45+ Minutes in 100° Heat, Passed Over Repeatedly, Then Offered a High-Top for a Toddler…read more
Our experience at George's today was so bizarre, frustrating, and poorly handled that I am still trying to understand how a restaurant could treat a family this way.
We arrived as a family of three--two adults and our toddler--and were told the wait would be approximately 15-20 minutes. We were added to the waitlist and waited outside in nearly 100-degree heat.
While we waited, several parties arrived AFTER us. We know this with certainty because we watched them walk in, add their names to the list, come back outside, and even chatted with some of them while we all waited.
Then, one by one, those parties were called inside and seated before us.
After the last of them was seated, I finally went inside and asked the front-of-house employee in the pink shirt whether we were even still on the list. She assured me we were and said we were "next."
We then waited approximately another 10 minutes.
By the time someone finally came for us, our supposed 15-20 minute wait had become 45-46 minutes.
And somehow, that wasn't even the most baffling part.
We were walked through the restaurant, past multiple empty, standard-height tables, and taken down toward the bar. We passed yet another regular four-seat table there.
And then we were offered a high-top table.
For two adults and a TODDLER.
Our toddler had physically walked into the restaurant with us when we originally put our names on the list. There was never any ambiguity that we had a small child with us. No booster or appropriate toddler seating was offered at this high-top, either.
We obviously declined. Expecting a toddler to safely sit at a high-top is not merely impractical--it creates a completely unnecessary fall and safety risk.
We were then informed that if we wanted a normal table, we would need to wait another 10-15 minutes.
At that point, I was genuinely stunned.
We had already waited more than twice the time we were quoted. We had watched parties who arrived after us get seated ahead of us. None of those parties, to our knowledge, were forced to choose between an inappropriate high-top and an additional wait. And we could literally see empty standard tables.
When we specifically asked about the empty four-person table near the bar, we were told we couldn't sit there because that server was having a very busy day and it would be another 15-20 minutes before she could take us.
So let me understand this: your restaurant allowed a family with a toddler to wait outside in extreme heat for more than 45 minutes, repeatedly seated later-arriving parties ahead of them, finally brought them inside only to offer seating obviously unsuitable for a small child, and then--while empty standard tables were plainly visible--essentially told them to go wait some more?
At what point does someone on staff recognize that something has gone badly wrong and attempt to fix it?
There was no meaningful apology. No sense of urgency. No empathy. No attempt to problem-solve. No acknowledgment that the original 15-20 minute estimate had turned into 45+ minutes while other guests were seated ahead of us.
What makes this experience even more uncomfortable is that we are a mixed-race couple. I cannot say why we were treated differently, and I am not going to make an accusation I cannot prove. But after watching multiple parties who arrived after us be seated before us, only to then be offered uniquely inappropriate seating for our family, I am left questioning why our family was treated differently.
Was there some legitimate explanation that was never communicated to us? Was this simply extraordinary incompetence and poor management of the waitlist? Or was there another reason?
I genuinely don't know.
But the fact that your staff's handling of the situation left us even having to ask that question should concern management.
We were patient. We were polite. We waited far longer than we were told we would. We stood outside with our toddler in nearly 100-degree weather and gave your staff every opportunity to make the situation right.
Instead, we were met with indifference and a level of front-of-house incompetence that was astonishing.
Restaurants get busy. Servers get overwhelmed. Wait estimates can be wrong. None of that explains why multiple parties arriving after us were seated first, why no one noticed or corrected it, why a family visibly accompanied by a toddler was offered a high-top, or why--after more than 45 minutes--no one seemed remotely interested in finding a reasonable solution.
We ultimately didn't need special treatment.
We expected competent treatment.
We didn't receive it.
Management should seriously review how the waitlist was handled today and speak with the front-of-house staff involved, because this was one of the most poorly managed and deeply uncomfortable restaurant experiences our family has had.
