Donovan's Steak & Chop House

To Whom It May Concern:

I dined at Donovan’s-Phoenix on Camelback on the evening of Wednesday, September 30th. The food was adequate, the service was fine, but I must make a note of your management.

I am unsure if you are aware, but when a vehicle arrives at Donovan’s, you are essentially forced to valet. As such, I did valet my Audi R8 assuming it would be safe. Unfortunately, while I was dining, my vehicle was hit by another vehicle while parked in your valet. Per the valet attendant, a second vehicle backed into my vehicle. While I understand that accidents happen, it is the subsequent events which I find incredulous.

First, for some reason, no member of your staff or management felt it necessary to notify me of the accident when it occurred. I find this especially odd given that the individual driving the vehicle that hit my car may have been drinking. I had heard various rationales behind this. One explanation the valet told me was that he spoke to the management, and they said not to interrupt my dinner. He told me it was Donovan’s policy to simply take the assailant’s information for reference. If this is indeed your policy, I strongly suggest you change it. If it is not your policy, I would strongly recommend education of your staff. The second explanation offered by your management was that they were under the impression that all parties had left the premises. Clearly, this means your management has no idea or concern for your patrons as they did not realize I was sitting in the building for at least an hour. In addition, I would hope that a member of the management would step outside to ensure everyone’s safety and well-being following an accident on your property. As you can imagine, neither of these explanations make any sense and illustrate a complete lack of logic in your staff and an embarrassment to the Donovan’s brand.

Second, in addition to being incompetent, the management staff was extremely rude. Per the valet, the entire incident was supposed to be recorded on your video cameras outside. I asked for a copy of the incident and for some reason the management could not load it. Instead, they said they needed IT to look into it. When I asked them to call IT immediately, they acted as though they were doing me a favor. One manager, [redacted], was fairly respectful and seemed to be somewhat understanding. But your general manager, [redacted], actually raised her voice with me and was extremely unprofessional. And instead of coming in the next morning to ensure this was taken care of, she said she would be in at 1 PM to look into it. She even had the audacity to say that this was not Donovan’s responsibility, and that I did not have to use the valet if I did not want to. After I did explain that did not make any sense, she said that Donovan’s had insurance for this and they would possibly take care of it. I do not know if she is new or if she has never dealt with such a situation, but I hope this is not the level of courtesy that you expect from your management. I am not in the restaurant business, but if a member of my staff acted in such a manner, he or she would be fired or at least demoted until he or she received additional training.

Regardless, she did say she would call me the next morning once she had heard from IT. Not surprisingly, she did not call. I called the restaurant around 2 PM and a woman named [redacted] answered. When I asked to speak to Ms. [redacted], she said that Ms. [redacted] would call me back. I will say that [redacted] was fairly pleasant on the phone, but again, why your general manager would not answer the phone call of a patron who had an accident in your parking lot continues to baffle me. I never received a call back and subsequently called the restaurant back at 6 PM. Ms. [redacted] did answer but was terse, had a uncooperative attitude, and offered no apology for her actions yesterday nor sympathy for the events that occurred on your property. Since then, I have received no additional information from Donovan’s or their staff.

Again, I do not work in the restaurant industry, but I assume it can be very strenuous to be the general manager of a steakhouse. That being said, there is a level of responsibility and courtesy that must be maintained regardless of whether you work at a fast food restaurant or a Michelin star restaurant that was nowhere close to being achieved here. I obviously will not be returning to Donovan’s except for any necessary insurance or legal matters, but I hope that some change will come to your business to prevent situations like mine from recurring.

Sincerely,

Anil K. [redacted]