New Simone GM offers an apology

Back on April 9, we relayed a story from a reader about an unpleasant experience at Simone on First Avenue at St. Mark's Place.... Basically, the reader and a friend were ready to enjoy a quiet meal early one weekday night ... the music got louder... staff wouldn't turn down the music... when the diners cancelled their order, a Simone staffer called the cops... and the reader was charged twice on the credit card for a meal he or she never received...

So!

Yesterday, I received the following not from Simone:

Hi Ms Grieve,
I'm getting in touch with you in regards to the awful experience you had at Simone Martini Bar & Cafe. I am the new General Manager there and, upon taking the position, the owner and I took the time to check Simone's reviews. We had no knowledge whatsoever of this incident before we read about it and we where shocked and appalled. The situation was handled extremely poorly and we would love to redeem ourselves. We understand that you probably have no desire to ever step in Simone again but we would really like to make the effort to make things up to you in some way.

I appreciate the note (though, as I responded to the GM, this incident didn't happen to me) ... and this is all in keeping with bars/restaurants trying much harder to be better neighbors... (Read more on that theory here.)

Anyway, I passed this note along to the reader, who is still dealing with the credit card investigation... the reader also appreciated hearing from the GM... then later sent a pointed response discussing customer service... and that bars/restaurants "are not a place for staff to hang out and play the music of their choice."

Previously on EV Grieve:
Reader mailbag: Cops called after a sandwich order is cancelled

[Image via New York]