Friday 4:50pm, we are a family of 5, 2 boys under 11, a 4 year old girl, me and my wife. We are the second family lined up out of three so, it was not too busy. It took 15 min. for the server to greet us with a "free" snack of oil dripping and tasteless corn chips with an out-of-a-can tasting tomato sause (no lime, no onion or cilantro) but hey, its "free". We tell the server we are ordering right away (as we feel at the speed things are rolling we better get food cooking). Boys ordered chicken fingers with fries, my girl a burger (kids menu) and fries, my wife ordered the stake fajitas and I only ordered a Modelo beer because I always eat the left overs and try a bit from everyones food. The drinks for everyone arrive 10 min. later which is okay.
I don't know what a reasonable waiting time before food is served to most people is, but for me I won't make a judgment before 30 min. on a Friday, but this restaurant is not that busy as there are tables around ours completely free and clean, and because we are sitting by the window close to the main entrance I know there is no lineup, I see no one waiting.
At 45 min. after ordering my kids are trying to lay down in the bench, bored, complain they are hungry. Me and my wife look at each other and
we know is time to do something so I try to make eye contact with the server with a polite smile, but I can't because he won't come to our end of the room and he is not looking up either.
At the one hour mark after ordering me and my wife are considering just leaving (leaving enough cash to cover the drinks of course) but I see a man walking towards our table, looks like he might be a manager or assistant. He apologizes for the delay, not giving a reason as to why it has been so long as he repeats a few times that the order has been "punched in" and is a matter of minutes now before the food comes out of the kitchen. After his brief 20 second monologue he leaves, no other interaction, no conversation or any other human touch, just leaves. The food arrives 10 min. later.
My wife's rice is crunchy, is not completely cooked, but is only a small container on the periphery of the plate so she just pushes it aside. My boys chicken fingers are these dry balls of crunchyness half-fat half-chicken (I hope) the size of an apple, just gross, and the fries are equally horrible, like they were powdered with spices from the dollar store, Macdonalds style fries would have been really better.
They were all hungry so the food went in anyways and I finished the left overs like always, that was 2 extra dry chicken balls and half hard-thick-spongy bun burger. But things get better.
The kids meals come with a dessert, we think is better to order the churros in a box to go and ask for the bill right away but, no one comes or checks with us for another 30 min. after finishing our
food. We finally ask a hostess for the bill and explain we want the dessert to go in a box. A different server comes by to pick up the dishes and aks if everything is okay. We explain we just want the churros for the kids in a box
and the bill as we point to the hostess who had also been told the same thing, the hostess notices that we are pointing to her and she and this new server look at each other in agreement that they both know we just want the churros and the bill so we can leave and he says no problem.
The original server finally comes another 10 min later to acknowledge we want the churros in a box and the bill when at that moment one of my boys best friends is been sat right next to our booth. My wife starts a conversation with the mom who showes us pics from her older son travelling in Guatemala and Mexico etc. After all, the evening starts to feel better with this social interaction.
The exchange came to an end, having exchanged the latest kids news from school and all that travelling talk. They are now looking at their menu and me and my wife look at each other thinking, what are we still doing here?
Well, all that social interaction must have been at least another 15 min. After we had ask for churros in a box to go and the bill it had been ONE HOUR at least.
I told my wife and the kids to put their coats on and wait for me in the car, dad is going to do the dad thing and request a manager pronto. They all put their coats on and exit the restaurant. I check that we have not left anything on the bench or under the table as I'm standing alone now putting on my coat when the server shows up and asks me if I've got the churros for the kids, I calmly said no, he says "I'm so sorry I'm a little bit disorganized today" he says that it had been 25 min. since he "punched in" the order and he doesn't know whats going on. I say nothing to see how is he going to solve the situation and he only says well... as he sets up his terminal with $84 to pay. I said "well, go see one last time if the churros are ready". He leaves for the kitchen. I feel one minute goes by. I paid on the terminal. 0 tip. read more
