So my family and I went to Dock's for the first time, when we had a bit of good weather recently, and expected to have a really nice time--boy were we wrong. First of all, we sat down at a filthy table and it took the waiter 15 minutes for him to finally come around and take our order (it was not busy at all; around 2 pm and only 3 other couples were there, and he wasn't the only waiter). Then, eventually he brought out salads, placed them down, and said enjoy, visualizing that we had NO utensils. I saw utensils at the front in a bin, so we actually had to get up and get our own utensils because this was the last we saw of our guy and the rest of the time he ignored us or walked by us, not acknowledging us at all.
After another 40 minutes our food finally came out and was served by a busboy. Our waiter kept walking by and just ignored us, did NOT take our salad plates away, refill our drinks, or even ask how the food was. I noticed he was attentive to another table though. By the end, we were looking for a manager to complain...but something strange happened....
At the end of the meal, the waiter comes over to us acting like a completely different person (took off his sunglasses) and says that our bill was taken care of by a guy who was eating across from us and asked if we knew him. The waiter said that this guy made a bet with his daughter and he lost so the guy paid for our dinner. I noticed that this guy across from me was looking at me off and on the entire meal and at one point I witnessed an exchange of some twenty-dollar bills with our waiter.
We left there feeling like we had the worst experience of our life, but the food was OK and it was free. We saw the guy, who paid for our meal, leave in an expensive car, but then it all clicked. The truth is I have no idea what the bet was about (I originally thought the bet was to give us the worst service ever and to see if we complained), but how UNETHICAL of a waiter to be a part of some bet a customer made!!! I feel like we were Punk'd and not in a good way. However, then I read all the reviews about how Dock's has TERRIBLE service, so maybe the bet was about something else. It's funny that even after complaining to the Manager later that day, she denied everything and said that this waiter is their best server and that HE says he was VERY attentive! Wow they have problems if that is their best server.
Do NOT waste your money or time here!!!! There are plenty of other restaurants on the lake that treat you with the dignity and respect you deserve. After all, we are giving them money for a service.
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