Walked out of 2 restaurants in 1 night.

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just another guy

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:eek:

Yeah, well here goes!

I'm somewhat local to disney. I know many people that work there. Anyway, decided to make my girl to movie and a dinner. We went to the movie first, and then decided to try Wolf Gang Pucks. I've had their counter service before, and it was good. We were deciding between the upstairs, fancier one, and the downstairs. We decided to try the downstairs. The wait was long, or the host said we could have a seat at one of the open tables in the bar, and still order anything. We grab a seat at a high top table for two. Right away I notice a server in the corner playing with their cell phone. Real classy! My girl and I looked over the menu for a solid 5 minutes before the same texting server came to greet us. I had a bad feeling already. "Hi, I'm _______, have you been here before?" she said in a bland, I don't want to be at work today type attitude. We said no. She told us the special, and asked if we wanted something to drink. We said two cokes. She rolled her eyes, and walked away. No, "I'll be right back with those." or even an "OK." Guess she was upset we were not buying overpriced $10 alcoholic drinks. I then watched her walk back to the corner, check her cell phone again, and make our drinks. That consisted of scooping ice out of a plastic bin placed on top of the bar, and then reaching over the bar to use the soda gun. Unsanitary ice, bar gun soda(which always tastes like crap), and the fact she put 3-4 cubes in per class...nice! She brings those over, sets them down, and says "you ready to order?" Again, her lack of manners was really pushing our buttons. Open menus say a lot. A proper response would have been, "Looks like the two of you may need a couple more moments to decide?" or possibly, "Do you have any questions regarding the menu?" We told her no, and again she just walked off. 3 minutes later she's back with, "ya ready?" I somewhat rudely responded with, "I think we're still debating." and she was walked off again. Her attitude, combined with the fact I could see my girl has goosebumps from the cold AC, and that was it. I was pissed, but my girl was the one who said we should leave. We stood up, and walked out.

One down, one to go.

We walked on debating Rainforest Cafe or Earl of Sandwich. Rainforest won out. She had been there a couple times, and had some sort of skip the line card which also gets you a free app, or 10% off the check. It was busy, but having the card, we were sat right away. We were sat in the monkey area at a table for two. As we sat down I noticed to our right a table of 4 had empty glasses, and all their app plates stacked at the end of the table. Ah great, the sign of a poor server. To our left was a british family of 6-8 adults. I'm scanning the menu since I had never been there before, but also looking around. The restaurant seemed very busy with lots of staff around, so I had high hopes. 5 minutes in, a server walks by us and says "I'llberightwithyou" without even stopping walking. Yes, it really was one word the way she said it. A food runner then brought out two dinners for the large british family. 2-3 minutes later we get another "I'llberightwithyou" as she goes to the british family. She tells them their other meals are on the way, and runs off. 3-4 minutes later she's back with 2 or 3 more meals for them, and again says the others are right behind her. The overweight server, now panting, tells us her name(different from what her name tag says) and asks if we have been here before. My girl says yes, but that I have not. In one word fashion again she says there's a thunderstorm ever 30 minutes, animals every 16, pauses for a microsecond and then asks "what do you want to drink?" We asks for two cokes, and she's off running again. 5 minutes go by, and she stops by with just to drink napkins and says, "I'm coming, I'm coming" and then goes over to the british family telling them for the third time that their food is on the way. I could see them rolling their eyes. She then said, "You just be getting mo' time for digesting that salad, it be right out" As she turns to run away, the father, who I might add is half done with his burger and fries loudly says, "Yeah, maybe tomorrow!" Also, speaking in broken english to a british family is just plain stupid. 5 more minutes go by, and she brings out cokes for us and one more meal for the british family. After setting it down, she was off running again. 5 minutes later she came to us said, "Um..." looked away, and ran off. About 5 minutes later she had still not come back. I may have been slightly off with the times above, but at this time we looked at our watch, and it was 31 minutes after we had been seated. Factor in 2-3 minutes from the printed time on the seating card until we made our way to the seat, and that is still basically half an hour without a server taking a food order. We decided to leave. As we stood up, a couple of the british people looked our way. I told them to enjoy the wonderful service. They laughed and said cheers as we left.

Off to Earl of Sandwich, a quick 5 minute line, and we finally had some food.

Now before anyone jumps on my review, I waited tables through high school and college at chain restaurants(Apple Bees, etc), and my girl worked at a couple fancy restaurants back home before she landed a good job. We both know what service is, and its not that hard. I'm sure anyone could go to either of these places and have an awesome experience, but we just got the short end of the stick last week.
 
