I don't normally post negative things about different places I visit, but I recently had such a bad experience, I'm hoping someone in higher management at the restaurant sees this and helps retrain the wait staff.
I waited tables and bartended through college. I was a head-wait and also a trainer. That means, I trained people how to treat people when they came into my restaurant. With that, I never expect to get wonderful service when I go places because no one trains people like I do, but I expect somewhat decent service.
This was my experience at The Iron Cactus at the Hill Country Galleria in Bee Cave, TX a couple of days ago.
We got there about 5:30pm so it was not very busy. We asked for a booth. We were told there were no booths available, so they walked us to a table, in the mean time passing three available booths. I asked if we could sit in one, and the hostess was like, "Well... I guess so."
5 minutes goes by and another hostess brings us chips and salsa and says Katie** will be right with us. Yes, 5 minutes and still not greeted by a wait staff...
Another couple of minutes goes by, and Katie finally makes her way over, but doesn't even bring water. Water is practically standard at a Mexican restaurant when eating chips and salsa. She brings it a couple of minutes later.
We place our order. I was shocked when she didn't need to write anything down even though I modified the order, but I figured she would make up for the slow service by impressing me with her memory.
We get our food, but no extra plate for my daughter. We then see her delivering food to another table. Hello? I already have my food and I can't serve it until I have an extra plate, so even though you didn't want the other food to get cold, MINE is!!
During this waiting time, we realized my husband was missing part of his meal, the chicken flauta. That took another couple of minutes to get.
She then asks if we want dessert and declined. She brought over the check.
15 minutes go by and nothing, nada, zilch!! Our waters had not been refilled, we were dying of thirst, and the credit card had been sitting there forever!
I tried flagging down 5 different wait staff members, but every single one of them walked past us with blinders on. And I'm not talking subtle waving of the hands. I was waving every which way outside the booth to get someone to look at me. I tried to walk up to the water pitchers a couple of times, but someone would always get there before me, and I didn't want to cause a scene.
We finally flagged someone down, got water, and told her that this was ridiculous and we were waiting for 15 minutes to get our credit card scanned. She took the credit card to a manager to run it...
The manager comes over, hands us the credit card statement, and says, "Sorry for the wait." and walks away. Huh? No, "Is everything ok?" No, "I apologize for your horrible experience." Nothing...
I left a tip that I shouldn't have, but out of principle to being a former wait person, I had to leave a tip, but definitely not the amount she would have gotten if we got some service!!
Iron Cactus people, if you're reading this, you need to train your wait staff to look around and be observant even if it's not their section. The wait staff should work as a team, and when a team member is down, the others should help. This team member was down from the beginning, and no one helped the situation, whatsoever!
I'm not sure if The Iron Cactus will get any future business, but I'll think about a potentially second impression.
** Edit: I received a personal phone call from the Chief Operating Officer, Bryan Soltis. We spoke for about 20 minutes. It turns out that I used to frequent a restaurant that his wife managed up in the DFW area, small world! I then received a personal visit from one of the managers, Nathan, and he presented me with a giftcard to visit again and give feedback with it hofefully being a better experience.
I appreciate the immediate follow up the Iron Cactus did. No restaurant wants bad word of mouth, and i"m willing to go back and give them a second shot to redeem themselves. I'll update everyone when that happens.
**Are You Packed Yet?**
Donna Harris, REALTOR®
RE/MAX Austin Skyline
www.DonnaHomes.com
Donna@DonnaHomes.com
Austin, TX and the surrounding areas of Lakeway, Bee Cave, Westlake Hills, Cedar Park, Round Rock, Spicewood, Circle-C, Steiner Ranch, and everywhere in between... Whether you're buying or selling, I'll be with you through the entire process.
**Katie is a fictitious name as I feel sorry for the person this is about, and didn't want to reveal her name.
Ouch. Sounds like a BAD night Donna.
Donna - you are way too nice. I have a tough time with incompetence. I don't lose my cool but I do calmly let the manager know (just loud enough for the people waiting for a table to hear) that I paid you $$$$ and I feel I was robbed. Why? Because the service was poor, my order was wrong, I was thirsty during my dining experience and that I will never come back unless he wants to try to make it right with me. (Not because I want something but I want to see how they handle it.) Sometimes the mgmt only knows what the employee tells them and I doubt the employee wants to tell their boss that they are worthless!
