When we first arrived, we were told there would be a five minute wait so we sat and stood around for about five minutes, which was no issue and we had asked for an outside table and we were quickly seated outside however, that's when the fun began. We were there, five minutes, then 10, then 15, then 20, and soon after the 20 minute mark one of the servers that walked by us several times noticed us because my wife was staring at her and she stopped and asked if had been helped, to which we answered no we have not. I stated we've been here over 20 minutes so she said let me get your beverages. So she went and got us our Arnold Palmer drinks, dropped them off but did not return for an additional 10 minutes totaling about 30 minutes before anybody took our order.
The ironic aspect of the entire situation was that there were many servers and buss personnel coming in and out from the restaurant to the patio. No one looked our way, they all looked away from us with separate agendas requiring their linear focus on their tasks so no one stopped to ask if we had been served.
During all of this, I called the main number to the restaurant to ask for a manager, and was told by the hostess that the managers were too busy to come to the phone and she asked if they could call me back, so I gave her my number, but I never received a return call. So, I went on Facebook to track down customer service to ask them what's going on and if somebody could come out to the patio to talk with us and take care of our dinner.
At the 30 minute mark, the manager did come out and it was the same exact time that the owner had called to tell me that she had just left the store and I said oh that's OK. The managers out here now so we can get this resolved. However, the owner was really nice and turned around and came back after a very busy day and apologized, and took care of us bringing us silverware and straws and told us she was going to comp our meals and then we could have dessert too, which was very nice and gracious.
However, as soon as the manager left, as well as the owner we were at the mercy of our server who was completely overwhelmed, forgetting my refill 3 times and then never coming back with the ketchup for the dinner. We felt bad for the server and left her a good tip, but clearly she needs some guidance and some support to learn how to handle a situation involving poor timing and customer service turning it into a positive outcome for both parties.
The atmosphere was nice. The place was pretty clean and when we were sat outside, the patio had three other table tops with customers and the interior seating was probably at 80% capacity with a good many people sitting in around the bar area. We knew this because the server was continuing to go in front of the door by the patio, taking care of the customers inside at the table near the window window, but did not come through to ask us if we needed anything hence the leaving off the ketchup and taking three trips before we were able to get a refill on my beverage. Again, the server was very nice. She just needed somebody to give her support and back up to help her deal with all of her tables, missing our table and taking care of everybody's needs.
As you can see from the pictures, the patio is not that busy but kudos to the kitchen for turning out really a nice pretzel appetizer as well as salsa and chips with a refill of salsa. She then promptly returned several minutes later with my all-American burger and my wife's buffalo chicken sandwich.
With all this occurring we decided not to book the Father's Day special dinner as we figured the place would be bogged down with a full seating, compared to today's moderate business.
The server returned and we chatted. She had the bill in her hand which she carried away, but first asking us if we'd like to go beverages, never once asking if we'd like the dessert offered by the owner.
My wife and I were thinking of making this our Wednesday dinner spot, but after all this we decided it would be best if we look elsewhere. We appreciate the meal comp, but as soon as management left it went back to what we experienced before they arrived at our table.