My family and I have been frequent customers of this location for about half a year since our move. Proximity to where we live, friendly service, gluten free options, and a relatively kid friendly environment have all been reasons for our returning again and again.
Most recently, just a few days ago, we were served moldy food. Visible mold, luckily, so I was able to spot it. My burger bun had little bits picked out and other spots of green (which I first mistook for some other food having grazed against it), and finally the fuzzy black mold that I then also spotted on my husband's bun. We had to wait a while before our server came back to make sure everything was ok.
I was going to ignore that we were given the wrong salad dressings and that my burger was undercooked (I asked for well done and was given a medium/medium rare, but because I'm pregnant it was important to me) because I didn't want to come off as difficult. And even though we ordered gluten free buns due to an allergy at the table the server did not ask if our order was allergy related (which is the practice at this restaurant) to ensure other items, like the salad dressing, don't have gluten (so much stuff does these days).
When we were finally checked on, we received big apologies and even the manager came out to apologize. We were polite and didn't want to make a big deal out of it or give our server a hard time about the other things that were wrong with our order.
We had to wait again for our burgers. Meanwhile, we have already been there about 1.5 hours and our toddler's patience and french fries were running out.
The second round had no mold, but the burgers were a bit burned (better than undercooked in my case), but definitely tasted a bit bitter as a result. Fine. We were not given new silverware even though one set was taken with the first moldy order. So my husband and I had to take turns with one fork to eat our salads. Fine. These aren't huge errors, but when these consistent acts of lack of attention pile up your experience really feels like they don't care about you and all that friendliness is just fake.
The result? Didn't even get a discount for the moldy food and having to wait even longer for the right order. Not even some token free dessert (which is a hard skip for me anyway because that gf chocolate cake is hard as a rock and flavorless), or free drink. Some token gesture to not make us pay full price for our time and also safety (btw I took a huge bite of the beef before I saw that it was undercooked, luckily I took the top bun off first because I wanted to remove some of it before eating it too, so I didn't eat the mold, but I did eat undercooked meat).
I know they wouldn't appreciate a verbal tip, but they certainly didn't put their money where their mouth is with their very big issues. Wonder if the health department has checked up on them recently...
After this experience I genuinely feel like they just don't care. There is not attention to detail when it comes to the food and it has shown up in flat out harmful ways. I simply don't trust them now. Their practice seems to be "smile and hope the customer doesn't notice." Take a look in your/your child's fruit cup next time; how many past due pieces of fruit do you see (I've had to remove almost half of the pieces in the past)? How's that gf pizza--they specialize in gf things after all? Is is burnt around the edges? Happened to us too, at least then we got a free pie! But still this is an indication that you need to cook it at a different temperature, need a new recipe, thicker dough, different oven...something. Orapax has gf pizzas with no burnt crusts. It is possible. The attitude that "well the gf one just burns in the pizza oven *shrug*" is exactly the overall ethos of this place.
All our servers have been friendly and you can tell people are smiley even under masks, but their food safety and quality needs some serious work.
Also the gf bagged chips that come as the gf option are cheap and gross. And your gf entrees are both seafood, not very imaginative for a place that boasts a separate gf menu and awareness about the allergy. And your wine is usually served too warm (both red and white). I'll keep adding to the list of minor offenses as I recall them...
Next time I'm going to 5 Guys for my smash burger and I'll gladly eat it out of a lettuce wrap because service there is just as friendly, the burger is cheaper and just as satisfying, and they have a 99/100 health score. What's your health score Baker's Crust?
Summary: they smile but just don't seem to care, so check your food for your own safety...
Edit: I hope the manager's comment gives future patrons a sense of security in the food safety. My other issues with quality remain. And yes, we were gracious customers and always tip well, but a discount would have been nice (and expected). read more