Beware - Spoodles Policy

[taximomfor4]

2.69 for a cup of milk is overpriced when soda is 1.19. if there are no free refills as in every other restaurant i have taken my children to then i should have been told. it is their responsibility to put things like this on the menu or tell the customer. there were no prices of drinks other than the shake special on the menu also which i think is wrong to begin with.

i have been a waitress she should have taken the 2nd drink off. so she did not get the additional $5 i would have gave for a 20% tip she got a 15% one anyway. normal tipping really is 15-18% anyway. i just happen to give 20% or more for very good service. imo she did not give very good service and she knew i wasn't pleased about the price of the milk or the refill price. so maybe next time she might say something. then again maybe not.

Most of my adult life has been spent waitressing. At 3 very different restaurants in Ohio. All 3 give free refills on soda beverages, but NONE of the 3 give refills on milk, real lemonade, or juices. Those are much higher cost items for the restaurant.

 

[taximomfor4]

ALL the restaurants near where we live- PA, and used to live-NJ, give free refills on milk and sodas. I'm talking privately owned and chains-Texas Roadhouse, Outback Steakhouse, TGI Fridays, Chesscake Factory, Olive Graden, and I could go on and on.

I would be mildly surpised if this happened at Disney, but I certainly wouldn't complain or take it out of a tip. It would be our fault for not asking if that's the kind of thing we cared about. Plus, I expect to pay a lot at Disney for stuff, including food. Come to think of it, I wouldn't surprised all that much!

I don't remember about Roadhouse, but Outback, Cheesecake Factory, TGIFridays and Olive Garden do NOT offer free milk refills around here, only sodas. But at LEAST half the time, the waitresses don't charge us.

Beth

 

[PatsGirl]

I'm from MA and waitressed (in my younger days) for nearly 30 years, 20 of them in dinner restaurants vs. breakfast, etc., probably more than 15 restaurants total. I have NEVER worked in a restaurant that served FREE refills of anything. Nothing. Well, coffee to be honest, but not even that at every restaurant. I am always surprised when I take my kids to a restaurant and the refills are free. I have learned of course to ask when the waitress is pushing seconds. Some restaurants, like an earlier poster talking about salads, award waitresses over and above the actual tip with gifts/prizes for most total $$ sales each night, etc. Contests are common and waitstaff that should really be salespeople are not above pushing salads, apps, refills, and desserts to people who don't want them, especially children.

As for the $15 bread, I learned a long time ago when to say N.O. I would not have paid for that regardless of the consequences. And for the waitperson pushing the salads, I would have admonished them within earshot of the children to prove a point if nothing else. I know it is sometimes easier just to pay the bill but kids learn from what they live.... Of course, paying for something you did not want or should have received, without making a "scene" is also another lesson in patience and tolerance, and I guess it depends on the circumstances of the moment which lesson we want to teach

 

[OKWAnneMarie]

As for the $15 bread, I learned a long time ago when to say N.O. I would not have paid for that regardless of the consequences. And for the waitperson pushing the salads, I would have admonished them within earshot of the children to prove a point if nothing else. I know it is sometimes easier just to pay the bill but kids learn from what they live.... Of course, paying for something you did not want or should have received, without making a "scene" is also another lesson in patience and tolerance, and I guess it depends on the circumstances of the moment which lesson we want to teach [/QUOTE]


You are right. I should have said "NO" about paying for the bread, but I guess we were just so "Disney tired" (it was late). I just didn't want to deal with it (even though it made all of us very angry). Now I don't let anyone get away with anything, especially if I feel it is wrong and they are making fools out of us.


As far as the waitress who was pushing the salad, I did say something to her in front of the kids. I don't remember exactly (it was many years ago), but I wasn't nasty, I was just firm in saying to her that she should have asked the parents, NOT the kids if they wanted something that cost extra. I did explain the whole situation to all the children and they all understood and they were mad, too! They still talk about it many years later whenever we mention the restaurant BOATRIGHTS.

But, I'm happy to say that these unfortunate experiences have been few and far between. Most of the restaurants in WDW have very good service.

 

[dworldfan]

W ejust got back from disney and no where were we charged double for the kids menu. We ate at Chefs de France, Brown Derby and California grill to name just a few. My sons are 12 and 10 and look their age. Also, I gave them their ages every time I made a ressie.

 

[maryliz]

We eat at Le Cellier every time we go to Disney ... we're Canadian and just love it! Always in the past 6 years or so, they have always refilled my kids milk at no charge. They've brought it when we haven't even asked for it, they've offered more milk, even asked the kids if they wanted white instead of the chocolate they originally had. So after many trips to this restaurant with this service, it never occurred to me that it might have changed. We went in January, and there were 7 adults and 2 kids, and we were having a 1/2 marathon celebration dinner, so let's just say that we ate well if ya know what I mean. My kids finished their milk, so I asked for a second cup for both of them. My Mom thought they should've had water, but I said "no, they want it, and besides they're free". Well, she paid the bill because she was treating all of us for a major accomplishment and only told me after we returned home that they charged her for the extra milks.

I was a little ticked by this, because we had never had this happen before. And if their policy had changed, I think the waitress should have told us. I worded my request "we'd like a REFILL on the milk please" -- so if it isn't a refill but rather a request for ANOTHER CHARGEABLE item, I'd like to be informed. Most restaurants around here don't give refills on milk and that's fine because usually their menus do state this. I'm sure I was too tired that night to read the menu since we'd been up since 2:30 AM !

Now the time (not in WDW) I was ordering a kids meal for my 3 yr old DD, and I said to her after I had ordered my meal "oh, we forgot your drink" -- the waitress replied with "we have coke, sprite, milk, choc milk, juice", so I ordered a choc milk. The bill came and she had charged me $2.50 for this little milk. I questioned that the kids meals came with a drink, and she replied, "only pop". So I asked her why she offered up the rest when we had clearly ordered a kids meal -- or at least told us "pop is included, but you can have xxx but you'll pay extra for it". She didn't seem too intent on fixing it for me, so I took it out of her tip, which wasn't that high to begin with because her attitude was lousy. Never went back to that restaurant again, and that was 5 years ago.

MaryLiz