Bill's Bar and Burger, NYC

*UPDATE March 2012*

Chef Pedro made lunch

I have dined multiple times now at the midtown outpost of Bill's Bar and Burger and every single time, minus twice when the chef personally handled my order because of a mistake already made, my lunch order has come out wrong. I don't know what is going with Bill's. They have the same excellent protocol across the BR Guest Hospitality restaurant group, and I dine at Dos Caminos regularly for work meetings without issue. 

But because of these consistent errors, over multiple visits, over multiple months, with different chefs and different management in place, I have no choice but to take Bill's Bar and Burger off my recommended list for the time being.


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My re-done lunch on my fourth visit


Part of the BR Guest group of restaurants, Bill’s Burger opened last year in the heart of midtown by Rockefeller plaza. (Disclosure: Worry-Free Dinners' partner Dos Caminos is also in the BR Guest group of restaurants but I had no prior relationship with the staff, managers or chefs of Bill’s Burger.) This is a perfect spot for a burger joint for me as I often have meetings midtown and unless it’s super upscale or a chain like Chipotle there hasn’t been anything with a mid-range price in this part of town for a work lunch. So, yay.

However, Bill’s Burger is still having some growing pains for food allergy orders. I have been to Bill’s Burger four times now, and three out of four, I had issues with my order. Nothing life threatening but, for example, the first time, our server didn't know what food allergies were (he must have missed training day) and my food arrived without the famous food allergy sticker.

This shouldn’t have happened, not with the strict BRGuest food allergy protocols that I know are in place, company-wide.

And I have my own protocols, as you know. When I dine out, I have a food allergy script that I use with all servers and I don’t deviate. It contains the same pertinent information in a concise, assertive and polite manner. However, here the information was misunderstood, misconstrued or just not delivered to the correct parties in the Bill’s Burger kitchen.

Will I go back? Yes. I trust the system BR Guest Hospitality employs. However, the next time I go in, I will interact directly with the manager on duty and bypass all servers until they are all up to speed.

Keep working on it Bill’s Burger and you’ll keep my business.

Bill’s Bar & Burger Rockefeller Center
16 West 51st Street at 5th Avenue
New York, NY 10019
T: 212.705.8510

Comments

Poker Chick said…
Haven't been to Bill's yet but Dos Caminos is AMAZING with food allergies for anyone reading. Perhaps you're right and they just haven't gotten everyone up to their training standards yet. Love the FA sticker.

The best part about Dos Caminos is you don't just feel like they're tolerating your allergies, you really feel like they want you there as a customer and are happy to do it. That makes a big difference in our experience.

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