After a nice long hiatus from reviewing, Huddle House brought me back. I've heard of the place, never been, until today when the opportunity presented itself. Our group was a decent size, but nothing crazy. Five adults and three kids ranging from 3-11. My wife and I ordered and were shorted a bowl of chili on our order, but found it on our bill. Mom had no issues that I know of. Sister #1 ordered a bowl of chili with extra jalapeños, was charged for loaded chili and extra jalapeños, and was given a regular chili with only 6 jalapeño slices. Sister #2 was charged for a large chocolate milk and served a small, the order was for a small chocolate shake. The waitress came back to verify her son's order claiming she couldn't read her own hand writing, then failed to deliver his food at all. When we realized it wasn't delayed due to the previous error, my sister flagged the waitress down and was met with "you should have said something sooner," and then she walked away as the cook voiced his realization that the order had been forgotten from his side of the room. Still no apology, the food came out eventually.
Taking a look around, there were 2-3 tables aside from ours, so not busy at all by any standard. I won't get into the wait for our food because it was the least of my concerns. It wasn't horrible if you remove the fact my nephew had to wait an extra 10-15 minutes for his food. But a few things didn't take place that should have. Menu states bottomless drinks, tho most of us say with empty glasses the entire meal.
Moving on, I already mentioned the bills coming and the errors, but just to provide some detail here, when the tickets came, my nephews food was on the bill, no discount or apology still. It was here that I remembered the chili I never received (as my nephews meal not coming at all had taken my attention). I was charged for the chili, of course. And as stated, my nieces order was never corrected with the exception of the charge for a large chocolate milk being reduced to a small. As she was notified of the errors, the waitresses response was one of aggregation, "well some of this is my fault but the kitchen did some of this." Still. No apology. None.
Ok, so now consider that our table is literally 5 feet from the register, now we get to hear the waitress going at it with the kitchen about all the errors and where the blame goes. As we wait for the corrected tickets to come, another question is answered. The single table between us and the register has a purse, a jacket, some cleaning supplies and some mail sitting on it. What the hell? More of an oddity than anything. But nowhere near a major issue. As our waitress brings us the corrected tickets, she stops at the table, opens her purse to grab something, tidied up her mail, then walks away! Apparently we were siting in her office.
Anyway, the food was actually pretty ok. I would say the pricing is too high, as a burger and fries at $9 or so should have more substance. The fries are obviously bulk bought frozen fries, and the burger, despite being a double, was smaller than a McDonald's double cheese. The fry serving was on par with a small fry from the same place. My sisters $5 bowl of chili was served in a shallow bowl, making it look bigger than it was. It looked like something out of a can. I could be wrong. The waffle my son ordered and the pancake my niece ordered were both pretty big, no concerns there. My nephews omelette was the biggest item but it was also the most expensive. Everyone else ordered sandwiches that frankly i paid no attention to.
Professionalism and pride in service are not something to expect here. Neither is a quick meal. For the wait, the price, and the service, I'd prefer to go to fast food, get a better meal in 1/3 of the time and half the price. Fast food might mess up now and again, but they always make it right and apologize. Litchfield has had much better food places fail for one reason or another, and Huddle House is destined to be an empty building if this is the best they can do. read more