How do You Handle Bad Service in a Restaurant?

[WillCAD]

Wondering how WDW restaurant service stands up under all of this??

Mostly pretty well.

I have had some bad servers at WDW restaurants, but they are the exception rather than the rule, so they tend to stick out a little more than the rest.

Besides the fellow at 'Ohana that I mentioned, I organized a large breakfast meet at Kona Cafe during MouseFest and my table of 15 wound up with a waiter who had a bad attitude, was arguementative, disinterested, and dissapeared a lot. He was so bad, in fact, that for the first time in my entire life I had a talk with the manager after the meal and complained about his performance and his attitude.

I've also had lousy service the last few times I've eaten at the Rainforest Cafe at Downtown Disney - servers dissapearing, disinterested, silent treatment, etc. - so I now only eat at the AK location, which has much better service and better food, too.

Most of the other servers I've had at WDW restaurants have been at least adequate, and many have been truly exceptional.

 

[vhoffman]

Don't you just love it when the server just disappears! That's about as bad as being ignored (as my situation), while watching the waitress continue to wait on other tables.

Disappearing servers are the reason I started paying with credit cards only in restaurants. Otherwise, unless you have the exact change, they often just "disappear" with your change, assuming its their tip. That happened once at a restaurant where the bill came to $21.35. I didn't have anything smaller than a $20, so put 2 $20's in the folder thingie. Well, the waiter just disappeared. He just helped himself to an almost 100% tip! I complained to the manager, who said that the server "had left about 30 minutes ago. Why didn't we complain sooner?" Well, we were waiting for him to come back! since it was a cash transaction, there was no record of any payment. The most the manager would do was to give us a gift certificate for one free dessert the next visit. As though we'd ever come back! That's why I always pay with a cc--server can't just skip with your change!

Also, once I was in a restaurant that was almost empty. Have you ever noticed the service is worse when the place is almost empty? Worse than when the place is crowded ...anyways, I was with my kids. We had an acceptable meal, with an indifferent, disappearing waiter. He never came back with the check. I mean, he just vaporized. We asked other waitstaff to find him or someone to bring our check. We even found a manager and explained the situation. Well, he disappeared, too! I mean, he was gone for over 15 minutes! We had spent almost 45 minutes literally begging someone to give us the check so we could pay. Finally, we just walked out. what more could we do? Also, I wrote a follow-up letter the next day to the manager and the chain (It was a TGIF). Never got a reply. Strange............perhaps they all fell into a black hole somewhere? Needless to say, we never went there again. I'm afraid I might fall into the "black hole" and never return, either

 

[shondad]

I've been in the bad service situation also. I simply get up, take whoever's glasses need refilling, and march straight into the kitchen, looking for the soda machine. That always gets attention very fast, and better service (and sometimes dirty looks) from our server.

Now that is funny!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[happygirl]

I never complain, I have been a server and I know that everyone has bad days,

 

[vhoffman]

I try not to complain about little things, honest mistakes, etc. However, being just plain ignored is not something I intend to put up with. Oh, well, we are getting tired of the whole restaurant scene, anyways. Next trip we are staying offsite in a condo with cooking facilities, eat cs in the parks, just try to avoid restaurants if possible. I hate being at the mercy of a surly waiter. I wish there was some way to handle it during the bad service, to turn it around and salvage the event. Seems your only recourse is to not leave a tip, and complain to management, which usually shrugs off most complaints, anyways. I actually think management is afraid of their employees--afraid of them quitting in the middle of a shift,or just not coming back to work with no notice and leaving the restaurant in a spot. Server jobs are hard to fill, and the servers know it--they have a "give a hoot" attitude. Many managers would rather have a disgruntled customer than lose a server, no matter how bad the server is. After all, then the manager might have to end up waiting tables!