Our dining out experience last night. Thoughts?

Mrs. Robinson

Mrs. Robinson

Well-known Member
Location
Nampa,Idaho
I am just going to copy and paste what I wrote on our local restaurant review FB page last night. Should mention that this is our town`s most popular,consistently good restaurant. Also the longest lasting,with over 25 years in business. They have been closed for remodeling for about 6 weeks so were slammed last night as this was their first Friday night open-although we did notice that all the other restaurants and the coffee shop in town were slammed as well.....

Sooooo,we had a first ever restaurant experience tonight at Park Place. Had reservations for 7:30,party of 2. Arrived very early (20 minutes) since we ended up having to drop our foster kiddos off at a game. Were seated a little after 7:30. Waited 15 minutes for our server,but not a big deal,they were slammed. So at 7:45 we ordered. Had salads,then dinner,a bottle of wine and shared a dessert. All good. Then,at 8:25,right after our dessert and as we finished our wine,a server... (not ours) came up to our table and said "I don`t want to rush you or anything, but we have a reservation for this table and the party is waiting up front so if you don`t mind finishing up....". We were shocked! I mean,it wasn`t like we were dawdling or anything or had been sitting there for two hours. Have never,ever had anything like this happen. We have been loyal customers of Park Place for over 24 years,never would have expected this. I didn`t think to check their hours these days-I know they had been closing at 8:30. Were they just wanting to seat these people and get them fed and out of there? Hubby says he heard them tell the party that they would push another table together with our booth to seat their party. There were other booths open-we would have been happy to move to one of those so they could accomodate the larger party. It was very weird. Fortunately,we know a server there very well,so I was able to tell her what happened and she said she will mention it to Nancy and Barb. Feel like we spent $94.00+ there tonight and got the bum`s rush....
 

That's outrageous Mrs. R! I've never had the bum's rush like that, like you say, around an hour is not a long time to be at a dinner table and it's very rude to do what they did to you. The owners should make it up to you and your husband, free dinner next visit.
 

Very unacceptable and bad for their business, especially if someone complains to management, tells their friends or even tells it to the local paper restaurant reviewers. They should have warned you in advance that the table was reserved and given you another seating option. Often if a larger party is waiting for a table the restaurant will give them priority. If they did this to you, they have probably done it to others too.
 
That was beyond rude of them. The party coming in should have been offered another table or compensated...but disturbing your meal was not ok.
 
Um...yeah...Mrs. R's town IS that small. LOL I'd be beyond p*ssed. Can't imagine that anybody in a management position there would have instructed a server to do such a thing. Yikes.
 
Interlopers like yours have been known to be shown a stiff finger in response......:D

imp
 
I spend a lot of time in motels and restaurants. Have become a prolific reviewer on Trip Advisor. Too many people just review to gripe. The largest percent of my reviews are the positive things. However.... I am also quick to point out the failings. And, would certainly not hesitate to post that experience.

Had that been the wife and myself, we would have made certain to take our time in finishing up. The hope would have been to see the server have the owner/manager come visit us with the same request. That would have at least given the opportunity to voice exactly what you said in your excellent letter.
 
I heard from the owner`s daughter (or daughter in law?) a few minutes ago. She actually works at another restaurant in the next town where her hubby is the chef. She made some excuse about it being very busy and they may have overbooked and how that has happened to her before and it`s very embarrassing etc. But she ended by saying that it really wasn`t cool and that Barb and Nancy (the owners) have been made aware of what happened. I hope they really do handle it with the server (not our server) and make sure it never happens again.
 
I probably wouldn't go back. I would let the owners know, as you did. I hope you went ahead and paid your server their tip if they gave you good service, since they weren't the ones giving you the bum's rush. I've never heard of anything like this happening to someone that had barely been in there 1 hour. I would have felt like I'd just gotten a slap in the face.
 
This morning a woman that I know wrote a review too. Not sure what night she was there-I didn`t see her when we were there. She said the food was good but the service was terrible. Waited and waited and waited for water,had to ask for bread because one of their party was getting light-headed from lack of food. This woman is a former restaurant owner so she knows her stuff. She is a very tough customer though-my husband has been dealing with her this past week at the shop where he works. I really think the problem with their service is that after closing for a month for remodeling,they lost some of their servers.
 
That's horrible... I would have gone to the manager... tell him what had happened and asked to be comped for my entire meal... Or at least a very hefty part of it.. A few weeks ago we were seated at a table and not brought water or even saw a server for 15 minutes... while other people got seated in a different sections and already had their orders taken... I went up to the front and told them what had happened and asked to be comped for two drinks... I got immediate service AND we had free cocktails. You have to speak up.
 
I am good friends with two gals who were both managers there for years,one after the other. I have no idea who the manager was the other night but my friend who is a server said the one that asked us to finish up was not the manager. I didn`t even ask her who was. It was sooooo crowded in there (I actually think there were more people than they are allowed to have per the fire department) that it really would have been nearly impossible to talk unless we went outside-and it was raining so that would have been difficult. I am confident that the problem will be taken care of though-this town is too small and I know the ladies who own this restaurant really do care about their business and their customers. Now that I posted on the restaurant review page and the daughter responded,I am pretty sure they will contact me. If not,I will pay whomever is the manager these days a visit.
 
Giantsfan1954 said:
Was this in Norwich,NY,by any chance?
Click to expand...
Nope. Lakeport,CA. And since this experience,we rarely go there anymore. Too many changes and none of them good. Have to admit,after 25 years of dining there,I was wishing they would make more changes with their specials. Well,I got my wish-kind of. They keep changing the entire menu! Must be costing them a fortune in printing costs. They aren`t changing to incorporate what`s fresh and in season either-they are just changing it. I noticed their latest menu has their new chef`s name printed on the front-like he`s somebody lol. I sure haven`t ever heard of him. And his dishes are nothing special. Oh well,we are very happy with where we are spending our dining dollars now.
 
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