My friends and I had a very unpleasant experience at Riley's a few weeks ago and as someone who doesn't normally sweat the small stuff, this experience left me no choice but to speak up for the sole purpose of awareness, accountability and to spare others the same treatment that we had.
We were in Peterborough for the weekend for a dance competition that our daughters were participating in at the Showplace Theatre down the street. It was a very busy and tiring couple of days and on the last day, we thought it would be great to celebrate the kids' accomplishments by going to Riley's for some adult beverages for us parents and some pubfare for the girls. There was about 8-10 of us altogether and perhaps another 2-3 more that may join but wasn't sure. When we finished at the theatre on the Sunday,afternoon , we proceeded to head to Riley's and the girls(15-16yr.olds) went ahead of us and we followed them towards the back as they entered -there was no one at the front to greet/meet them and what do they know about bars and waiting to be seated esp when the place was not full. As mentioned, at this time, the place was not packed and there was only a handful of people at the bar and about 2-3 groups eating at the restaurant area-it was around 5:30pm if I recall correctly. We were then stopped by a waitress who did not appear happy to see us as we confirmed our numbers-one of the dads had mentioned there was about 20 of us, which was not the case as he was thinking of the others that were not confirmed to join-they immediately appeared frazzled with leaky faces telling us to hold on until they can speak to the manager. We did confirm with them that the 20 was an error and there were only actually 10 of us . One of our girls was actually standing beside an empty big square table and would have fit 8 people comfortably with another 2 empty booths- across the way-we also told them that we can sit separately if they couldn't accomodate us all in one space and that we were not difficult. Another waiter eventually came back and proceeded to tell us that they spoke to the manager and was told that we had to move to the pool hall part of the resto??
It was dark and empty there.We then asked to speak to the manager to try and understand what the problem was but was told , he is not around and the conversation was over the phone?? We were cordial and reasonable considering until another waiter came to mention that "well it will be a busy time with the Leafs game on tonight" and you all have to sit at the pool hall which by then did not make sense at all-once again, there were only a few patrons and a good number of free tables at the time and the game would not be on for another hour and half or so . None of it made sense and nobody could give us a reasonable and acceptable response, the staff just kept looking at each other and kept looking away from us. Some of the parents started storming out in disgust with the whole situation as we weren't about to spend our money in this place. On my way out, I spoke to the waiter who initially came and told us he was told by the Manager over the phone to move us to the pool hall and asked him to explain to me what the reasoning was behind that as I just needed to understand and no one was able to provide an answer except "the manager over the phone said so" ..he then proceeded to stutter saying, because there were 20 of us they couldnt sit us in the resto area we were at. I then stopped him to say there was NOT 20 of us but 10 and what does the hockey game thats happening in about 2 hrs has to do with the situation? If you were expecting it to be busy later, are you saying you wont be able to accomodate more people here at the resto??
Once again he couldn't provide me with a straight answer and the leaky face waitress who stood behind the bar the whole time after saying she would be back came up to us to see if everything was ok and I told her a BIG, FAT NO and this was unacceptable treatment of patrons in a half capacity venue and that they will hear of this! She then told me.."well because you guys started taking over"?? I just looked at her and told her that I didnt understand what that meant and that when our girls came in, there was nobody at the front to greet them so they just started walking towards the back to see if they can be seated..and if she considered this "taking over" then I think she needs to re-evaluate where she is working.
We left the venue with a very sour note and left a very bad impression in our kids' eyes.
As a professional who frequents Peterborough because of work, I am always looking for great places to eat or stop in after my visits and have found really nice places in the neighbourhood-I will never recommend Riley's to any group larger than one or any-one for that matter!
To the pathetic staff that showcased their incompetence that afternoon and the manager of Rileys who hired them, you should all be ashamed of yourselves! read more