It can't be any coincidence that both places are in DTD. Even though it is technically Disney, those restaurants are not owned by them and so their promise of quality is unpromising to say the least. Honestly, of every TS WDW has to offer I don't think I would ever try either of these places. We have a WPC and a RC in our home city anyway, so I'm not traveling far and wide to try them elsewhere. We have tried EOS and that was pretty good. I hope you didn't leave any sort of gratuity for the Cokes you did receive, and I probably would have said something to the manager on the way out. Ask for a business card and threaten to contact their corporate HQ with the names of your offenders, and you'd be surprised what they'd be willing to do for you right there on the spot.

BTW, how was the movie?
 
I feel bad for you but lost respect when you mentioned her weight... a skinny server could have been just as bad... she can't help the food taking forever for the other family shes not cooking it.

You seem to have something against servers (even though you were one) your girl used to be a server before she got a "GOOD" job. Yes maybe waiting on people who can't be pleased is not a GOOD job but if nobody did it you'd have nobody to complain about.
 

It can't be any coincidence that both places are in DTD. Even though it is technically Disney, those restaurants are not owned by them and so their promise of quality is unpromising to say the least.

BTW, how was the movie?

Yup, non-disney = crappy service! There are people begging to be servers at Disney, but can't due to the placing of servers based on seniority. Before we walked out of both those places, I made jokes about how its disney pricing, just not service. For the $50 or so it would cost, I can think of MANY local restaurants off property that are a thousand times better.

I told this story to a server I know at Disney, and he just laughed. He said he knows a couple people who have worked at Rainforest. He said they hire and fire daily, and don't require any prior serving experience. He said being such a HUGE restaurant, it can be a long hike for a server to go from their station to the bar and back. Also, they have two complete kitchens, with different names. If you ring in the order on a number 1 computer, then your order will come up in kitchen 1. If you forget which computer you rang it in under, you'll be running back and forth trying to find it.
 
I feel bad for you but lost respect when you mentioned her weight... a skinny server could have been just as bad... she can't help the food taking forever for the other family shes not cooking it.

Yes, her size doesn't matter. But, when I go out to eat, I want to be greeted with a smile, not a server, loudly panting, trying to catch her breathe, all while rushing the greeting phase.

You seem to have something against servers (even though you were one) your girl used to be a server before she got a "GOOD" job. Yes maybe waiting on people who can't be pleased is not a GOOD job but if nobody did it you'd have nobody to complain about.

I have nothing against servers. Its a hard job, but can pay damn well if you can pull it off. I was taking home 70-100 a night while in high school working 5 nights a week. I moved up the chain, and now have a better paying job. I'm simply saying that I've been there, done that. I know whats required of the server. Be polite, keep my drink full, and you'll get a damn good tips. Its easy. Server 1 simply was half assing things, and didn't want to be at work. Server 2 was "in the weeds" as server say. She was extremely behind, rounding around like a mouse with its head cut off. She couldn't figure out if she was coming or going. That could be her fault, managements, or the seater. It doesn't matter. Poor service is just that.
 
Good for you, JustAnotherGuy. My DH is a former waiter, and he WILL NOT sit still for bad service. He is a generous tipper for great service, but we have walked out of a few places for the exact same reasons. Most recently, we were on the road to visit friends in North Carolina, and stopped at a Dennys. There was NO ONE in the place except us. Ten minutes went by before we had been asked about drinks, and then about 15 more minutes before our orders were taken. Thirty minutes after our food order was taken, we still did not have food. We walked out...did I mention we were the only customers? We ended up at McDonalds.....
We had bad service at Tony's at WDW, and DH went right to the manager. There is no excuse for bad service. If I do my job poorly, and am rude to customers, I will get reprimanded, and so should any server who does their job poorly.
 
Good for you, JustAnotherGuy. My DH is a former waiter, and he WILL NOT sit still for bad service. He is a generous tipper for great service, but we have walked out of a few places for the exact same reasons.

Thank you. You know what I'm talking about.

If I do my job poorly, and am rude to customers, I will get reprimanded, and so should any server who does their job poorly.

Well no tip works, but I wanted to enjoy a dinner with my girl. By myself or with some guys friends, I would have stayed at Wolf Gangs and either complained to the manager, or simply left no tip.
 
Well I hate the fact that all of that was a waste of your time! Since you did not get to eat at those restaurants, here's some food for thought, As a male you must know that you cant get on here talking about weight and size, this will side track your whole purpose of your post, woman are sensitive to weight, money and their children :upsidedow . And I hope that you did not pay for the 4 cokes like someone asked, why should you ?pirate: , it was not your fault that these places could not accommodate you. I am sure that 4 free cokes which they might not have even got refills on or even a chance to finish could not make up for the time that you guys lost. Next time that this happens take a minute and share the problem with someone in charge,it may save you some time in the future.
 
