Last night, January 7th, was my first and last visit to Bonefish grill. We had reservations for a party of about 14 to celebrate the birthday of an office colleague. When I arrived, about nine people were at the table. When the first server appeared, she seemed distracted and agitated and was less than welcoming.
Shortly thereafter, a male server showed up. When we asked to have separate checks, he gave me a blank, annoyed look, and I nicely said we?re not trying to make you crazy, but it?s a large group and we do need separate checks. The servers sharply said we have to remain in our seats in order to have separate checks. That is all well and good and very understandable but it could have been explained in a more pleasant way.
It was also stated about six more people are expected and we?ll very likely need the table that was next to us, and empty. These reservations were made about 5 days ago, they knew to expect a large group, and did not properly accommodate us, and he gave us a hard time about using the adjacent table even though the place was fairly empty at the time.
The waiter than gave us a very difficult time about placing our orders. We are Realtors, and not everyone can be on time to an event. We had already been there for about a half hour and we did not want to wait for the others to place our orders ? at least for the appetizers. The waiter did not want to take the orders, claiming it all had to be done at one time.
The two of them were back and forth with worsening attitudes handling our drinks and finally a manager came to the table.
I made it very clear this was my first visit to Bonefish and it will be my last, regardless of how the food is. These two waiters ruined what was to be a fun experience with their gruff, annoyed attitudes and made us feel as though we were an imposition on THEM!
The manager said she will talk to them and was very upset about the service we were getting. OK, it got better for a few minutes, but then it all went downhill again.
We had a cake for our friend?s birthday, and we needed to have it served before some of the people had to leave. Our friend was not aware of the cake, as it was supposed to be a surprise.
When one of the guests signaled the waitress to let her know of the cake and when it needed to be brought out, she sharply snapped, ?I ALREADY KNOW ABOUT THE CAKE!? That of course was not only rude, but ruined the surprise we had for our friend.
Despite my meal being quite good, I will NOT support a restaurant with crappy and rude service. Having gone to many fine establishments over the years, this is the first time I have encountered such rude and arrogant behaviour. I was surprised, especially since at this time restaurants are grateful for business, as several fine ones are closing due to the economic situation.
Restaurants and wait staff need to know how to handle the occasional large crowd and need to handle it with grace. These two at Bonefish
Pros: OK food, nothing to rave about
Cons: Waitstaff with BAD Attitudes
more