Complaint Review: Lapointe's Seafood - Ottawa (Kanata) Ontario

While I am not an employee, or a former employee of Lapointe's Seafood, two members of my family have been. There is some truth in the words of the original report there is no doubt. The Chef is not a very pleasant man, and has driven away more than one employee and customer. However I thought it was worth defending the restaurant in this instance. Seeing as two members of my family did indeed work for that particular restaurant during the general period of the incident, I do have knowledge of the situation from the employees to counter the complaint. It is important to acknowledge that the original poster has stated that they incorrectly stored the lobsters in fresh water. Apparently they have bought lobsters plenty of times before (stated by the poster), and not had a problem. Then they contradict themselves and say that the chef did not give them the proper instruction. Now I was not the sales person, however if we are to assume that the poster is telling the truth and they have bought and prepared lobsters many times before and stored them at home, then it is entirely plausible to assume that they assured the sales person they knew how to properly prepare them (having done it many times before). For future reference, whenever you buy seafood (the key part being sea) there is the assumption that anything that is still alive needs to be stored and should be stored in salt water or else it will die. The complaint from Lapointe's was that the customer (who has prepared many lobsters before and is from Nova Scotia) in essence killed the lobsters and therefore were denied to purchase more after being negligent the first time. Of course, it is an over-reaction on the part of the chef and I do not think it was derived from a strong stance on animal rights if he is working in a seafood grill. That is where the fault is certainly, however they did get a refund. The moral of the story is that the author got their 25 dollars back and got 4 dollars off at the Produce Depot. I do know for a fact that the incident occurred, however I have a hard time believing the knowledge of the poster when she claims that her partner grew up in Nova Scotia (which apparently makes you an expert) and had stored and prepared plenty of lobsters before. I don't buy it. If that was the case, the lobsters would not have died because he would have known that they needed salt water from the previous times. Maybe this is the reason that they were offered no specific instructions if the couple claimed sufficient knowledge for the lobsters futures. I have eaten plenty of times at Lapointes and I found the waitress' very pleasant and the food excellent and it is easy to request something slightly different and the chef complies. If anything I have seen more customers be rude to the employees there, and it is unfortunate because there is a good group of employees there. I still eat there even though my family no longer does. Lapointes has good food and good service, the chef may be irritable, but how often do you see a chef anyway. What's most important is that the food is good.

If you and your partner went to buy Lobster's and your partner was such an expert why did you even buy them in the first place. If they were lethargic, your partner should have known to pick out more "lively" lobsters or go somewhere else. If your partner had done this seveal times they should already know no to use fresh water. It should not have taken an internet search for you to figure this out. Perhaps your partner presented themselves as an "expert" and the sales staff did not feel that they needed to give instructions?