We ate at this place, a well known place, a few months ago, sat, and sat, and sat, for 15 minutes, and we, and others, got up and left. I had forgotten that, so the wife and I and our daughter went there to eat.
The first thing that happened, I pulled in and was able to park, by the front door, as did our daughter. We walked in, no one approached us, we didn't know whether to seat ourselves, or wait for someone to seat us. A woman came out of the kitchen, and asked, "How many?" .... There were three of us standing there, so we said, "Three."
Now, she was our first contact with anyone, and, well, she weighed about 300 pounds, and was wearing a golf type shirt, which accentuated her weight, and, I am not complaining, but in my opinion, she was not the person to welcome us, and be our first impression of the restaurant and the entire chain.
We were seated and given menus. Drink order taken and brought, given time to go over the menu, and our server came to take our order. My daughter suggested the Potato-crusted Flounder, which sounded good, had that with a baked potato, broccoli and rolls, no tartar and only butter for the potato. Melissa had the same, and my wife had something else.
After a reasonable time, he served my wife her dinner, and in front of my daughter and I, he placed a plate, with a small portion of fish in the middle of the plate. The baked potatoes were not ready yet, OH, and he forgot about our broccoli, So I started on the fish, the soggy fish, the potato crust was little to none. Nice flavor, but a bit soggy.
Then after a pause, the broccoli came, on a small plate, and I put it on my big plate so the soggy fish did not look so lonely. I ate my fish, and the broccoli, then a roll, and then, with a flourish, he proudly brought our two baked potatoes. They were adequate, but I have seen potatoes much, much larger. I asked our young male server if I could get mine with ice cream and just have it for dessert. That statement flew right over his head.
I ate a few bites of the potato, I had really lost my appetite by then, we were afraid to try dessert.
Now, why, would a popular, large, experienced restaurant chain, allow a plate, like that, to be served? I honestly do not understand that. If you can't do something "right" ........ don't do it at all. We will never go back, and they don't care, they say they do, but they don't.
Our experience might explain why I was able to park right in front, by their door, slow business.
I sent them an Email, similar to this blog. They have acknowledged receipt of it. I may get a letter or an email from them, maybe some coupons, which I will throw out, because I am not eating there any more. I sent them the Email as constructive criticism. Why would they think that I would want to go through that experience again? A "thank you for your critique" would suffice.
They had their chance, and blew it....................
As for the above picture ... the fish was a half of that portion, little to NO breading, and soggy from sitting in liquid, the potato, when I finally got it, was half that size, and I received half that amount of broccoli. The price on the menu was the only accurate representation on the menu. Now I remember why we don't eat out. I should have been clued in by the few people sitting around us as they were eating french toast.............
