Bad restaurant stories

[slotpuppy]

We went to famous dave's, I ordered a draft beer and wife ordered diet coke. The waiter came back with the diet coke and took our food order. No beer yet.

A few minutes later I asked the waiter about my beer, he said the bar was busy and I would be here in a minute. (restaraunt was half empty at the time)

Our food came and still no beer. Waiter blamed it on the bar again. I asked for the manager. The waiter left and came right back with my beer which was hot. (must have been sitting at the bar awhile)

The manager came and brought me a new beer that was cold, apolgised and took my meal and beer off our bill.

 

[DEEKAYPEE8569]

We went to famous dave's, I ordered a draft beer and wife ordered diet coke. The waiter came back with the diet coke and took our food order. No beer yet.

A few minutes later I asked the waiter about my beer, he said the bar was busy and I would be here in a minute. (restaraunt was half empty at the time)

Our food came and still no beer. Waiter blamed it on the bar again. I asked for the manager. The waiter left and came right back with my beer which was hot. (must have been sitting at the bar awhile)

The manager came and brought me a new beer that was cold, apolgised and took my meal and beer off our bill.

I've been to F.D.'s one time. I got the pulled pork barbeque or something like that, which was just a tad over cooked. Took a "doggie bag" home; added a smidge of water, re-heated it and it was like it was supposed to be the night before; meaning tender; not like shoe leather.

 

[slotpuppy]

I've been to F.D.'s one time. I got the pulled pork barbeque or something like that, which was just a tad over cooked. Took a "doggie bag" home; added a smidge of water, re-heated it and it was like it was supposed to be the night before; meaning tender; not like shoe leather.

They have some good ST Louis ribs and buffalo wings, tried the pulled pork once, it was okay.

 

[MMDad]

Years ago I'd go to Catamarans and loved their burgers. One day we go in and they're bragging about the new improved seasoning they were using. It was so salty I couldn't eat it. I could taste nothing but salt. Lesson one: if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

A few months later I had rockfish there. It didn't smell or taste quite right. The server and manager looked at it and insisted that it smelled like rockfish and there was nothing wrong with it. Wouldn't budge on taking it off my bill, and I had somewhere I had to be. Never been back.

Solomons Pier in '97. Went a few times and had some really good meals, great salad bar, great appetizers, great view. Future in-laws came to visit, so we told them we were taking them to a really great place. Salad bar had maybe 5 items, wilted lettuce, and was dirty. Food was mediocre at best. My FIL thought I had pretty poor taste in restaurants if I thought that was good. We chalked it up to one bad day, and still went back a couple of times but it never came back to the quality we liked.

Last straw for the Pier was Christmas '97. We walk in and it's about 55 degrees in there. Kerosene heaters all around trying to heat the place, but they weren't doing anything but making the place smell. Our first mistake was not leaving. Ordered a NY strip topped with crab imperial. Comes out, looks great. Cut into it - they had topped it before cooking the steak. The steak wasn't just raw, it was cold. The crab imperial was also still cold.

 

[DEEKAYPEE8569]

They have some good ST Louis ribs and buffalo wings, tried the pulled pork once, it was okay.

Maaaan.....now I'm hungry.....

 

[Jeter3000]

Baby cockroach crawling through our rice at Montereys, San Souci. We left.

 

[SamSpade]

Or, to even carry that on to the nth degree; taking your plastic and ordering something over the phone with it.
Credit/debit cards are supposed to be convenient; then THIS kinda stuff always happens.

However, if they did THAT, it is so easy to prove who did it. Might as well shoot someone right in court in front of the judge. At least credit cards leave a trail - cash is JUST as easily misplaced, and I've seen tips stolen all the time.

 

[DEEKAYPEE8569]

Baby cockroach crawling through our rice at Montereys, San Souci. We left.

Not advertizing for Salsa's, but, have you considered going there from now on for your Mexican food fixes?

 

[DEEKAYPEE8569]

However, if they did THAT, it is so easy to prove who did it. Might as well shoot someone right in court in front of the judge. At least credit cards leave a trail - cash is JUST as easily misplaced, and I've seen tips stolen all the time.

That's why we always give the tip to the server personally; or, when we pay cash, we allow for the tip and just say 'No' when he/she asks if we need change. Either way, we know our server got their money.

Change of subject, kinda: Does anybody know if servers still have to pool their tips and divide it equally amongst all of them? I ask because some servers hustle; and the one's that don't get the same as the one's that do; and that's just wrong.

 

[cwo_ghwebb]

When Applebee's in La Plata first opened my wife ordered shrimp and I shrimp and steak. Pretty good meals.

About an hour later at home we both got sicker than dogs and it lasted three days. Food poisoning from the shrimp.

It took years for us to go back there.

 

[MMDad]

There was a barbecue place by Pep Boys in the 'Dorf. Red River? The waitress took our order, dropped off our food, and then flirted with a guy for about 30 minutes. Never refilled drinks, checked on us, or anything. Couldn't even get her attention to get our bill. Had to get up and walk over to her.

When I filled out the credit card slip, I wrote on the tip line "try visiting your customers some time."

