WYSIWYG

[Kenny]

My mother used to say " if you have nothing good to say, say nothing" but I cannot in good conscience let THIS pass without comment!! On my frequent visits to Tobago I strive to locate and enjoy the many restaurant and pub establishments that the island has to offer. WYSIWYG has by far been the absolute worst experience of such. From the quality of food to the deplorable service and loud and arrogant owner called Matt, I would not recommend this place to my worst enemy. It's quite possible that they had bad nights the times I patronized them but I'll leave that determination up to the readers of this review.
Can anyone share a different experience.....I must believe that there is hope for WYSIWYG.

[Steve Wooler]

Hi Kenny

Welcome aboard!

I'm sorry that you had a bad experience at WYSIWYG, but we appreciate your comments. Can you - and all our readers who visit Tobago - please ensure that you add weight to our Reader Satisfaction Ratings (RSR) of all establishments on Tobago. Just click on any RSR icon to vote for that establishment, or visit http://www.mytobago.info/surveys/ to vote for multiple establisments/features in one go.

[MattKisler]

My name is Matt Kisler, I am one of the principal shareholders of WYSIWYG Grill and Bar. I do not frequent websites such as this very often, since I do not believe that they accurately reflect what has really happened. In the above case however, I believe it to be necessary to speak out, if only to defend my partners and staff from a vicious and malignant accusation.

We had but one situation in the last quarter of 2011. The gentleman, an ex-pat Trinidadian came with his wife on two occasions to our restaurant. I very rarely interact with the customers, unless they are old return customers, hence I had contact with this couple just once, at the end of their second visit to our restaurant, since they returned a few days later. My Partner Francis who is in charge of looking after our guests and who, by the way, is doing an excellent job doing so, allowed them to go to the nearby ATM machine to get cash, since they apparently did not have any funds on them. After 45 minutes they had not yet returned. I decided to jump into my car and look for the couple. I did find them eventually, sitting at the bar in Dillon's Lounge...... I then proceeded to get Francis who approached them for the moneys owed to us. The lady had to get up and get funds from their guesthouse room to pay their bill.......

The comment above is a result of them being caught "with their pants down".

I should leave this as is, however I would like to make a point here, that I believe is very important. Forums as this are not the place to wash your dirty laundry. They are a place for constructive criticism. Unfortunately they do not present a level playing field, since we, the restaurant or hotel owners and managers cannot hide. Our names and the future of our staff are on the line every time these vicious comments are made by people hiding under a nom de plume, a simple first name and/or bogus e mail addresses. I do not have to tell the reader how simple it is to get a quick mail address from hotmail or gmail, etc. The operators of these forums, desperately try to keep these exchanges free of vicious, virtual attacks, this, unfortunately,as can be seen on many sites such as tripadvisor.com and mytobago.info, with limited success.

So Mr. Kenney, let us have your full name, your full address, when you were staying with us. Describe in detail what you did not like that I apparently said, why you think the service that Francis gave you was lousy, what particular food that Asha and I cooked for your was not eatable, and yes, lets have your e mail address so that we can hash this out in private without the protection of this forum...... Chicken!

Thank to all our other customers that return year after year and many times during one visit to our beautiful island.

Matt

[Steve Wooler]

Hello Matt

Welcome aboard! I am delighted that you have exercised your right to respond to criticism.

I understand and appreciate your comments about forums. Yes, there are inherent dangers in any medium that allows the dissemination of comment, opinion or argument. Many people said the same after the invention of the printing press. Perhaps you would prefer a return to the days of hard-copy travel guides whose apparently independent recommendations are often based upon little more than the financial arrangements between the establishment and the publishing organisation or researcher?

As you say, forums are a place for constructive criticism. It is very wrong of anyone to post malicious comment about a business – and particularly so if their negative experience was a result of their own actions. However, most cases are one person’s word against another and both may be right, but viewing the situation from different perspectives. The real value of forums is that whilst it may not be a level playing field for the business, compared to the customer, it IS a level playing field between competing businesses in the same marketplace. Therefore, if one establishment seems to get more than their fair share of criticism, or regular praise and endorsement, perhaps the public are being given the right signals.

A head-in-the-sand approach to forums and not addressing public opinion about their business is the owner’s prerogative, but not a course of action I would recommend in this day and age. Love them or hate them, forums are here to stay. You can choose to either ignore them or work them. No business gets it right all the time. However, the real mark of a business is how they react when things go wrong and whether they learn from the experience and correct deficiencies to prevent such incidents happening again. In this case, I have no reason to doubt the facts as you state them, but have to say that I wonder if the tone of your response perhaps gives some indication of how that situation developed.

[Andy K]

WYSIWYG is closed until further notice, but will re-open under new management anytime soon,
without alcohol license until (approximately) November though.
But you know how that goes in Tobago.
Just bring your own drinks
I iwll report as soon as information and own experience becomes available.

[Steve Wooler]

Another one bites the dust! Sad, but until restaurants on Tobago get real about the price, product and service they offer it is inevitable I guess. Thanks for the update and please keep us posted.