I used to frequent Nick's in college and always enjoyed the old school decor and unexpected fact that it offers multiple sandwich options for vegetarians. We went on a whim today for lunch.
Typically I give a less-than-successful restaurant server the benefit of the doubt in all but extreme cases. As a former server I know that there are often many variables out of your control when it comes to food availability, kitchen promptness, and staffing issues. None of these seemed to be the reason behind our miserable experience at Nick's today. Our server just seemed straight up incompetent.
After we sat with our drinks for 20-25 minutes after we'd ordered (and it was not busy) it became obvious that our server had taken my boyfriend's meal to the wrong table. By the time she realized her error, my plate had sat in the window for ten minutes. She brought me the soggy veggie melt with a vague apology about the wait we could anticipate for his plate to arrive. When it did, fiveminutes later, she dropped it off without a word and proceeded to avoid us for the rest of our meal. My theory is she was anticipating a complaint so she drew less anxiety from simply standing behind the bar and chatting with her colleagues. My boyfriend had to walk up to her to ask for drink refills after she attended to the table next to us, but walked right past our empty glasses.
Besides the food being soggy and bland, the service was ultimately the biggest disappointment. The place seemed really disorganized and every time an order would be up, the servers all seemed really confused about was on the plates and where they should go.
Rarely do I stiff a waitress by leaving less than 20 percent. Rarely do I take to the Internet to complain. Today I did both. I hope my experience was a fluke and doesn't indicate such a vast decline in the restaurant's food and service, but I probably won't be back to find out.