I rarely leave negative reviews, but this experience was so poorly handled that I feel others…read moreshould know what to expect.
We were there for a family dinner. My parents arrived first, followed by my brother, sister-in-law, and nephews. My two daughters and I arrived last. My parents had already ordered, eaten, and eventually left after my dad generously paid the entire bill for everyone before our food had even arrived.
My brother's family and I ordered at the same time, yet our meals were placed after there's so we were eating while they were wrapping up. I had ordered the salad bar, but no plate was ever brought to me. After our hot food had already been sitting on the table for at least 10 minutes, I finally had to ask for a plate so I could even get my salad.
When I walked up to the salad bar, I was absolutely disgusted to find a large dead fly sitting directly in the salad mix. Needless to say, I immediately lost my appetite.
I informed our server and simply asked that the salad be removed from the bill. At that point, I didn't realize my father had already paid for everything. Once I found out, I explained that since the bill had already been paid, could they simply apply the value of the salad toward a glass of wine instead, and I would happily pay the difference.
The server told me, "No, I can't do that because he already paid."
That response made absolutely no sense. I wasn't asking for free alcohol--I was asking for the money already paid for a salad I couldn't eat because it contained a dead fly to be applied toward another item, with me paying any additional cost.
I then suggested they simply refund the salad to my father's card. Again, instead of resolving a very simple customer service issue, everything became unnecessarily complicated.
I asked to speak with the manager. The server left to "ask" the manager if I could pay the difference for the wine. She returned saying the manager would let me have the wine "for the price of the salad." In other words...I was still paying for the salad. That completely missed the point.
Then the story changed. The server suddenly claimed she had already removed the salad from my dad's bill, even though she had previously insisted she couldn't because he had already paid and left. She even said she had the receipt to prove it, and I told her I would love to see it. Instead, a few minutes later she simply dropped $5 on the table next to my plate.
What bothered me most wasn't just the dead fly in the salad--it was how the entire situation was handled afterward. No one apologized in any meaningful way. No effort was made to make things right. The manager never came to our table, despite me specifically asking to speak with them. The restaurant wasn't even busy.
Finding a dead fly in food is unacceptable, but poor hospitality and even worse customer service made this experience far more disappointing. I left feeling disgusted, dismissed, and honestly taken advantage of. A simple apology and reasonable accommodation could have completely changed the outcome, but instead, every step felt argumentative and unnecessarily difficult.
Unfortunately, after this experience, I won't be returning.
