A FANTASTIC EVENING FROM A DISASTROUS START!

[chief38]

Four couples (including my wife and I) go out to dinner this evening to a new fancy restaurant in town that opened about 3 months ago. We purposely did not go there sooner because we wanted them to be able to work out all of the kinks and rough spots that are part of a new restaurant's growing pains.

We had 6:30 reservations and we sat right down. After waiting a half hour for our first round of drinks we were getting "the feeling". It took another 45 minutes for the appetizers to arrive and when they did half of them were cold! After 2 hours and 20 minutes and still not getting our dinners we got up, complained to the manager and while he did apologize nothing else happened. After waiting another 10 minutes (2 1/2 hours total) we just got up paid the bill for the drinks and appetizers and left. No compensations of any kind, no real apologizes for the disastrous evening and we left.

Two of the couples stopped at a local Pizza Shop on the way home and picked up a few Pizza's, while the other two couples went into a Bakery and scored a few delectable delights for desert. We had a GREAT evening laughing, eating and telling jokes. Much better than the stuffy, over-priced lousy service restaurant we had intended to have dinner at.

Nothing here that is breaking news, - but sometimes it is just very refreshing to realize that "going back to basics" and having a good ole' time at home with good friends beats the fancy stuff! Sometimes we forget.

 

[LVSteve]

We had 6:30 reservations and we sat right down. After waiting a half hour for our first round of drinks we were getting "the feeling". It took another 45 minutes for the appetizers to arrive and when they did half of them were cold! After 2 hours and 20 minutes and still not getting our dinners we got up, complained to the manager and while he did apologize nothing else happened. After waiting another 10 minutes (2 1/2 hours total) we just got up paid the bill for the drinks and appetizers and left. No compensations of any kind, no real apologizes for the disastrous evening and we left.

We had a new eatery start up and go out of business inside a month because they were repeatedly having this kind of thing happen.

 

[ladder13]

Hopefully that monsoon rain has stopped.

 

[joeintexas]

I completely agree. In fact, when I remember some of the most memorable times in life it usually involves sitting around a camp fire at a hunting camp with family and friends and a hot pot of coffee. Some pretty tall tales got told, some might have even been true.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

While at the NRA Annual Meeting in May almost a decade ago (In Charlotte, maybe 2009). On Friday night, My wife and I went out to a restaurant (Mickel and Schmidt [sp]) and they ran out of food and didn't bother to tell anyone. The manager was an obnoxious jerk, after 2 hours we left. They actually served water to a lady at the next table in a broken glass! I think the 10 or 12 guys from Remington are still sitting there waiting for their drink order!

That chain has a restaurant in Columbus, with the rotten service I had once, they will never get a dime from me. There are too many good restaurants, that screen and train their managers, to go to!

Ivan

 

[Maddog 521]

Yes sir. Sometimes you just have to get up and walk out the door. You have more patience than me, I wouldn't of given them 2 1/2 hours.

 

[SPEEDGUNNER]

It is the getting up and walking out that is the most painful part of an experience like that. It is as if you are losing, and that if you had waited "just five more minutes" the evening would have turned around. In your case, you guys DID turn the evening around and will now have a story to laugh about at future gatherings.

 

[Golddollar]

Two of the couples stopped at a local Pizza Shop on the way home and picked up a few Pizza's, while the other two couples went into a Bakery and scored a few delectable delights for desert. We had a GREAT evening laughing, eating and telling jokes. Much better than the stuffy, over-priced lousy service restaurant we had intended to have dinner at.

Nothing here that is breaking news, - but sometimes it is just very refreshing to realize that "going back to basics" and having a good ole' time at home with good friends beats the fancy stuff! Sometimes we forget.

You are so right. Part of the great memories of our family fishing trips to Canada has been the dinners around the table in a cabin where every night one of us got to show off some down home cooking from scratch. My chili pot went along on a lot of those trips. I made chili one night and my one uncle used the leftover chili as the base for his spaghetti.

 

[wingriderz]

Wow here is the problem we have these days. I spent over 35 years in service indursty. Auto / half as a master tech half in managment. In that that field. In managment your pay was based on C S I ( customer service. Index). You and your pay was held accountable. Problem being in food I dont think there is any real accountability along with many more business.They just dont see rhe big picture

 

[perryhd]

A fancy dinner for my wife and I is Captain Ds catfish feast. Carry out.

 

[Bekeart]

My problems yesterday were minor by comparison

My problems yesterday were minor by comparison.

