No Money to be made !

(Used to work there.)

Proud to say the place is falling apart and will only continue in its little downward spiral. They can’t keep a GM, the GMs can’t keep from using the corporate credit card to fund their vacations/haircuts/man mistresses/liquor binges, the managers are mostly sloppy, and the poor managers who are decent (there are three-ish) know to get out fast.

Steer clear.

Oh my god. That’s funny, “steer clear.” It’s a steakhouse. Heh.

Holy cow!!! I thought you were just another bitter drunken server that got on the internet late at night. Wouldn’t you know it, the place has an ad on craigslist for a gm. A certain Moroccan junkie I used to work for works there now if he hasn’t been fired. Wasn’t this place supposed to be the end-all of steakhouses? Weren’t they supposed to put Flemmings and Capital Grille under? Do they ever get busy? Glad I steered clear!

Now that we’ve sorted out our management problems, we are back to being the premier restaurant in Greater Boston. We are back to a 2 week wait for a reservation. We are currently hiring for all positions and want the best servers in the city to approach us and tell us why we should give them a station in the greatest restaurant the city will ever see.

We will shortly be absorbing all other steak houses under our flag and everyone who wants steak in Boston will have to come to us.

All take notice, bow and tremblingly obey.

If you want a reservation at S+W, you really need to be on the A-list now. Forget about a position there, the servers are easily banking $400..-$600. a night. They have sent all the Brazilian kitchen staff to the INS and now employ an international culinary team. Their head chef is the famous Argentinian gastronome Placido el Flamingo del Oreo who is considered to be the world’s foremost expert on the art of grilling steak.

Smith & Wollensky should write a book for “blank for dummies” and call it “decimation for dummies” because over the last 3 years they’ve destroyed any chances of being “the steak house to end all steakhouses” they’ve just suucessfully destroyed themselves.

Five GM’s in four years, they’ve run out every decent manager they’ve had in there ( save one or two ).

Their starting AGM was one of the worst thieves ever produced & that just paved the way for years to come.
The current AGM is, bar none, the worst example of an angry,turbulent, self loathing, ignorant, defensive manager that runs the day to day on fear & hostility.
They pay their managers peanuts and over work them and run them mentally & physically into the ground.
So, for what they pay them it can’t be expected to get quality managers so they hire anyone who will take the job and they have a hard time finding anyone who will.

They also have run out so many good proffesional bartenders & servers over the year and have kept the Dunkin Donuts employees, shoe makers & mechanics they hire to fill in the blanks during the busy times. They have kept them because they allow them to stay after the 90 days and they can’t get rid of them. Then they subject the whole staff to endless testing ( on paper and orally - “John sell me the….etc..”)and verbal harassment.

The only thing they don’t do to their employees is beat them and if they could they would!!!!!

4 floors & no buisiness!!!!!!!!!

Now Hiring-Job Expectations
Eagerness to be harassed on a daily basis
Desire to be treated with hostility on a daily basis
Willingness to be ridiculed on a daily basis
Yearning to earn little money for ridiculous amounts of work

If you meet these qualifications we would love to hear from you

You should really try not to bottle up all this anger. Communication is a good way to air your comments and concerns. I really think anyone writing on this blog has serious personal issues and should seek help. The level of anger and amount of time spent on this effort could be used in a more positive manner. Try finding employment elsewhere or look deep inside yourself and see if you might be to blame. I cannot believe anyone would subject themselves to the amount of “harrassment” and ridicule and not leave with a shread of dignity. You might be working at the only place willing to put up with you and maybe you are lucky to be employed. Think about it and try and use your time differently and remember maybe you are the problem.

All the shit that goes on in smith & wollensky in boston started in the flag ship in yes you guessed it nyc, they should sack their gm, their bar manager (super theif) walks out of the building every evening with a bagful of liquer and expensive wines, if fact they should sack all the clowns on the door and all the thieves behind the bar, wake up stillman, you are being taken to the cleaners.

and then… it was worse than ever

Really a horrible place to work. The GM Joe Floyd is a whack job and his asst gm Anthony Monaro is just as bad, they have zero credibility with anyone that works there. The concept,mediocre food for outrageous prices, isn’t cutting it and the dwindling covers are proof that the place poorly managed.I would say don’t go work there but there already cutting staff and probably won’t be open for very much longer. There are some good people that work there that do very good work in spite of the management. I know every restaurant has it’s drama but this place is just broken and it’s originated from the top.

Thankfully, there are much better and more proffesionally run establishments in Boston….can you believe there are actually places that you can punch in and out every day and claim your tips accordingly ( mgmt doesn’t shave hours to save on overtime etc…) That you don’t have to tip out the bar on wine that they don’t give you or to the extrodinary amount for the service you are not getting or to food runners who don’t exist ( so they either staff not enough or have the barback double as a foodrunner and the tip out remains the same) or split your hard earned dollars with servers that cannot stop patting themselves on the back long enough to actually help wait on the 5 ( or if you’re lucky 6 )table station you’ve been allotted by the “all powerful & not to be questioned management team” or the management team themselves……there’s just soooo much to get into there.
But there is hope. There are other places that are not feeling the financial pinch that they are. Get out while you still can!!! before the castle locks up it’s drawbridge for good!! or before you punch in ( if you’re lucky )at $2.63 an hour and you’re answering the phone, getting you’re own drinks, cooking the steak & washing the dish!!

the latest coming over the thorny grapevine of liberation and deceit is that a manager was fired for trying to break into a safe and that it was caught on camera? Could that be true? Maybe he wasn’t getting cut in on the managers tips from the coat check and private events? Are there barstaff left?Did they make it through the winter with ice machine still outside? Are they still canceling insurance? Are there still no sous chefs? Is Napolean still there? Are the managers still in a black out and getting arrested and into fights? Is the staff still a pharmacy? Can someone confirm?

I saw that they are hiring again, take it from me stay away. You make no money a put up with the worst management.

I concur the place is a shithole.S&W was one of the worst work eperiences I’ve ever had.Where I work now I make better money,better hours and don’t have to deal with petty,incompetent,egomaniacal managers and their lackeys.
No more running up and down four flights of stairs for silverware,coffee pots or with tray of drinks cause the management can’t figure out the logistics of running a four floor restaraunt. no more showing up at 3:30 to get listen to an inane rant by a moron whos sole purpose is to establish the fact daily that they are the boss and all should tremble in their presence, in full monkey suit even though you don’t get sat till 6:30.I can’t believe I stayed as long as I did the more I look back at it the more I just have to laugh at myself for putting up with that B.S. for even a week.