Bad restaurant stories

[slotpuppy]

I wonder whats considered a good night in tips for a server at a chain restaurant in Southern Maryland...

When I walk into a restaurant, the tip is 20%, it goes up or down depending on how good the service is.

 

[xobxdoc]

It has been my experience that people with rug rats rarely tip well. That said, I always made sure the food looked right before I took it to the table. There is no excuse to drop something in front of a customer, that you know you wouldn't eat just by looking at it. And a prompt courtesy check after you have left the food, to make sure everything is okay. It's not rocket science.

Apparently it was rocket science for me that day. I bow to your superior serving prowess.

 

[mAlice]

Apparently it was rocket science for me that day. I bow to your superior serving prowess.

You don't need to bow to anything. You just need to look at the food on the plate before leaving the kitchen.

 

[DaisyDuke]

It has been my experience that people with rug rats rarely tip well. That said, I always made sure the food looked right before I took it to the table. There is no excuse to drop something in front of a customer, that you know you wouldn't eat just by looking at it. And a prompt courtesy check after you have left the food, to make sure everything is okay. It's not rocket science.

I make sure to tip well when I have my rugrats. My daughter will talk their ear off and I feel badly. I appreciate the ones that are pleasant and know what they're doing.

 

[ArkRescue]

Brought first time meeting mother-in-law to Topolino's in Clinton in 1999. Sat a in a booth ajoining a half wall and a cockroach was sitting there waiting for our left overs. I told the waitress and she scooped it up with a napkin from our table. On our way out the manager gave us a $50 coupon for not making a scene. We never went back...

Speaking of roaches, we were in an Asian restaurant/bar/carryout/liquor store once (LOL - was one of the local lunch spots for folks working in the AAFB/CENSUS Bureau area of Suitland)..... so we are sitting at the bar having a drink when a HUGE roach walked across the counter. The bartender (wife of owner) picks up a menu and whacks the roach thereby smashing it into the menu, knocks the roach off into the trash, then puts the menu back into the stack of menus w/o even wiping the roach goo off - we left immediately and have never been back in there since.

 

[vraiblonde]

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.

And yet Chick-Fil-A manages to staff their restaurant (fast food, no less!) with polite, clean, functional young people.

I still say it's management. If you hire dregs, that's what you will get. If you neglect to train, and do not supervise the floor, you will have unhappy customers who say mean things about you on Somd.com.

 

[vraiblonde]

I think former waiters and waitresses can either be your best friend or your worst enemy because we know how it should be done. So if you suck, you will absolutely hear about it; and if you are fantastic, you will get a nice fat tip.

Pete and Jazz remember the time I had a counseling session with our waiter at Jake & Al's, encouraging him to reconsider his career path. He ended up buying me a beer.

 

[RoseRed]

I think former waiters and waitresses can either be your best friend or your worst enemy because we know how it should be done. So if you suck, you will absolutely hear about it; and if you are fantastic, you will get a nice fat tip.

Pete and Jazz remember the time I had a counseling session with our waiter at Jake & Al's, encouraging him to reconsider his career path. He ended up buying me a beer.

When Mom and I had dinner at California's Place the first time last month, we were waited on by Brian, the former bartender from CIP. He was very polite and attentive.

 

[FED_UP]

My sister's been a waitress several times, and in some pretty interesting places (perhaps the most interesting was the big truck stop in Laurel).

She has consistently observed that the worst tippers are:

Elderly people (but she doesn't fault them).
Large groups on luncheons (on a per person basis)
Professional women dining alone (one once handed her a dollar and laughed, saying "go to college, sweetie" - and she HAD).

The best couples to wait on, she said, was guys taking girls on dates.

Guy wants to impress the date showing that he has money, better chance to get some butt latter. That was so wrong, "go to college sweety" what is wrong with people today.

 

[ArkRescue]

Guy wants to impress the date showing that he has money, better chance to get some butt latter. That was so wrong, "go to college sweety" what is wrong with people today.

Um excuse me but don't you think that extra money would be better spent on my bills? LOL





j/k

 

[Blister]

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 ####.

