First and last visit on July 3rd, 2012.
I read the reviews on yelp (and urban spoon) AFTER my experience two days ago at The Cottage. Not only was the food mediocre, but the service was 100% atrocious. I'm in my late 30's and I've never had service as awful as I did here. Here is the review I shared with friends- every local family I'm acquainted with in fact (which equates to a lot of potential patrons!)
"Please, I beg you, do NOT go to The Cottage on Main St in Ayer. I have honestly never, in my many years of being a patron to various businesses, received such atrocious service in my life. We were the only "in house" diners and were beginning to be shooed out of the place a little more than 30 minutes before closing. First with sweeping, then stacking of dining room chairs, followed by a super rude waitress/employee/young college aged girl who asked if she could take our tray away for us (and then proceeded to throw it away with an unbelievable amount of attitude), followed then by the mopping of the floors. We had asked and confirmed at each of these "hints to leave" that closing was at 9pm. When we asked about the mopping and if it would be safe to walk out, "Brian" approached us. He said he is the owner, and then later said he was part owner and that The Cottage belongs to his family, asked us to leave. It was 8:50pm. When we questioned why, rather than answer our question, he told us he'd report us to the police for being rowdy. Wow, just wow. Never will I go back. First and last visit."
In addition, I looked up" The Cottage, Ayer" on Facebook to see if they had a "fan/like" page and a picture of "Brian" came up (only because he has The Cottage listed as his employer) identifying him as a 19 year old college student...only according to Facebook this person's name is Zak Keeley- not Brian. Interesting what a little looking around on the internet can turn up- all publicly viewable I might add.
I have two friends who have said they like the Cottage and that they find the owner to be great, but they say he's in his 40's- certainly not 19. At this point it is fairly clear to me that a young employee was impersonating the owner which in itself is awful. Seriously, who does that?
Lastly, I've read the terribly unprofessional replies from Morris Babcock regarding unfavorable reviews from what appears to be his business (have not confirmed he owns the place), and I will say that I considered going to the establishment to discuss things with the owner since any unfavorable reviews are accused of "hiding behind their posts (submitted to review sites such as this)", but after reading the replies from this person I have opted to write a review- not as an example of hiding behind a post, but in an effort to inform and reach a lot of potential patrons It's good for people to know what they're getting into should they decide to spend their money here.
I would most certainly NOT recommend this restaurant to anyone I know based 100% on the level of service (or lack thereof) shown to me and my party on July 3rd, 2012. read more