20 years ago Boomerangs was Adam's Ribs. When we ordered drinks, the waitress looked and my friend and said "no way you're 21, show me an ID." Looked at her ID, then stomped off to get the drink. Never saw her again. Someone else brought our food, and we had to ask 5 times to get our bill. Bill came to $49.95, and the waitress got the nickel as a tip. That says "no, I didn't forget to tip you, your service just sucked."

 

[Jeter3000]

That's why we always give the tip to the server personally; or, when we pay cash, we allow for the tip and just say 'No' when he/she asks if we need change. Either way, we know our server got their money.

Change of subject, kinda: Does anybody know if servers still have to pool their tips and divide it equally amongst all of them? I ask because some servers hustle; and the one's that don't get the same as the one's that do; and that's just wrong.

Been in the restaurant business MANY years and no, never had to pool tips. However, worked on the island and had to give 10% of tips earned to the bartender (even if they never made one drink for the server) and 10% to the bussers (even when servers bussed their own tables). And yes, both of the above mentioned are salaried positions. Crock of ####.

 

[Uncle Charlie]

Cracker Barrell, the new one. Took kids a mnth ago around 11. 2 of us ordered breakfast, 2 ordered lunch. Took AN HOUR for us to get our food and my eggs came out wrong. Manger who we complained to about the delay came back a 2nd time. We talked. She said "well, you know, when you order breakfast at lunch time, you have to expect this" I was incredulous and just looked at her and I said, "then why in the name of God do you say "breakfast all day long" and she said, "you can have it but it is going to take a while" and walked away.

Still waiting for the reponse to the letter I worte to them and to the corporate offices. Won't be going back.

 

[mAlice]

Cracker Barrell, the new one. Took kids a mnth ago around 11. 2 of us ordered breakfast, 2 ordered lunch. Took AN HOUR for us to get our food and my eggs came out wrong. Manger who we complained to about the delay came back a 2nd time. We talked. She said "well, you know, when you order breakfast at lunch time, you have to expect this" I was incredulous and just looked at her and I said, "then why in the name of God do you say "breakfast all day long" and she said, "you can have it but it is going to take a while" and walked away.

Still waiting for the reponse to the letter I worte to them and to the corporate offices. Won't be going back.

Just goes to show ya', if you open a restaurant here, the employees will destroy it. Dollars to donuts the cook that ruined your breakfast has ruined somebody else's meal in another restaurant in town.

 

[emiloch]

Cracker Barrel - St. Mary's

Similar experience at the Cracker Barrel in St. Mary's in the late fall. Pitifully slow service, food orders came out wrong/cold/late, servers seemed inexperienced, new, and generally unwilling to figure out what was wrong or how to fix it. We were there late -- just before closing on a Sunday night –- and with so few patrons in the restaurant, you’d think the servers would be on top of things.

I wrote a complaint on the Cracker Barrel corporate Facebook page and have decided to spend my money elsewhere.

 

[MMM_donuts]

Red Robin

This was a couple of years ago but we went in to Red Robin to have dinner one night. We both ordered a beer. The husband was told that his beer's keg was being changed so it would be in a minute. No problem. We ordered food. My plate came out first, without his. I waited for a bit until he insisted that I start to eat. I take a few bites (I don't remember what I had, I think it was like a pasta or some plate full of something like that as opposed to a burger) and then my next fork full pulls a really long black hair out of my dish.

Ok, whatever. That happens. Stuff like that seems to happen to us a lot, which is weird because we try to be super understanding about it. So, I just wasn't going to eat any more of it. I didn't want to ruin the night. I was just going to make beer my dinner Then I ran out of beer. And what seemed like an eternity later, the waitress comes back and gives my husband the wrong beer. It was light and the one he ordered was dark or something like that.

So we asked to see the manager since my husband never even got his food (or his beer, really). The manager was super cool about it and told us not to worry about paying for anything.

Kind of a perfect storm of unfortunate things, I guess.

 

[kwillia]

Just goes to show ya', if you open a restaurant here, the employees will destroy it. Dollars to donuts the cook that ruined your breakfast has ruined somebody else's meal in another restaurant in town.

Completely agree! We get restaurant after restaurant in this area and all suffer from the same crap because it ends up being the same crappy people moving in to work the latest one opened.

 

[MMM_donuts]

.....Some of these stories......holy cow

 

[MMDad]

Cracker Barrell,

I can't really get upset over poor service at a glorified fast food joint like that. I am more irritated when I go somewhere that has been good and get bad service or bad food. There are pathetically few good restaurants around here, so seeing one go bad really sucks.

 

[DEEKAYPEE8569]

Similar experience at the Cracker Barrel in St. Mary's in the late fall. Pitifully slow service, food orders came out wrong/cold/late, servers seemed inexperienced, new, and generally unwilling to figure out what was wrong or how to fix it. We were there late -- just before closing on a Sunday night –- and with so few patrons in the restaurant, you’d think the servers would be on top of things.

I wrote a complaint on the Cracker Barrel corporate Facebook page and have decided to spend my money elsewhere.

That's where your issue began IMO. 'Just before closing' on any night, those folks are gearing up to go home.
We did that to some folks at a Chinese place in California one summer.
There was about 10 of us; maybe more. We went to a reputable place for dinner; got a late start on that. When we got there, they told us they were closing in an hour; but they let us in, fed us and waited for us to leave, so they left much later than they intended to.
Feeling badly about it, we convinced my Aunt & Uncle to leave a BIIIG tip.