My husband and I have been big fans of this restaurant ever since we moved to Mt. Sterling five…read moreyears ago. The food was generally great, the atmosphere is nice, and the service was just on and off -- generally slow, but we really believe in supporting local businesses so we thought we'd take the bad with the good. However, the last several months have had been terrible in terms of service. One example was when we took one of my work colleagues to T&F a month ago, and the two teenagers working there completely forgot to make my colleague's pizza. They said it was coming and then a half hour later, still nothing. We got, "Dude, sorry," and then they made it after I asked again. Other times, we've had to ask for refills, one of us would have to wait a lot longer for our food, and things were generally just becoming more and more disorganized.
One of our favorite things has been the Four Course Friday events - expensive, but worth it-- until last night. They had raised the price to $39.50 per person (it had been $35 per person), but since we like the food and want to support a small business, we thought, hey it's Dolly Parton day, let's go out and have a great dinner. We made a reservation Thursday evening for Friday at 5:30. I had had a long day at work, and I looked forward to it. When we got there, the kids working the counter seemed confused and disorganized, and when I asked where our table is (we had reservations) they said we could pick one (they usually have people's names on the tables for those with reservations). So we ordered and sat down, and then waited 15 minutes until I went to the counter to ask about our drinks, and they finally brought them. Then again, we waited. There were at least 4 teenagers working (maybe 5), plus an adult who I think is a manager, as well as the owner. Then they eventually brought our salads (course 2) but we still hadn't gotten our appetizers (course 1). When they brought the salads, I asked about the appetizers, and the kid said, oh yeah, they're coming. Eventually we got those, and after we finished, another kid brought us salads (course 2 again), and I had to let him know we already had them. (Note: in the mean time, more and more people were coming in and some people were sitting outside. There were several times where we saw one or more of the kids bring food outside only to bring it back in since there was confusion about who had ordered what etc). We finally got our entrees (course 3), and then we waited forever, and no one stopped by, no one asked if we needed refills of our drinks, no one noticed the empty plates. We saw the kids look our way, but then they just went on serving others or hung out at the counter, talking to each other. I finally asked about our desserts (course 4), and they had to ask us what we had ordered. I told them (again), and they brought me mine and just forgot my husbands. I looked at the clock - another 15 minutes. Nothing. So I finally saw the manager and asked him about what was going on, and he said "16 year olds." A kid finally brought my husband's dessert, but by that time, an hour and a half had passed, and others who came in after us had already left. So we asked for a box to just take it home. So the manager said he would talk to the owner, and he was gone for a while, and he asked for my name and number and said the owner would call me. Then he offered us some free ice cream. I mean, what? We said no thanks and left. I have yet to receive that call.
The owner has not called, and we've heard before from the manager that there's been an issue with finding teenagers with work ethics. This was completely insane, and after spending almost $100 to have such crummy service and a lame response like, "16 year olds"... it's not a valid excuse. There are kids out there with good work ethics, or if you can't find any, hire adults that know what they are doing. These kids need leadership and to be organized. No excuses. Both the manager and the owner were right there. If this would have been a fluke, okay, but it's become a continual problem. Change starts at the top, and if kids are friendly and nice, great, but they have to do the job, otherwise, they should go. At this point, my husband and I have decided to not go back. It sucks and it's a shame. We want Tomatoes & Flames to succeed and will miss their food. But if you can't get your work crew to have their act together, you're going to keep losing more and more customers who were not only willing to spend a lot of money there, but believed in your business.