I always steer people away from this place - it's highly over rated!!!!!!
I've noticed restaurants in austin can make it on hype alone - that and alcohol - i think that's how they are making it!
Donna: I'm sure you won't be visiting that restaurant anytime soon. Unfortunately this seems to be happening quite often, that's why they don't stay in business long. - Ceil
Hi Donna
I would speak to the management and write a letter to either the owner or the CEO, you'll get a responce.
Good luck and success.
Lou Ludwig
Thats horrible Donna. Hopefully someone will read this and respond.
Donna: I would not have reacted so kindly. A visit to a nice restaurant is supposed to MAKE your day, not RUIN it. I surely would have demanded that the manager stop and talk with me, and if he did not bend over backwards to make it right... I would have demanded the name and number of his boss, an area manager, an owner, or somebody I could pursue it with.
Even with the poor service you received, the owner of the restaurant needed to know that his/her investment was being squandered. The negative publicity spread by an unhappy customer could easily cost them hundreds if not thousands of dollars in future business. Next time... don't be so nice. Next time... let 'em have it !
Hi Donna... The Iron Cactus is not inexpensive. I agree with Karen Anne... IF you go back, I would not stand for this kind of service again. Give 'em hell.
Donna:
"Katie" must get around. She waited on us at the Chili's restaurant in New Braunfels. Our appetizer came after our main course, there was no silverware and we were given spoons to eat our ribs with. Same lousy service. We waited 15 minutes for the bill. I should have known something was going on when we could hear yelling and screaming coming from the kitchen. I did however follow up online and did their survey. I gave my name and phone number but got no response to our plea for assistance.
Thank you for all the comments.
I received a personal phone call from the Chief Operating Officer, Bryan Soltis. We spoke for about 20 minutes. It turns out that I used to frequent a restaurant that his wife managed up in the DFW area, small world! I then received a personal visit from one of the managers, Nathan, and he presented me with a giftcard to visit again and give feedback with it hofefully being a better experience.
I appreciate the immediate follow up the Iron Cactus did. No restaurant wants bad word of mouth, and i"m willing to go back and give them a second shot to redeem themselves. I'll update everyone when that happens.
Good girl, I'm tired of just seeing positive reviews. I know all restaurants are not great. Let um know about it!!!
They'll probably scroll through your blog and mail you a $25 gift card.
The sad part is how much they had to spend time and money to get you to try it again, when all they really had to do was their job! Even if the manager had apologized and offered you desert for free 1/5 the cost of a gift card, I'm sure we wouldn't have been reading about this sad service.
Paul, This one just irked me.
Greg, I was met at my office by the Manager of the store. My blog has been passed around to all their managers so it never happens again.
Todd, You're possibly correct. The desserts did look mightly tasty! Plus, an apology does go a long way.
Donna - Now that it classy and I wouldn't have expected it. Maybe it's because I came from California where most of the time in a big city they wouldn't care. After a nice gesture like that I too would give them a second chance.
Donna,
Was this post included in Bob's contest for local business posts? I bet it showed up really high on Google!
Nevin, Yes, it was unexpected, but with the boom of social media, you've got to understand why they did it.
Mike, Yes it was posted about local businesses, and it's on page 2 of Google, twice. Once under AR and once under Localism.
Wow, Donna. You've inspired me to post a bad experience I had two years ago at what was a great restaurant to eat...until they treated me terribly wrong...and I've already written a review in Yelp about it...
Donna,
It is not hard to believe, we experienced a similar situation the other day. Our waitress had only one customer (us), yet she wanted to spend her time talking to the bar tender. Restaurants really need hands on management.
Well, that sounds like a restaurant to avoid. On the other hand, looks they are trying to make amends so perhaps a second visit to redeem themsleves?
As a past waitress myself , I critique wait service more than I should and I am sure you do to. In this case though I see why you did! Sounds like this restaurant needs Chili's motto " Every table is my table " as one wait person told me recently when she was refilling my water.
I revisited the Iron Cactus Restaurant on Wednesday and had a Fabulous experience. Read and comment about it here:
http://activerain.com/blogsview/1266830/iron-cactus-restaurant-hill-country-galleria-bee-cave-tx-revisited