TL;DR Party of 6 for a birthday were on the same ticket, same bill, sat beside each other separately (covid rules), but ordered together. Served half the party first, served later customers first, served second half after first half was done eating, made excuses, blamed...the customers, attacked the customers verbally, food was mediocre, & owner joined in on the attack, & said who are you going to tell? I’m the owner! What can you do to me! Very unprofessional, ruined a birthday dinner, not professional, not accountable, not a place to spend your money to be treated badly. Went to Elsies diner on September 5th for my friends birthday, we tried to make a reservation, but was told no. No biggie. So my husband, & I, the birthday girl, her husband, & 2 kids went, & asked for a table of 6, & were told it would be a 10 minute wait. Awesome! When we were to be seated, we were told we’d have to sit at separate tables divided by plastic barriers. Sucks, but it’s understandable, so no problem. We were still a group of 6 on the same bill. Got our pops right away, server was nice, she was running all over the place, from orders, Utensils, greeting customers, & seating them. We all ordered at the same time, 2 apps, & our entrees all at once. Both apps ordered were onion rings. One table received their onion rings, but our table did not. Weird, but okay, 20 minutes later, the table that came 2 tables after us got onion rings, but we still did not. The waitress was asked why later guests got onion rings, but the party that ordered together did not? The answer was “we are swamped” which would make sense if it was just our orders being delayed, but we ordered at the same time together, & other people were getting served our very same app first. 15 minutes later we receive our rings. What can you do? Then the one table of our party gets their entrees, & over 30 minutes go by, & we do not get ours… yet the table that sat on the other side of us, (they weren’t even here when we were lined up outside) get served their dinners before us. So again we asked why are later customers getting served before us, we came in together, we are leaving together, we should be eating together. You wouldn’t serve only 4 people if we were all sitting at the same table. Again we were told they were swamped. Which makes no sense! Kitchen is backed up? You don’t start cooking for new customers & not complete a 6 person order first. So we continue to wait, while our party finishes up eating, when another server comes to our table, slams down a glass of water, & throws a rake out container at us, & yells “you made my co worker cry!” & storms off! The table eating called her back, & asked her why she is throwing things at her friends, & yelling? She says because my co worker is crying? Why is she crying? We didn’t say anything bad to her, we asked her where our food is, & why are others getting food first? And then asked why did you throw things at my guests? Server shrugged about why she was crying, & said that the crying waitress told them that table, not the actual table that asked for the water & container. So she didn’t even know who she was yelling at, she just yelled at someone with no reason. Words were exchanged, & she stormed off again. Then another lady finally brings our long awaited food, & I asked is there a manager here? She responds with “I am! I am actually the owner!” So I explained that we were a table of 6, and our orders were not served together, others after us getting served the app we ordered, & even getting their entrees! Again she said “we are swamped” that answer doesn’t justify the mismanaged group of 6 order. Then said it’s because I ordered from the all day breakfast… still doesn’t explain the two orders of onion rings & only getting one. I sat if we were seated all together, would only 4 get their meals? She said no! But you’re sitting at different tables, & I said, yes! But we are on the same bill, & we were seated apart not by choice! To which she responds, “because of covid!” Yes! But that still is no excuse as we are together, & ordered together! Still not getting it. I asked why the server was crying? She said she doesn’t know! And asked if I asked her something? So all of this attacking customers, & mistreating them, and you don’t even know why the server is crying? Maybe it was because she was overworked, & overwhelmed? Maybe it’s because other servers were bumping their orders in front of hers? Maybe the kitchen was messing up her tickets? Maybe she put the order in wrong… No matter the cause, asking where our food is, & why others who came later? is not a cause to scream at customers. The owner wouldn’t listen, & kept repeating would you like your drink refreshed in a snappy tone. The finally of trying to explain to the owner how this ordeal has gone way too far ended with her screaming, “The server is a 15 year old girl!” So it was excuse after excuse after excuse, then it turned to blame everyone, & everything, but the actual problem, to turning it to victim blaming, & trying to make it into bullying a child! Way too far from asking where our food is, & why are others getting served first. Way too far! By then my husband had lost his appetite, so he didn’t even touch his dinner, But I was super hungry, so I rushed my food down, as we had reservations elsewhere for the birthday celebration as well. We got up to go pay, & leave, & the owner came to the cash immediately, the birthday girl, who went to pay the entire bill tried to speak to her again with calmer heads, about how horrible this whole experience was, & it was undeserved, & said this is not how you treat people & not how you run a restaurant! I won’t be back, & I will advise others not to come here, & I will report this! To which she responded, “I’m the owner! Who are you going to tell! What can you do?” Wow! My friend had her heart set on this restaurant for months, she was so excited, & then her birthday dinner was ruined, she was treated so badly, & her guests, which embarrassed her. The owner has no problem taking our money, but had a problem with treating us decently, & trying to rectify the order issues, instead rather make things so much worse The atmosphere was fun, the 4 boys had the burgers, & none of them ate more than a few bites, the burgers were gritty apparently, my eggs were delicious, but this experience left a horrible after taste, & put a huge damper on my friends birthday. Being overwhelmed, or short staffed, is no excuse for any of the behaviour we experienced. Less like a family diner, & more like a bar brawl. I wish cooler heads had prevailed, & instead of attacking customers, listening, & rectifying the issues would have resolved everything immediately.More
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