The Moonshine Mishap

This article has been updated to reflect the awesome actions done by Moonshine.

This is not a review of the Moonshine Bar and Restaurant in Makati. It's just a minor rant. Okay, maybe I'll add in some review.

The Good

The first time I went to Moonshine Bar I was so delighted that I gave a compliment to the owner of the restaurant. Their cocktails, even though a little expensive, are quite good. The salmon I ordered was perfectly cooked. I like the ambiance too and the playlist. The place is located beside Distillery, Jupiter.

The 2nd or 3rd time we were there was last week when we partied til dawn in Moonshine, and it was fun; maybe a bit too much because I left my credit card. I wasn't aware of it until a friend of mine called to tell me.

Today, I visited Makati again to get my credit card from Moonshine. I invited my friend for a couple of drinks.. it was supposed to be just another laid back Thursday night. We went there and it was empty. I thought, great! Some peace and quiet. I got my credit card and we ordered some drinks.

[Update] Moonshine apologized for what happened. I think there was a miscommunication between the upper management and the staff. See more details below.

The Mishap

We were supposed to go to a coffee shop after because I needed to copy an installer and try a game we researched about. Then we saw that there's an outlet near the table.. we decided to open our laptops and try the game since there weren't much people anyway, and it is to my judgement that we weren't bothering anyone in doing so; I think there was only one group outside, and a couple in another table. That was it.

We were even assisted by a waiter when we plugged in our laptops. He joked that it was P120. Actually I didn't mind if we pay, but he said he was just joking. When we finished our first drink, we ordered another round. After a while, I noticed one waiter (or not sure if he's the manager) was regularly checking our bottles. I was a bit annoyed. It didn't stop there, he started asking us if we'll order some more even though we were only half way through our drinks.

I felt it was kind of rude. Maybe the way it was said, I felt that they were implicitly telling us we weren't paying enough to justify the use of our laptops; I also didn't like the tone how it was articulated. I would understand if  there were people waiting for a table, but even so, it was still rude. And if that's the case, we'd be sensitive enough not to use our laptops esp. if there are many customers. He was also inconsistent.. after a while, he suddenly said we weren't allowed to use our laptops, then I asked him to reiterate what he just said because I was quite confused. Then he changed the topic that we should just order more. I said, if we weren't allowed to use our laptops then why assist us in the first place, why not just said that we weren't allowed to do so. So what is it really then?

I'm disappointed with what happened so we just left. I was supposed to order some more because I was getting hungry, but after the incident, I lost my appetite. I think staff in general like in restaurants, malls, etc should have more training. Training for being polite, avoiding unnecessary comments, avoiding being rude to customers, being articulate and explaining policies in a way that's not offensive.

Faith in humanity restored

On the bright side, I'm glad how Moonshine handled the situation after. They were very apologetic and they explained (clearly, this time) what happened. I'm satisfied with the explanation, because at the end of the day, it's better to get a clear image of what really happened. Like was there a policy prohibiting the use of laptops in the restaurant or why were we troubled persistently with petty annoyances.

My sincerest appreciation goes to Renz Mediarito of Moonshine for taking precise actions to what happened. My faith in humanity is restored. I still like the place and will definitely go back and recommend it to people I know.