First, it takes a lot for me to leave a bad review. And since I hate doing so, I have read all of the owners' retort to prior low reviews and can say that it was not the "first night" of our servers occupation there, nor was it "busy" - at all. It was very busy on our first visit two nights prior and while the service wasn't good (at all), we didn't feel the need to review it. But tonight... its just inexcusable and crazy to me that an establishment wants to treat people poorly for no reason at all.
Especially considering that we had just eaten here two nights prior, being served almost $200 worth of food on napkins, and ignored that significant inconvenience. (When we asked for plates, we wondered if we were in the wrong by their response, LOL)
We loved the cider and the atmosphere, and since it was close to where we are staying, we decided as a family that the food was good enough to return tonight and tomorrow.
We made our reservation for 7:00 earlier in the day, arrived five minutes prior, and were seated by a young girl in a Phoebe Bridgers tee. The area that we were sitting in was surprisingly not busy, and there were several tables that were on their way out. We sat. And we sat. And we sat some more. The person that we *think* was our waitress walked by us no less than ten times and looked away from our table each time she passed. I figured she wasn't our server during those moments because of her utterly standoffish behavior. After about 15 minutes, my Husband mentioned that they were too busy to send a server our way and offered to order our ciders at the bar. I agreed that was an acceptable option because it was uncomfortable sitting there while two servers continued to look at each other and walk past us repeatedly. When he reached the bar, the friendly bartender asked him if we had a table outside. He answered that we did but could not tell her a table number as we are patrons, not employees. At that moment, the other waitress ran into the back to tell someone what was going on, and my husband was told that they would bring our drinks to us. Several minutes passed, and the person I had initially thought was our waitress brought our drinks to us and was extremely rude and put out. She asked us if they were our drinks, and when we answered yes, she smirked and cut me off when I told her why we went to the bar to order the drinks. She again cut me off to ask if we also ordered food (when we ordered the drinks... AT THE BAR), and I was so shocked at this point that I told her we would enjoy our drinks and consider if we would order. She then told me to give her my menu (which I obliged, again in shock at this behavior) and left.
During this time, we witnessed her checking out several other tables that hadn't had food service in our time there, and my teenage daughter and I both. had uncomfortable encounters with her staring us down and giving us looks. Another jovial server in a yellow tank top came by to fill our water, and we were hopeful that someone had seen what was happening and replaced her as our server. We were willing to work with ANYONE else because it was nearing 8 pm. Alas, she was helping fill our water, and our original unfriendly server returned after about twenty minutes to ask if we wanted anything to eat after she had taken our (unmemorized) menus. I told her that we had decided we were done, and she asked if we were sure. We reiterated that we were ready to go and were met with a cheery "Ok then," - which was even more of a smack in the face because it furthered our feelings of not being wanted in the establishment.
She returned with our tab and told us she had given us a "little discount" for us "being missed," and at that point, it just felt like more snark. Sadly her name was "Night Shift," so we don't have a reference for a name but want to thank her for ultimately sending us to Oystercatcher, which we had entirely dismissed over shoddy reviews about "price" that was completely inconsequential, as the service was STELLAR. So much so that I almost fainted when our server told us she was 17 because she was running circles around the large crowds there.
Disclaimer:
Pictures are from our experience Saturday- as proof that we did indeed patronize this establishment. read more