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| - I really hate to give a terrible review to Wally's, but there is one area in which I draw the line; and that is when an owner/manager is disrespectful. Our bicycling group has been going to Wally's every Tuesday for at least several years. We usually are a group of 10-20 that call ahead to reserve an outside table EVERY WEEK. The service tonight was horrible, and I do not blame the server AT ALL, I blame the owner/manager.
Quite a few members of our group have worked in the "service industry" in the past, and we understand and commiserate with the difficulties of serving large groups. We were patient and polite with our server, even with missed orders and extremely slow service. We always tip the server well, because it is our belief that it is the fault of the owners when they don't provide enough servers to adequately cover the patrons without feeling overworked.
However, the owner/manager, Matt, felt it necessary to come to our table as we were finishing up paying to chastise us. I don't know that I have ever had an owner come to the table to express what bad customers we had been. He stood at our table and told us that "this didn't work tonight," and that, in the future, "we could all figure out our bill and anyone who didn't want to order food can come up to the bar to order and pay themselves." He also went on to say that "regular tables had to wait" and "that staff comes first."
What are we if not regular customers? If I was a restaurant and bar owner who had a large group coming every week spending a significant amount of money, I would be grateful and welcoming. I would make sure that I had enough wait staff to cover the busy happy hour time period, or HELP OUT MYSELF. As I was waiting 20 minutes for my first beer, I looked in through the window and saw Matt standing at the register. I turned to my husband and said, "I wonder why he hasn't stepped up to help."
I know that you are a well-established restaurant with a regular clientele, and may not need to be welcoming towards our group. However, please think about the message that you sent to a group of twenty regular customers, that we weren't deserving of good service or respect. There are many other establishments that we can frequent in the area, I only hope that you listen to what I have said and respond.
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