Carnegie's - Food & Service

I went to Carnegie’s on Saturday (10/4) for brunch. The food there was excellent, the service, not so much. I got in around 11:30am after my round of errands. I sat where they told me, and waited 10 minutes and no one even came to me. I finally got up and asked them for menu and service. I then ordered and waited for my food, which came within 10 minutes. The omelet was great, although I personally prefer it not cooked as “well done”, but that is a personal preference. They have a brunch meal thing where you can order 3 things for a omelet plus bread, orange juice, and tea/coffee. The omelet meal was $260NT if I remember correctly. Anyway, after I finished eating about 30 minutes later, someone took my plate away but never asked me how the food was and if i need additional service. I sat for awhile and finally someone noticed me and asked me if I want more tea. By the way, I have been out of tea even before they took my plate away. I said yes, more tea. It took another 10 minutes before they got the tea to me. I could understand the staff being busy if the place was packed, but it wasn’t, only about 1/2 of the seats were taken. When I stood up to leave, they immediately noticed me and asked me to pay. I don’t want to be rude, but it would have been nice if they had noticed me when I was trying to get a menu and more tea. I would recommend this place if you are not in a hurry as the food is good. But if you need to be in and out less than 30 minutes, you might want to consider another place with faster service.

Firstly I’d like to apologize for the slip up…I have made enquiries as to what could have happened and I can promise you it will not happen again.
The one thing we at Carnegie’s are very strict about is “Good Service”. So you can imagine my pissed off face as I write this…

I think a lot of people were focusing on getting ready for our 7th Anniversary party that night but this in no way is an excuse!

Come in again and test the waters for quick & friendly service & I’m sure you’ll see what a difference a good talking to has made to the staff.

Cheers
Skelly

I’d just like to post here to say that IrishMrs and myself went to Carnegies on Friday (10th) night for a certain lady’s birthday (no, not my wife’s), and I found the service to be top notch - fast, friendly and no errors.
So please pass on my thanks, Skelly.

Babyoscar, for some reason I’ve always found I’ve had worse service when restaurants (in general) are not so busy.

Right, I should get my thanks in here, too! (The certain lady was my wife) Everybody was fantastic in helping me plan the party, taking delivery of the flowers, the cake, and keeping such a large group of people fed and libated in a timely fashion. A big thanks to Rebecca and Olivia for their hard work, and to Jonathan for the bottle of champagne! Vanessa was very happy and very surprised! :rainbow: :notworthy:

Yeah, I was in there with some visiting attorneys on Thursday night, and I had no problems whatsoever getting fuckin DRUNK, lickety split.
Even better, the landlord wasn’t even there, which is like a bonus.

So drunk, in fact that I used up all my chips and was commensurately unable to attend the following night’s festivities, as noted :blush: .
Sorry, Maocouple…I’m sure it was happy anyways…

Slow service on brunch is not a big deal, is it? Just tell them you have to be in and out quickly and they’d definitely be faster for you. Lots of people go for brunch and read, stare out the window, drink 48 cups of coffee, chat and so on and actually prefer the feeling that they are not being hurried along to eat up and free up the table.

Different if you’re waiting half an hour for that after-work beer.

[quote=“Buttercup”] drink 48 cups of coffee[/quote] :astonished: :beatnik: i think that could actually kill you…

Since that obnoxious git with the Mescan boat left I never go there anymore.

I heard the Landlord is a wonderful host! He just has a problem with bearded Canadians.

[quote=“the chief”]Yeah, I was in there with some visiting attorneys on Thursday night, and I had no problems whatsoever getting fuckin DRUNK, lickety split.
Even better, the landlord wasn’t even there, which is like a bonus.

So drunk, in fact that I used up all my chips and was commensurately unable to attend the following night’s festivities, as noted :blush: .
Sorry, Maocouple…I’m sure it was happy anyways…[/quote]

I’ve been to Carnegie’s quite a few times for brunch over the last couple of months. Usually it’s a very pleasant experience. I wasn’t greatly impressed today though.

I had a real craving for channa dhal. I ordered the vege curry, having checked on the menu that channa dhal was included. It arrived and there was no channa dhal. I asked the waitress and she went to ask the chef, who said “the cauliflower is instead of channa dhal”. I pointed out that the menu says that the cauliflower is “in addition to the above”, not “instead of”. But the waitress just said “sorry” or something, and that was that. I was chickpea-less. The vege curry part itself was delicious, but I’d much rather have swapped the cauliflower for channa dhal if I’d known that was the policy.

Also, the omelette we also ordered was a bit overcooked and dry and took a while to come. I wonder whether it had been left under the warming lights for some time. And when we left, we were initially presented with a bill for five people’s meals, instead of two. It took a couple of minutes of explaining to the staff what we’d actually had before we got things sorted out.

