10 acres/Sidney Pier location
Let me start off by stating that I generally write reviews for stellar service and epic fails. Sadly, this review is for the latter. I'm not really sure what's going on with the service at this establishment. Think twice before eating here.
It's Valentine's Day, and I made a reservation at least 2 weeks ago. When we arrived (about 5 minutes late), there was approximately 8 people ahead of us (party of 2) waiting in a line along the entry wall.
The hostess apologized stating they got double booked for reservations but that we would all eventually be seated. Approximately 30 minutes later, we were seated at a table. It was now 35-40 minutes past our reservation time. It's LOUD and the chairs aren't very comfortable. Little did I know we would be sitting in them for almost 2 hours.
We had chosen our drinks and menu items, and waited, and waited, and waited for someone to take our order. About 20 minutes after we sat down, our server finally came stating that there was some confusion between her and another server - each one thinking the other was looking after us. Sigh...
We were off to a great start. And believe me, it does get worse. I ordered the French onion soup (which was tasty) to start and then a couple of steaks for our entrees. At least 20 minutes after placing our order, I had to flag down our server and ask her about my soup. She said something about how she thought she saw our meals waiting and she disappeared. I looked at my husband a little confused as I had said soup, not our meal. Well, she came with my soup! Okay, good. But it was very hot, so I stole some ice from the bottom of my husband's drink glass in an effort to cool it down. I wanted to try and eat this quickly in case our meals came but as I was rushing to eat it, I ended up burning my mouth. Of course. Then 5 minutes after my soup came, our entrees arrived. I don't know how long it takes the average person to eat French onion soup, but I was only 1/3 through my bowl in those 5 minutes. Before the meals were placed on the table, we asked him to take them back to the kitchen to keep them warm as I had just gotten my soup and would like to finish it. Without a word, he (appeared to be the Manager) walked our meals back to the kitchen. Strange that he didn't say anything. Not a word that we recall.
I finished the soup and our server took the bowl away. And not a word from her either. She didn't ask how I liked it or anything similar. Didn't ask us if we wanted another drink either. Basic restaurant customer service. I watched as she disappeared with the dirty bowl and then reappeared without our meals - just standing around. It took another 5-10 minutes for someone else to actually bring us our entrees back.
We both ordered the striploin steaks; 1-7oz medium well and 1-14 oz medium. My smaller steak was tough and a little undercooked and my husband's was tender but overcooked. Almost like we had different cuts of meat. I gave him my undercooked meat while he cut off his overcooked meat and we switched. Not an ideal way to enjoy $35 and $50 steak dinners. And by the way, we ordered the "add-on" onion rings which leads the patron to believe you get them AS WELL AS the frites, but you don't. This is NOT an ADD-ON it is an UPGRADE. 10 ACRES, THIS WORDING IS DECEPTIVE AND SHOULD BE FIXED!!!
Alas, I digress... but again, not one word from our server or anyone about 'how is your meal so far'? And not a peep when the plates were taken away. By this time, the restaurant was becoming quieter as it was around 8:30pm. Our server didn't ask us if we wanted any dessert, but came with the bill and apologized for the mix-ups right off the bat. Odd, but appreciated. We felt completely ignored the whole time we were there. Like we had taken some sort of invisible pill. I wouldn't mind that superpower but going out to dinner isn't where I would use it!
I did ask for some form of compensation and some was granted by the Mgr.
To be fair, everyone has a bad day - and it WAS busy. However, I had read some poor reviews of this restaurant prior to booking the reservation, but thought that those reviewers had exaggerated. Perhaps they were, but I can tell you that there is no exaggeration here in this review. I have never been a server but I have been in retail for over 35 years. I know customer service. Good, bad and indifferent. If you have read the entire review I think you will agree that the service was exceptionally slow - is this a kitchen staffing issue? Mgmt? Owner? Poor hiring choices? NO hiring choices?? Not sure, but this experience was a gong show from the moment we stepped in the door. My husband asked me on the way home if I felt this was the worst service we had ever received in our 30 years together. Mmmm, if not the worst, then a close second. Yikes. Not sure how they're staying in business. It is safe to say, that we will never go back. It's really too bad, because this is a great location. read more