Short version: No manager on duty. No senior staff in charge. Kitchen far behind, not communicating to wait staff. Wait staff vastly undertrained. Wait staffnot communicating to customer kitchen is behind. Wait staff ignoring/not checking on table during the long wait.
Here's what happened: Arriving the parking lot was nearly full so we expected a wait for a table. We actually got a table right away. The wait staff took the drink order & appetizer order right away. Received drinks, except the bar order - because when we asked the wait staff, Lily, she forgot to enter it. Received the appetizer. Forgot plates, napkins & silverware. Received the bar order. Ordered the meals, six dinners. Finished the appetizer. Waiting. Placed another bar order for 1 drink. Received bar order. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting. We were not told the kitchen was running behind. We could see it was busy so we were trying to be patient. The view of the lake is beautiful. Waiting. All drinks are empty. Waiting. Wait staff Lily is not checking in with us to see if we need more drinks and is definitely not communicating that the kitchen is behind. Waiting. Waiting. I ask a different wait staff to please send our wait staff Lily over. Don't know if that wait staff ever told Lily because she came to clear the empty table next to us. I turn around and say "excuse me, could you check on our food?" Wait staff Lily says yes BUT instead fills and brings water to a table outside. We watch her go out with the water then come inside only to go directly back to clear the table next to us. I turn around again, "Excuse me, can you check on our food?" Wait staff Lily says yes then casually walks away. Waiting. Wait staff Lily comes over and says our food is coming up "right now". We now ask for a manager. She said there isn't a manager there. No manager. No one in charge. No senior, well seasoned staff even acting as manager for the night.
She then goes to sit in the back corner with 2 other wait staff. And we're waiting again. Finally the food comes out. At this point Lily finally says sorry about the wait. Ok but we ask again to talk to a manager. They sent over a young bartender, not the manager, but unfortunately for him he's the one chosen to talk with us. He says "we can do 10 or 20 percent off." At this point it's too little too late. We suggest that they use the 10-20% to put towards management and training. Obviously the kitchen was having trouble keeping up. Obviously wait staff needs more training. Lily had no hustle, no common customer service skills, no friendliness, no copping skills, no urgency, little to no training. And you absolutely need to have management on site. With our bill, it's timestamp was 5:48pm, order food came out at 7:20pm. That's outrageous to have to wait 1 1/2 hours without any communication. read more