On Thursday, July 25, I had the worst service I have ever had at the LocalCity location of your chain. It was so bad, I will never return to this franchise.
When we entered the restaurant, we immediately noticed that the place was in poor repair. The carpets were stained and threadbare. The seats were cracked and sagging. There were holes in the ceiling. It was terrible. Being hungry and in a hurry, we decided to stay, since there was very few customers. Now we understand why.
Upon being seated, out server (Sharyl) asked us for our drink order. My boyfriend asked for Pepsi, as did I. He also asked for a glass of water. Never during our meal did he receive said water, even after asking twice.
Being vegetarians (and I must say, your menu is severely lacking in choice for those who do not eat meat), we ordered simple grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato. I ordered french fries as my side, and my boyfriend ordered onion rings. The waitress somehow thought he said he wanted fries and gravy. When my boyfriend corrected her and said that we were vegetarians, she looked at us like we were from another planet. It took two more attempts to order the correct items.
When the food arrived (almost 45 minutes later), my boyfriend did not get onion rings. He got fries. We sent them back. He finally got the correct order. To our shock and dismay, the portions were tiny. They were served on tiny plates, and the sandwiches were very small. The sides had perhaps half a cup serving each of fries and rings. Again, being hungry, we decided just to eat.
The oil in the fryers was clearly not heated to the correct temperature. Both the fries and the rings were underdone inside and soggy and greasy outside. When the waitress stopped by and asked how the food was, we commented on the poor frying job, We got a half hearted apology, and then she walked away. Not once did she offer to get new food, let us see a manager, or offer any kind of discount. I do not complain to get free stuff. But an offer would have been the correct thing in such a situation. The server was so unpleasant, we were actually hesitant to ask for a manager ourselves, because she seemed hostile.
After finishing our food, our waitress took our plates, and shortly thereafter asked if we wanted anything else. When we declined, she grabbed our unfinished drinks, snapped "I'll see you up front," and walked away. She did not ask if we wanted our bill, and didn't give us a chance to finish the drinks we had paid for.
When we got to the front, my boyfriend paid our cheque. He did not leave a tip, which is very unusual for us. The server asked "Can I have a tip?". He simply stared at her, and asked for his change. This is perhaps the most disturbing part of the experience. Never should a server expect or ask for a gratuity. Ever.
Outside the restaurant, I looked at our itemized bill. The server had charged us for children's meals. I am 27 years old. My boyfriend is 36. Clearly we are not children. I am mystified as to why the server assumed we would be fine with half portions of food, being normal sized adults. The kid's meal aspect was not mentioned once. Obviously this explains the tiny portions we got, but I would like to know, if a grilled cheese is only available in a children's size, why we would not be told. Is there no way to ring this up as some sort of substitution? Even if there isn't, could this not have been mentioned so we could make another selection?
All in all, this was atrocious service and atrocious food. I highly suggest you contact this franchise and ask them if they realize that this is the reason why their restaurant is never, ever, full. And perhaps this server needs retraining on proper customer service and server etiquette.
Thanks for your time.