establishment. Thank you, sir,keep going this way...you'll end up alone and penniless.

After dinner on Friday night, my par amour and I wanted a night-cap and he suggested Pistachio's. I happily jumped at the chance. Something I regret now and consider sending a bill for my wasted time.

Now let me mention that this boy is a very rich and famous man from DC. Well dressed, great manners and used to getting treated like a human. I mention this not because my boy and I are 'better' than any other patron but the fact that we were treated so badly and Mr. Syd is quite the name-dropper/fame-whore type.....I found it ironic how we were treated.

in short: we arrive for drinks, but the bell in the meat market bar area had rung and the dogs were salivating, loud and taking up all of the seat. I asked the 'hostess' if we could have a table (the place was mostly empty). They said NO. This was not their policy. If we wanted to drink we had to do it in the bar. The well-heeled man on my arm offered to buy desserts, tho we didnt want any, just so that we could have a table. The hostess was beside herself at this point and went back to check with the "prince". After a few minutes she came back and gave us massive attitude as she walked us back to a booth and threw 2 menus on the table. At this time, she said that we had to order two drinks. The man I was with does not drink, living off of Diet Coke, but offered to buy me at least two drinks, if not a whole bottle of anything I wanted. Again this was greeted with attitude and indifference...at the same time.

• Pros: The Staff, parking, location
• Cons: The SYD, noise, big-time attitudes in a Pennsyltucky area

04/24/08

The Owner....

by lala11 at Citysearch

Alright, i worked at Pistacho for a while and i agree with what everyone else has to say. Sid is psycho and really is a horrible person. His wife Lynn is just as bad shes nice to your face and then goes and tells Sid if youre not doing what he asks you to. The one day he yelled at the hostess for not asking everyone who walked through the door for their email address. He said to one of the other servers "if she didnt ask one more person that "she was out of there"...sorry but people dont want to be annoyed like that. Although all the servers, hostesses, and managers are cool it the atmosphere is completely ruined by the owner and his wife. If they would sell the restaurant it would be a much better place. Oh and for that comment about the "sleezy manager" who was doing shots, those were his friends and he was not hitting on them. so all in all id say dont go here unless you want to pay an overpriced amount for food and hear the owner yell at his employees over nothing when without them he would make NO money due to the fact that he is not an appealing person.

• Pros: food, servers
• Cons: price, SID, LYNN