We had heard about the nice write-up about the Le Tub hamburger, so we figured it for a nice establishment. However, our first encounter with the waitress and her poor attitude was foreshadowing for our entire Le Tub experience.\r
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We had a party of four. Before we could even all sit down, the waitress became frustrated that we weren't ready to order. My uncle was wrapping up a quick call on his cell phone (while we were waiting on a table) and the waitress stomped off before we could even sit down, declaring in a surly tone, "I'll come back when we're not on our cell phones!" I found it rude, but imagined it was an isolated comment.\r
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Once I had sat down, my wife explained to me that she had attempted to order a water, but the waitress told her it was "self-serve." It's probably a good thing I didn't hear that one in person. What is the point of a waitress if some things are self-serve? Maybe this is the owner's way of making sure he/she gets as much of your money as possible. By making you get it yourself, you'll be more likely to order a $3 CAN of coke.\r
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After the waitress brought us our handmade menu (which looked like a messy 3rd grader wrote it on the back of a used place-mat) she informed us that they were out of all fish. My uncle inquired, "you're out of fish?"\r
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"Yup," the waitress said bluntly. She did not apologize that her restaurant, a seafood joint, on the water, was out of fish. She went on to say, matter-of-factly, that they run out of fish almost every night. (It makes you wonder who they put in charge of ordering the fish.) The fact that they were out of fish was forgivable, but her attitude in relaying this message was disturbing. A good waitress would have at least said, "I apologize, but we are out of fish. I can recommend the cheeseburger..." Or even better, "I am so sorry. Our fish is very delicious. You'll have to come back when we have been freshly stocked. May I suggest the cheeseburger this evening?" After reading the previous postings, I suppose that it is too much to ask from Le Tub employees.\r
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Being out of fish, we all ordered the cheeseburger--the $11 cheeseburger that doesn't come with any side item at all, but does come on a Styrofoam plate. Nothing is as classy and good for the environment as Styrofoam. And at an average of $20 per person for a burger, fries, a coke, and a piece of pie, why would one expect anything more?\r
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The waitress was rude as she took our order as well. Every question we asked her was met with a response that would make you truly believe that she actually thought she was in a POW camp. She also told us that one order of fries was enough to serve all four of us, "unless you eat more than most," and as she said that last portion, she leaned a bit forward and looked over the table at the belly of our fattest member. (Coincidentally, the fries were hardly enough for us, partly because the basket was nowhere near full.)\r
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Three of us enjoyed our burgers and one did not. He felt that his was overcooked and decided to ask the waitress to have another one done to replace it. As she cleaned a nearby table, he politely asked to speak with her, but she very curtly told him he'd have to wait. After examining the burger she said that "some people are confused because the outside of the burger is a bit crunchy because of the way they grill them." She was not apologetic that he wasn't satisfied and didn't offer to get him something else. She was very content for him to leave without even eating a meal, and that's how she left it.\r
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At the end of the meal, we ended up paying $70 for three burgers, an order of fries, three slices of pie, 2 cokes and 3 beers. Of course this is not the fault of the waitress, so she was tipped according to her service, which was of course, lacking.\r
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As we were getting into our car, the waitress had the nerve to call out over the fence, "excuse me...the gratuity is not included!!"\r
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To which I replied, "We know!"\r
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She then responded that we weren't welcome there anymore, which is hilarious, because we weren't welcome there in the first place. It does make you wonder about an owner who allows his servers to decide who is welcome and who is not, not to mention allowing them to yell from the restaurant in such a rude manner.\r
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Overall, my perception was that the owner is interested in making as much money serving as few people as possible. He doesn't seem to care about the customer, and this certainly filters down to the serving staff.\r
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I would say that I will never eat at Le Tub again, but who knows, maybe in a few years I'll bring some of my friends so we can gawk at how ridiculously rude the waiting staff is.\r
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This reminded me a lot of Ed's in Chicago, where the gimmick is for the employees to treat you horribly. If this is Le Tub's intention, they should probably let the customer in on the joke.
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