A 1 star Eh rating is an over statement. Poor, displeasing, horrible are all better. I went to this restaurant last night for a friend?s birthday party. I drove with 3 others all from NJ. It took us 1 hour to get there.
We got to the restaurant around 7. We were part of a party of 14 people & were seated promptly. Right away when I got to the table I saw a problem. We were packed in like a herd of cattle. There was one long table for 10 that should have seated 8. At one end there was a shorter round table that was for 2 but they shoved 4 people here. Plus they put an extra chair behind me. I couldn't pull it out because we used to hold gifts for the birthday girl and we had no where to put without putting it with the party next to us. My back hurt from sitting so straight.
About 30 minutes later the rest of the party arrived & our first waiter took the appetizer order. That came out fast! The bruschetta was nasty. It was soaked in oil & the toppings were eh. The calamari was ok I was told.
About 30 minutes later the waiter took our food order. Here is where it got bad. Our order took 90 minutes! In the 90 minutes they apparently switched servers on us. They kept bringing bread but gave up doing that. I lost count how many times the second waiter we had told us that on average there is a 45 minute wait for food on the weekend. THAT'S HORRIBLE! Get your act together, you can't do that people. Around 9:30 we finally got dinner after 6 tables in our room either finished and left or were about to finish their meal. All these tables ordered right before us or well after us.
My fettuccine alfredo was pretty good, but not worth the wait. Some people ordered baked foods that they needed spoons for because it was like soup. When questioned the waiter said that it was correct. My friend ordered a meal with veal in it. He's still looking for the veal. They should have said veal flavored. Another ordered a medium-rare steak. It came medium-well. When asked if it was okay by the waiter he hesitated & said ok. The waiter offered to recook it but he didn't want to wait 45 minutes again. Another person ordered the ravioli & got 4 for $20 bucks. Olive Garden gives you more.
After dinner the waiter asked who wants cake. He stopped mid-sentence because he ruined the last part of the surprise for the birthday girl.
They brought us the cake, we sang, they took the cake away to cut up & cut it to serve. While they were cutting it our third waitress came & asked my friend with the bad steak if he wanted a free dessert or coffee for it. He politely asked if as a table could have a 20% discount or free appetizers for all the above problems & the 2.5 hour wait. She said she would have to ask the manager. The manager/owner lady came over & told him ?No we don't do that.? She refused to accommodate us like they didn't do anything wrong by making us wait, cramming us into the table, or by serving other parties. When we asked why the table of 2 got there food & left in an hour she said ""Cause that was duce"". How rude was that? She couldn't even say a table of two, she had to say duce. I asked if she would even take off 1/2 of the appetizers but she refused. We decided to stop wasting our breath & leave.
When the 3rd waitress came with the check she saw fit to take care of us where the manager wouldn't. We were thankful for that.
A place like this doesn't deserve business if they can't treat customers? right & make good to keep the customer happy. We were better off going to the bowling alley across the street. It would have had better seating, better managers, better serving, & cost less. Living in NJ is a natural barrier to going back here but even if I lived in the area I would never go back. This place will go out of business or be bought by new managers at some point because these people don't know or care about their business.
Save your money go to Olive Garden, your experience will be better.
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