Yes, her size doesn't matter. But, when I go out to eat, I want to be greeted with a smile, not a server, loudly panting, trying to catch her breathe, all while rushing the greeting phase.

I've never been a server, but I expect that if I saw a server that frazzled, it could possibly be that the place is understaffed and the server had to take on additional tables. That never happened to you?

I don't penalize any server if it appears they are at least trying to work hard, even if the service to me suffers a bit. I'd rather have the Running Around Server than the Cell Phone Server.

You'll find there are good servers and bad servers often in the same restaurant. I've gotten conflicting reports about service at Raglan Road, another non-Disney owned operating participant. But I happened to have really good service there, contrary to a lot of things I've heard and read.
 
I feel bad for you but lost respect when you mentioned her weight... a skinny server could have been just as bad... she can't help the food taking forever for the other family shes not cooking it.

You seem to have something against servers (even though you were one) your girl used to be a server before she got a "GOOD" job. Yes maybe waiting on people who can't be pleased is not a GOOD job but if nobody did it you'd have nobody to complain about.

Very well said. Exactly what I was thinking.
 
While I completely agree that your service in both restaurants was terrible and I completely agree that you were correct in leaving your point that the waitress was heavy is a nasty prejudice. You said it so own it and maybe think about it. Overweight people do not corner the market on panting when they are running around and are stressed out. I don't stand for that kind of service and you don't either but if a server is not backed up by the kitchen or other servers or management or new they can be run ragged. Panting is one of many factors that allow you to make the choice of staying or leaving. But it is wrong of you to use her weight in the point you were trying to make. You lose moral ground.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Tink_Or_Belle
I feel bad for you but lost respect when you mentioned her weight... a skinny server could have been just as bad... she can't help the food taking forever for the other family shes not cooking it.

Yes, her size doesn't matter. But, when I go out to eat, I want to be greeted with a smile, not a server, loudly panting, trying to catch her breathe, all while rushing the greeting phase.
 
I understand how you felt about your service that night. I would have gotten fed up and left as well. But, honestly, you could have made your point beautifully without calling the server in Rainforest overweight and panting. There are also some little details within the story that irked me, like your girl getting a good job, your interatctions with the tables next to you, and how you criticized the way the Rainforest server spoke.

Again, you could of gotten your point across great without those details. As one person said, you lost moral ground. But as a student of rhetoric, I believe that you lost your ethos which demeaned your point drastically. Look up ethos, pathos, and logos in google to see what I mean.
 
I am sorry that you had bad service....we have on occasion walked out of places (not at WDW) and at least paid for the drinks...it is only right since we did drink them.

My sister is a pooh shaped server and she hussles her tush off, she is very quick on her feet and a fast server, especially when her restaurant is packed.....if she seems out of breath that is because she is trying to get you what you want as quickly as you want it. If anyone ever used her size against her the gloves would come off! :thumbsup2
 
to the OP-i am so sorry this happened to you! don't you just hate it when you are trying to tell a story, and someone takes a minor detail, instead of the overall point, and then flames you for it :sad2:

we had a "less than disney" experience at rainforst at AK and will not be going back. I would have walked out as well. eating out is expensive, tipping is expensive, and cell phone girl needs to get a grip!
as far as RFC lady goes, i dont know if i would have brought out the british ppls food until it was all ready at once, Just my measley opinion though. I also agree she should have spoken more properly, and slower. I am not deaf by any means, but i have a hard time understanding actual words when people are tlaking sometimes, and in a LOUD place like RFC, that would drive me nuts! thanks for the heads up on these two places!
 
ITA w/ the pp's--mentioning her weight was uncalled for. It made me instantly think of you as a whiner and a complainer and then made your reviews mean nothing. It sounds like she was working her behind off.
Also--for someone to encourage you to not pay for drinks is crazy. You could have talked to a manager at either place, you know? Why sit there and deal w/ bad service and not talk to anyone about it? What good did that do?

I hate reading reviews like this. :headache:
 
i'm sorry you got bad service you just wanted to treat your girl! RFC even in Toronto ontario which is the closest one is hit and miss with service disney's would be twice as crazy!

Im overweight and took no offence to your comment with the overweight service people will find things to pick on :) as for the ones that complain they hate reviews like this I say why not just read them! :) Ive been lurking this post decided id say I appreciate your predicament! I voluntarily worked tables for pancake breakfasts where you have to be mega quick im big i kept up! So its just the particular waiter and im sure the OP meant nothing bad just said she couldnt keep up it happens to EVERYONE! Anyways OP sorry to hear your bad experience and sorry people are flaming you over minimal things. GLad Earl of Sandwich went well. Next time maybe try Portobello of WPE you had good luck with WPE so :)
 
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