After an impromptu decision to go out to dinner last night, my boyfriend and I started to brainstorm of where we should go. I googled restaurants near me, and recognized Randall's right away. I hadn't been here in well over two years, and all my prior dining experiences were wonderful. I was so excited to share this restaurant with my boyfriend for his first time.
While we tend to prefer sitting at the bar for a meal, upon walking in we saw that it was completely packed (not unusual for a Saturday night). The hostess was great (probably the best part of our evening), and she asked if we had reservations. I told her no, and she said that she thinks she can seat us for two. In less than 5 minutes she came back with a smile and led us to our table.
Upon seating, our waitress greeted us and asked us for our drink orders. She came back with our drinks and even kindly poured my martini in front of me, specifically stating she prefers to do it this way, so that half the drink does not spill out on her walk over here (which I found thoughtful).
We saw her take the drink orders of the table next to us, and when she walked near us and made eye contact, we told her we were ready to order some appetizers. She stated that she needed to take one more drink order and she would be right with us. After taking that order, she did not make her way back to our table. The next time we saw her we asked if we could put in our appetizers, where she again, stated that she needed to take a drink order first. At this point in time, I am not bothered one bit by this, and I show complete patience and gratitude when she comes to finally take our order.
We put in our appetizers, expecting that we would receive them, take our time to eat them, and then put in our entree order. Instead, after we give her our appetizer order, she asks us what we want for our entree. On a side note, I have worked in restaurants before, and I can appreciate that at this point, she may have been overloaded with tables and wanted to get our order in to manage her time, so I gave her our entree order. We decided to split an entree, which seemed to bother her for some reason. Having worked in the restaurant industry myself, I know that when i would put in full course orders all at once, I could set a pause or timer on when it would get sent to the kitchen for cooking. The restaurant i worked at was no where near this level, in fact it was a chain, and so I assumed that a high end place like this would have at minimum, a similar style POS system.
We ordered two lump crab with brown butter for our appetizers, along with a salad to split, and then the seafood combo to split. She never even asked us if we wanted them separately, at which intervals, etc. I assumed again, that at a restaurant of this level, everything would come out separately. My boyfriend is a faster eater than myself, but by the time he finishes, and I am only 1/4 of the way through my appetizer, our salads come out. I am a little surprised at this point, but still not completely turned off as a salad could also technically be viewed as an appetizer, and it doesn't get cold just sitting there.
I specifically put the salad far and away from my crab appetizer while I finish my first plate. During this time, we order two more drinks. At the moment I am finishing my last few bites of crab, the entree comes out. Again, i push now the third plate of food, off to the side so that I can actually take time to enjoy my salad. By the time we finish our salads, I can see and feel that the entree has gone cold.
It takes a lot for me to complain and ask for something to go back to the kitchen, but I just found the manner in which all the food practically came out all at once, completely shocking for a restaurant of this magnitude. When she brought our second drinks, which included a martini pre-poured, which overflowed onto our table, I began to ask her if she could possibly put our entrees under some kind of broiler to reheat it because it came out before I had even started my salad. The waitress didn't even let me finish my complete sentence and she turned around to help the table of 5 next to us. My boyfriend even asked me if she heard what I said, but apparently she did because once she finished the table next to us, she took our plates.
Once we got our re-heated food, it was a good meal. I am the type of person who, having worked in the industry, will leave a 20% tip if I had an awful experience. My average tip is closer to 30-35%. That night I left her 20%. I always try to put myself in someones shoes when things go bad, but I know that as a server myself, I would certainly not let my frustration go out on my guests, especially if their issues were legitimate ones. Sorry to say, if I even go back, it will be bar seating or nothing. read more