Cracker Barrel:

1) Lady friend did not get the Ham with her meal.
..........After asking for it, served did bring it.

2) My order, the days feature, did not have the third egg on plate.
..........Again the egg came later

3) Biscuits and butter, but no jelly.
..........Asked the correct server ..... waited ..... went to Hostess ..... got jelly

What has happened to service at Cracker Barrel??

This was not the first time or first location with poor service staff.

Bekeart

PS: Even the service yesterday at Cracker Barrel was far ahead of what IHOP in Paducah KY. "Slower than the US Snail."

 

[Rudi]

Is it just me or, as I get older home time is much better? My lady friend and I like to cook or maybe get some pizza or Chinese take out. Plus, the drinks are MUCH cheaper.

 

[bigwheelzip]

Maybe I'm just picky, but I was always disappointed that Nassau and Suffolk, with three million culturally diverse people, didn't have a better selection of restaurants.


Hubby would ask me to pick up the Zuppa Di Pesce for him from Moma Lombardi's in Holbrook when I was in the neighborhood.

 

[swsig]

This reminds me of an experience Mrs. swsig and I had 20 years ago. After a day of mall shopping, we were famished, so we stopped in one of the many restaurants surrounding the mall. At restaurant #1, we were promptly seated, but after 30 minutes, no one had waited on us, so we left. We walked across the parking lot to restaurant #2. No one was there to greet us, nor did we see any employees at all, only a few customers. After waiting about 10 minutes, no employee ever appeared, so we left. So we went to restaurant #3, an Olive Garden. They're usually well-run, we thought. The place was packed, with plenty of staff running around, but none of them appeared to be over 20. We were promptly seated, but after 10 minutes, no one had waited on us, so we left. (At this point, we were in no mood to be charitable about slow service.) I then remembered an interview I had conducted as part of my consulting job with the manager of a nearby On the Border restaurant. The manager had impressed me with her knowledge and competency about management issues. So we went there, and wow, what a difference competent management can make. We were promptly seated and waited upon, had our drinks delivered with two minutes of ordering, with our appetizers following shortly thereafter. A great meal followed, and we left a generous tip. We've been back many times since, and have never been disappointed. So if you know of a well-run restaurant, be sure to reward it with your patronage.

 

[DWalt]

I don't know the present status of the "On The Border" chain. I went to one in the West end of downtown Dallas once (which is mainly a tourist area), nothing particularly memorable about it. They opened up two restaurants in San Antonio around 10 years ago, both folded within six months. I believe most new restaurants fold within the first two years (if not sooner). Most banks will not make business loans to new restaurants because of the high failure rate. It's a lot more difficult business than most newbies think, and part of the problem, at least at present, is that it's difficult to find any competent employees.

 

[mtgianni]

Our limit is 45 minutes without a server giving us a valid reason why our entree is late. You now need to follow up to the corporate office explaining why they won't see your money again or things will never change.

 

[Rustyt1953]

Don't you hate it when the crumber guy hovers over your table?

 

[Bekeart]

My Time Limit depends on type of venue

Our limit is 45 minutes without a server giving us a valid reason why our entree is late. You now need to follow up to the corporate office explaining why they won't see your money again or things will never change.

My Time Limit depends on type of venue.

Last week after waiting 15 minuted for 3 cheeseburgers at Rallys,
and seeing those who ordered after me getting their orders and leaving,
I returned to window ready to ask for a REFUND.
They finally had my order.
I took the order and told the indifferent staff person that I would not return.

The Customer Satisfaction Survey that I filled out should incinerate a monitor.

15 minutes wait for cheese burger at Rallys was clearly excessive.
A Sit & Dine where cooked to order clearly deserves a longer waiting period before walking out.

 

[chief38]

Maybe I'm just picky, but I was always disappointed that Nassau and Suffolk, with three million culturally diverse people, didn't have a better selection of restaurants.


Hubby would ask me to pick up the Zuppa Di Pesce for him from Moma Lombardi's in Holbrook when I was in the neighborhood.

Momma Lombardi's is not what it use to be and hasn't been that good for a while. The restaurants here are excellent now but we always like trying new ones. this one was a bust!

 

[bigwheelzip]

Momma Lombardi's is not what it use to be and hasn't been that good for a while. The restaurants here are excellent now but we always like trying new ones. this one was a bust!

Though it seems like yesterday, we moved to SC 12 years ago, when we retired. Too bad about Mama's though.

Well thank goodness my L&B Spumoni Gardens in Brooklyn is still good even though the former owner was murdered.