Ugh, where do I begin.
So my wife and I drove up from Massachusetts to Turning Stone last night to meet some family members for dinner who had driven in from Rochester, NY. Not really a half way point, but we figured we'd hit the casino afterwards (which we did) and play some games before heading home - a 3 hour drive.
Weren't sure where we were going to eat when we arrived, but since there were five of us plus an almost 2 year old (before you say anything, the 2 year old didn't go in the casino - we're not like that), we decided the buffet at "7 Kitchens" would be the best option. The hostess at the door who checked us in was very nice, told us there'd be a bit of wait, but ended up getting us seated in 45 minutes instead of the hour and 15 minutes she'd originally predicted.
I approached the counter to pay for all of us, after which another hostess began escorting us to our table - five of us plus a kid in the stroller, remember? She gets us to the set of tables she intended to seat us at, only to find out they hadn't been cleaned yet. "No biggie" we figured, just sit us somewhere else or clean the tables. Not a huge deal. She walks away for a moment, comes back, and asks us to follow her to a different spot to be seated. She brings us to two single tables (single meaning meant for two people) that were situated together (yes, for four adults in this configuration), says "enjoy your meal", and walks away. Keep in mind, we have five adults and a baby. This table arrangement was NEVER going to work for a party of our size.
There was another single table sitting by itself, so since no one from 7 KItchens was there to direct us, we took it upon ourselves to reposition the two tables they had us seated at, and add a third single table, to accommodate all of us comfortably. Let the games begin!
The tables hadn't been moved more than 5 seconds when one of the hostesses came over and said "Like we said when you checked in, tables can't be moved under any circumstances". My sister chimed in first, saying "how are you going to fit five adults and a baby at two single tables?", to which the hostess replied "well, it has to be done with all of the tables in their original configuration". This is when my wife and I chimed in, my wife first, saying "Okay, you reposition the tables and show us how the five of us and a baby are going to sit here". I followed with "you told us our table was ready, you took us to it, discovered it wasn't ready for us, and dropped us here, at a table that was never going to work for a party of our size". At this point, another woman who may have been at a higher level in the restaurant came over and repeated the narrative from the other hostess that "tables cant be moved under any circumstances". Before we could say anything else, she added "the rules are made by someone at a higher level, not me", after which, she told us "and there are no managers here for you to talk to about this." We hadn't even asked for a manager and she was already telling us no one above her was available to chat with about the situation. Horrible attitude for someone in her line of work.
We continued to express our dissatisfaction with there lack of preparedness and disorganization, after which she condescendingly said "if you're not happy with this table, you can go back on the wait list", which is pretty much when I lost it. I said "we've already been on your wait list and because you screwed up seating us where we were supposed to be seated initially, were supposed to uncomfortably situate ourselves here?". She basically said "yep, thats how it is". By this time, everyone around us is watching the exchange, I'm irate, as is the rest of our family, Finally, the two hostesses concede defeat, realizing were not going to back down, and agree to seat us at another table. Anyone want to guess where they seated us? Yep, you guessed it, at the three single tables situated next to one another where they had originally planned to seat us, and it was fine. Completely comfortable and perfect for the number of people in our party.
Side note: the attendant we had assigned to our table seemed to be having a bad day too. We did end up leaving her a tip because I didn't want to blame her for the actions of her peers, but clearly, she wasn't happy with her job either.
Our very first visit to Turning Stone Casino to meet family for a nice dinner, and this is how these two hostesses decided to handle the situation. We enjoyed our time in the casino, so I would go back there again, but I won't step into 7 Kitchens again, EVER! Total turn off, and not how you treat customers. First impressions are everything, and these two absolutely blew it. read more