I bartended at CHI CHI's in Clinton about 20 years ago. Servers tipped us 3% of their gross sales. They were making $2/hour I was making $6/hour at the time. I definitely busted butt for them on weekends, & none of them squawked about it.

 

[spr1975wshs]

This thread makes me very glad that both my wife and I are very good cooks.

I've worked in food service jobs, bag n gag and fine dine...the incidents and attitudes described get me wondering where is any pride, and sense of doing things right?

 

[GWguy]

This thread makes me very glad that both my wife and I are very good cooks.

Same here.

I've worked in food service jobs, bag n gag and fine dine...the incidents and attitudes described get me wondering where is any pride, and sense of doing things right?

None.

I've pretty much given up on the local restaurants, with a couple of exceptions. I'm tired of mediocre food, presentation and staff. And mediocre is being generous.

I just got back from a trip to Long Island. Finding a bad restaurant is pretty hard. There are so many really good places that anything less than great goes out of business. Every meal we had out this weekend was terrific. Not one single complaint for the food, the staff or the venue, all family owned, one of a kind places, no chains. It's always that way up there.

It irks me to no end to come back home here and see the crap on Rt 235 and what people call "fine dining".

 

[wineo]

It seems that whenever we go out to dinner, there is always something wrong with the order. Overcooked meat, hair in food, wait staff that does not give a damn. Went to GridIron Grill a few weeks back, and the service was awful, food not cooked to order, waitress not checking back with us. Talked to the owner the next day, they really did not care. They will start caring when the "locals" aren't coming back. Hire staff that are over the age of 18, and train them..

Island Inn has closed their resturant. Think their problem has been management and serving pre packaged seafood. Why would you buy frozen when fresh can be delivered everyday to your resturant.

Bad management and poor service will close your doors fast. It is sad that people don't care about customer service anymore.

 

[DEEKAYPEE8569]

Same here.



None.

I've pretty much given up on the local restaurants, with a couple of exceptions. I'm tired of mediocre food, presentation and staff. And mediocre is being generous.

I just got back from a trip to Long Island. Finding a bad restaurant is pretty hard. There are so many really good places that anything less than great goes out of business. Every meal we had out this weekend was terrific. Not one single complaint for the food, the staff or the venue, all family owned, one of a kind places, no chains. It's always that way up there.

It irks me to no end to come back home here and see the crap on Rt 235 and what people call "fine dining".

Around here, it's 'Ah, I don't feel like cooking, let's go somewhere.'
Thing is, "somewhere" is either Taco Bell, Quiznos (sp?); places like that.

I will say, that for a tasty, pretty close to authentic, Mexican meal, you cannot beat Salsa's in L'town; or China Cafe in Callaway, for Chinese.
No, I don't work for either of them; nor am I advertizing for them; it's JMO.

 

[my-thyme]

We go to dinner out so seldom, that getting a bad meal/service REALLY sucks. Now that we are on our own, might get out more often.

Our go-to spot is St James Pub, have NEVER had a bad meal there. Our new go-to spot is Retriever's Grill, haven't had a bad experience there yet - and the food is great!

 

[gemini5715]

Went to First Friday in Leonardtown Friday night and went to El Cerro Grande. After we finished eating a ROACH crawled across our table.....Friend jumped out of the booth and ran out of the establishment so fast!!!.....The waiter just acted like it was nothing. Said "see you next time"....I said....NOPE.Never Again!

 

[withrespect]

Went to First Friday in Leonardtown Friday night and went to El Cerro Grande. After we finished eating a ROACH crawled across our table.....Friend jumped out of the booth and ran out of the establishment so fast!!!.....The waiter just acted like it was nothing. Said "see you next time"....I said....NOPE.Never Again!

They use little bitty frozen shrimp in their shrimp dishes. I think they are the worst Mexican restaurant around here.

 

[Chasey_Lane]

I will say, that for a tasty, pretty close to authentic, Mexican meal, you cannot beat Salsa's in L'town;

 

[GWguy]

Careful.... you'll strain yourself laughing....