First time I've ever walked out like this.

[spark]

I've occasionally gotten to a restaurant, seen it was too busy, and just left, but this was the first time I've ever walked out after being seated.

So yeah. Husband and I were going out to dinner tonight. Just some casual food, nothing fancy. We went to a local Hawaiian grill that we've never been at before. It was packed when we walked in, but everyone was there for this live ukelele thing, which ended while we were still standing there, so the crowd was all getting up and leaving, and there was maybe one other table actually still eating, and *nobody* else at all had arrived anywhere near when we got there. So it wasn't actually busy at all, just some clumps of people lingering, talking to the band.

Anyway, waitress seated us, got us water, and then asked if we needed a minute to order. Since we'd never been there before we said yes. So she walked off.

Five minutes later we'd decided on what we wanted, and set our menus aside.

Then we sat.

And sat.

And sat.

It was a good fifteen minutes, I think, and the entire time we could see the waitress busking tables, doing stuff that yes was work and yes was her job, but could DEFINITELY have waited while she got our orders! I literally turned around in my chair to try and catch her eye and flag her down after a while, but she totally ignored us, didn't even glance in our direction once. A fifteen minute wait is one thing when it's super busy, but when there's nobody else there to serve it's just ridiculous.

So we figured she'd forgotten we were there. I said to my husband, "Well, I can get up and go get her, or we can leave." He said leave, so we left.

We ended up at Noodles and Co. which I can't say enough nice things about, they have terrific food and the service has always been stellar. So it wasn't really all that bad, but I was still pretty miffed! When you have just two tables, one of whom is nearly done eating, how do you forget completely about one of them? Yes there were people standing around, so it's not like we were the only folks there, but we were the only folks there who needed serving!

[Flying Grype]

Yeah, see... in a restaurant, one of the things to keep in mind is that you want to serve paying customers. Cleaning tables doesn't make money. Washing dishes doesn't make money. Obviously those things need doing, but the first priorities (as long as there are places for people to sit) are to take orders, serve food, and take payments.

[Draper Mel]

Oh man, now I want Penne Rosa! And giant rice krispy treat

[bainsidhe]

I know nothing about Hawaiin grills, but now I want Hawaiin pizza. And wouldn't it be awesome with cream cheese? It's been years since I've had that....

[Andara Bledin]

I would totally have had a quick word with whoever was in charge on my way out, too.

15 minutes waiting for the waitress to take your order is inexcusable, even when it's packed.

^-.-^

[Spork4pedro]

I would totally have had a quick word with whoever was in charge on my way out, too.

15 minutes waiting for the waitress to take your order is inexcusable, even when it's packed.

^-.-^

eh...if the server at least pops by to acknowledge that he/she will be right with me in that time and it's clearly busy enough I'll let it slide. That long when it's dead and not even eye contact? Time to walk out and speak to the manager.

bainsidhe, I want to know more about this pizza! It is hawaiian with cream cheese as the sauce?

[smileyeagle1021]

15 minutes waiting for the waitress to take your order is inexcusable, even when it's packed.

^-.-^

I have only once had a wait that long I felt was acceptable, and that was because when we got there they told us up front that two people had called out and they hadn't been able to get anyone to cover and that it would probably be a longer than normal wait and asked if we wanted to wait. If you explain to me up front why it is going to be slow, if I have the time to wait, I'll be understanding... but just act like you are ignoring me, yeah not so much.

[mikoyan29]

Hawaiian Barbecue is awesome. There is a restaurant in Tustin I go to when I'm out that way.

[Fudgethatkay]

Hawaiian Barbecue is awesome. There is a restaurant in Tustin I go to when I'm out that way.

Tustin in the Golden state? Cause if so, I think I've been there...

[Crossbow]

I've done it a couple of times, but the one I really remember was a local pizza joint (local chain) that a group of us hit in the mid to late afternoon on New Years Eve. There was about 12 of us, and we got seated and got our drink orders in. Took about 15 minutes to get the drinks. (Note, the place wasn't that busy, and there were several servers on.) We waited for about 45 minutes before giving up, leaving enough to cover the drinks and walking out.

On the way out, we did stop to talk to the manager and were blown off. The phrase he used was something like "If you're not at the bar, you don't matter."


The restaurant was closed and empty about a month later, and no restaurant that has gone into that spot has lasted more than a year (even the good ones). Place has been vacant for about 4 years now.

[IT Grunt]

A friend of mine and I had this issue at a TGI Fridays once. I was in his neck of the woods for a business trip and so one night we went to grab a bite to eat after playing some pool at the local hangout. We went in, were seated, got our menus, and we waited. After about 20-30 minutes, we got fed up, and my friend went to find the manager, because in that time frame tables near us had been waited on and servers were passing us left and right. Whatever he said worked, because from that point on the manager himself served us our drinks and took our orders, and we got one drink check from who I suspect was supposed to be our server. Needless to say we didn't leave much of a tip.