On 12/11/2021, I walked into Gerstle's at 6p. There were about 30 people in the place. I sat at a table for 30 mins & not one person from the staff approached me. As I sat there, a waitress immediately seated a party of 5 on the porch area, and took their order. I went up to the bar to ask for a menu, as it was very apparent that, since I was not in a "large" party, I was not a priority. As I was standing at the bar, waiting for a menu, I witnessed the bartender (Noelle) arguing with the bar back. The waitress that had ignored me for the last 30+ minutes, went behind the bar, and Noelle started going off on her. I finally got the menu and went back to my table. I sat there for another 20 minutes without ANYONE acknowledging that I was even there. I went back to the bar and asked if I could place my order. Noelle took my order, but acted like I was noting but a nuisance with the fact that she had to stop and actually take a paying customer's order. While standing there, I noticed a sign that threatened customers that if they walk out on their tab, a 25% gratuity would be added to their final bill. If people are walking out on their tabs, maybe it's not the customer, BUT THE STAFF that is the problem! Once my order was taken, I went back to the table. It was now 6:45p. At 7:00p, a man came up to me, put his hand on my shoulder, and stated, "I need you to move. This table is reserved." I asked if he was the manager, and he stated that he was. His name is Michael, and he is (apparently) the GM. I stated that the table was in no way marked as "reserved", I would move, but I wanted to discuss the poor service that I had already received. All he could do was state "the POS system has been down for an hour." Okay...not really MY problem. What is shocking is that if the POS system goes down, there is no "Plan B". There are no duplicate order tickets. They write down the orders on register tape. The time was now 7:15p. I moved to another table and sat there for another hour. Michael walked by, noticed that I was in the middle of writing a review, and asked me to be "nice". Now, the time is 7:45p. I had already been in the restaurant an hour and 45 minutes...and I still did not have my food order. Meanwhile, the table of 5 on the porch, had already eaten and left. Michael walked by again, and I asked where my order was. He stated, "The POS went down for an hour, and we have 40 handwritten tickets in the kitchen." 8pm, the large group showed up at the "reserved" table. Immediately, they were met with 2 waitresses that took their orders. One by one, I see their food being brought to them. I was still waiting. 8:30p, my food was finally brought to the table. I had ordered the BBQ Pork bowl & a cheeseburger w/onion rings. When the waitress brought the food to the table, there were no utensils. I asked for utensils, and she ran to the kitchen and comes out with about 20 forks in her hand. She then proceeded to grab each for by the prongs & distribute them. She did NOT sanitize her hands prior to touching the utensils. When looking at the food, the pulled pork was extremely dry and overcooked, and upon tasting was extremely salty. The temperature of the food was luke warm. The cheeseburger came with no cheese, was burnt & very cold, the lettuce & tomato were wilted & warm. The onion rings were also overcooked in dirty oil. I honestly thought I would be able to salvage the onion rings, and asked for a "to go" box with Noelle. It was 8:30p. At 9:30p, I decided to ask Noelle for the box again. Her reply, "Well, we're busy!" and walked away. I watched 2 waitresses running around appeasing the large group & ignoring everyone else in the area. Around 9:30p, I finally got the attention of Michael and said, "I asked for a box over an hour ago. All I want is a damn box, pay my damn bill and leave this place!" Michael (literally) gasped, and stated "Ma'am you don't need to cuss. It's very unprofessional." I'm a paying customer. If anyone was unprofessional, it is the staff at Gerstle's. I also spoke to the Owner, Erik White. He is the worse business owner I have ever had the misfortunate to speak too. He lied and stated he was at the venue that night. If he was, you would think he would have jumped in to help out his staff. But he didn't. Truth is, he located in Louisville, KY and could care less about his restaurants. He was pissed off that I called him on a Sunday to let him know about his restaurant. A REAL owner would work on fixing the issues, not laughing at the complaints the way Mr. White did. He honestly didn't care. All I got was excuses from being understaffed and how lazy his previous workers are, by not coming back and "collecting unemployment." Maybe, they didn't come back because the owner & management are ignorant, selfish, and inept in how to run a business? Don't waste your hard earned money at a business where the owner doesn't care about the customers! read more