I’m sorry your last visit wasn’t as pleasant as the times before. I have talked to the staff about this incident and we are now in the process of changing the menus. All the curries will be available with a veggie option & we will make sure there is Dhal on every plate.
We certainly don’t leave food on the warming lights for longer than is necessary & I will make sure this kind of thing doesn’t happen again.
Again I am sorry that your usual chilled out afternoon didn’t turn out as planned.

Skell

Thanks, Skell.

[quote=“skell”]All the curries will be available with a veggie option…[/quote]Sounds interesting. I’m not actually vegetarian but I do like a nice vege curry from time to time. Do you mean that even things like the vindaloo will have a vege option? I’ll have to try that.

[quote]…we will make sure there is Dhal on every plate.[/quote]That’s good news. I don’t know about anyone else, but I take my pulses very seriously! (See the baked bean thread for proof.)

Thanks to all of you. We went to Carnegie’s tonight for dinner. SO’s daughter brought her new boyfriend for the first meeting with mom and “pop”. I called last evening and arranged for a turkey dinner even though it wasn’t yet a menu item. They took care of us in splendid style. Great food, great service and all went very very well. Thank you Carnegie’s for making the little one’s special night truly special.

I have to say that their “crazy hour” specials are a lovely idea after a long day at work! :beer:

I went to Carnegie’s for Sunday brunch recently, and I was really happy with my experience. The food was great, the service nice as well. The portions was big enough I didn’t have to eat until 5pm.

I had gone to The Diner next door first, and found it was fully packed with one hour wait time, so I headed to Carnegie’s. I am glad I went to Carnegie’s!

[quote=“babyoscar”]I went to Carnegie’s for Sunday brunch recently, and I was really happy with my experience. The food was great, the service nice as well. The portions was big enough I didn’t have to eat until 5pm.

I had gone to The Diner next door first, and found it was fully packed with one hour wait time, so I headed to Carnegie’s. I am glad I went to Carnegie’s![/quote]

been in the exact same scenario and I agree. Although I find their breakfast is often cold by the time it gets to me.

Honestly, next time I’ll be trying out brunch at the small coffee shop a few lanes up from Carnegies.

Last weekend I found my way to your place (yes, the Diner was packed and Carnegies had a table open on its lovely outdoor area), but was disappointed in how both my girlfriend’s and my dishes were primarily bread. Two rolls, two croissants, four giant pieces of toast? Sure the bread tasted good, but most of it went in my bag for lunchtime sandwiches and dinner bread night.

Your servers are swell and it looks like business is hopping. I’m just not a brunch=bread kind of girl.

I wasn’t going to post about my dinner at Carnegies tonight but I just finished reading some of the more recent posts on this string. I actually had to do a search to find the Carnegie thread. That got me thinking about how we expect excellence, and if received, it is simply the norm. That was the case tonight and many other nights at Carnegies. I go in with great expectations and have never been disappointed. Therefore, nothing special. Simply the norm.
I had a full rack of babyback ribs tonight that was awesome. The wee bones simply fell off the tender meat. The BBQ sauce basting was a tremendous addition. Wish I could have had mash instead of “Berlusconi fries” but I probably could have had a switch if requested. Bottom line is that when I want some great food in central Taipei, Carnegies is the place.
Met Hunter from MO. and David from ?, I think Oz. Celebrating a friends birthday. You always meet the nicest people at Carnegies.
(OK? Now do I get a free drink?)

[quote=“ichbinjenny”]Honestly, next time I’ll be trying out brunch at the small coffee shop a few lanes up from Carnegies.

Last weekend I found my way to your place (yes, the Diner was packed and Carnegies had a table open on its lovely outdoor area), but was disappointed in how both my girlfriend’s and my dishes were primarily bread. Two rolls, two croissants, four giant pieces of toast? Sure the bread tasted good, but most of it went in my bag for lunchtime sandwiches and dinner bread night.

Your servers are swell and it looks like business is hopping. I’m just not a brunch=bread kind of girl.[/quote]

If I recall correctly, the menu itself describes exactly what you get so there is no real excuse for complaining; you omit to mention the cheese and ham (and jam and butter I think) that is also included. As the bread was ‘good’, your complaint seems a little feeble and mis-directed. You got what you ordered and as there was nothing wrong with the bread, I fail to see a ground for complaint. The food in Carnegie’s is very good and Richard is an excellent chef with very good kitchen staff. I personally have never had a bad meal at Carnegie’s and I used to eat there quite a bit before moving away from Taiwan. The wait staff were always very nice to me too.

BroonAppetizer

“Ah bread & Jam” you would say as rose from your charpoi. Yes those were indeed the days.

We are creating a new breakfast menu late at night when most sane people are in bed…it takes time though as the beer is a hinderence to the thought process.

Coming soon though…I think.