The last time we went to a casual restaurant it was Red Lobster on a Friday night. When we arrived we were greeted immediately and told the wait for a table of two was at least twenty minutes. We were then handed a coaster that doubled as a beeper. She said when we were called it would vibrate and blink. After waiting over twenty minutes we approached her again and she said our beeper must not be operable because we had already been called. She had someone come over and escort us to our table. The employee took us to our table and explained our waitress for the evening would be with us shortly.
Our waitress came over and introduced herself to us within five minutes. She offered us a choice of two popular appetizers. She then took our appetizer and beverage order. Three minutes later she arrived with the beverages and took our meal order. Someone else then brought us our salads that accompanied our meals. Then two minutes later another server brought us our appetizer. During this time, our waitress did not come back to our table. One minute after our appetizer arrived, yet another server brought us our meal. We did not have time to eat our salads before our appetizer or meal came. After eating our salads, appetizer, and part of our meals we still had not seen our waitress. Our drinks had been empty for over ten minutes. At this point I asked another waitress to please direct a manager to our table.
The manager came and squatted down next to our table. He asked how he could be of service. When we explained the poor timing, and lack of attention our table received. He apologized for the error and said typically that our waitress was one of his best waitresses. He said our beverages and appetizer would be on the house and asked if we would like another waitress to replace our waitress. We told him no, we did not mind keeping her as our waitress if she would take care of our table.
From that point on the service became much improved. The waitress brought us drinks before our current glass was even half empty. She brought us styrofoam containers to take home our meals without us even asking. Considering the overall experience I would be hesitant to visit this location again. I do not enjoy having to call a manager to my table in order to get decent service.
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