Last evening I led a group of H.O.G. Chapter members and guests on a supper ride. We elected to try this restaurant and was the first time for everyone. Thankfully we had a nice ride, because this place was a nightmare.
Initial Impression:
We were a group of 8. Two of us went in ahead of the rest of the group to get a table...and waited...and waited and waited. There were no signs to either seat yourself or wait to be seated. The servers saw us and didn't even acknowledge us. I eventually walked over to the server's station and politely asked if we could have the two tables of four next to each other for our group. I assumed he would come over to our table once we were all seated (2 minutes later after everyone was parked and in).
Service:
Our server couldn't be bothered with us. We ended up getting our own menus after watching him take orders from two tables that came in after us. A trip to the bar finally got him to come over and get drink orders (this is 10 minutes after we sat down). Drinks came back and our server disappeared. One member, who only had water, made the wise decision to leave before ordering. Another 10 minutes and orders were finally taken. Over an hour later, we still didn't have our food, the server had not come back once to check on us, refill drinks or apologize for the long wait.
Another trip to the bar to speak to what was maybe a manager. I was obviously bothering her by expressing my concern. I worked as a bar manager for several years and I judge people on how they treat people they don't have to treat well. As such, I am always polite to those who serve and have to deal with the general public as they generally have to deal with difficult and demanding customers. I continued to be polite and indicated how log we had been waiting, the no refills on drinks and that one of our members (who only ordered water) and that this was a first impression for 8 people. I should also note that it wasn't a full house or a full bar. I said the group was simply going to pay for drinks and leave. A short trip to the kitchen and I was told our food was being plated up and that the delay was that they only had 2 fryers and a lot of people in the bar had ordered wings (but no one in our party had and I could only see 3 wing orders in the whole place). This isn't a big place! 12-16 total bar seats and 8-10 four top tables at most.
For food that "was being plated and would be right out" it took another 10ish minutes. In fairness, the food was decent and hot. I didn't hear anyone in the group complain about the food quality. But here we are, over 2 hours later, and just finishing a meal.
Afterthoughts:
After returning to La Crosse and discussing it with the group over ice cream and coffee at The Pearl (A La Crosse, Wisconsin classic, 5 stars all day, every day), it seems that if they know you at Legacy, you get seated right away and faster service. Apparently a group out-of-towners isn't an important demographic to this establishment. I know what some of you are probably thinking - "group of bikers, rough crowd, probably rowdy, scared them away and so they ignored them" - but this is not the stereotypical biker crowd. Our group was all in clean, decent clothing, a few "Harley" logo items, but nothing offensive or profane. This group was diverse, but not loud and there was no profanity or anything to make us appear as anything other than a group of friends out for supper, which is what we were. This is the easily the 15th ride I've led this year between HOG and other groups, both in the La Crosse area and abroad. At no time, even at restaurants during the Sturgis 75th Rally, did we encounter service this poor and a staff cared less.
The final insult was them crediting our drinks, most of which were fountain soda, because of the delay (the cost of a glass of fountain soda is less than a quarter).
Avoid this place unless you are friends with the staff - it's not worth the wait. read more
