I hate to do this. I love the idea of this place, but wow did I get the wrong end of the deal. My long dissertation here has been sent to management and they are assuring me that the problems will be resolved. I wish this letter was to inform you of what a great experience it was, but regrettably it isn't. I've had better service from Mad Marge at Waffle house and most of the meals I've eaten at Applebees were much better. We came in on the day after a holiday to a pretty much empty restaurant. The hostess seated us immediately, but next to the only other people in the place, which was a group of loud old ladies. We were a having a business meeting, but didn't mention anything since they were obviously about to leave. Next we were greeted by our waiter(Tim G), we looked rather casual, so he acted casual which is fine to a certain extent. When my business partner ordered a bottle of prosseco our waiter intruded you know thats sweet sweet champagne right? In a somewhat condescending voice. I felt no need to correct him and say it was just an Italian white sparkling that is normally drank before the main meal. As we waited for our bottle, we drank our just recently for the first time filled water. Once the bottle was finally brought I ordered some charcuterie and cheese. With 2 people to a table late in the eve the bottle was still put on a table away from us. We drank our first glass quickly, but it was a good 5-10mins+ and many walks by by our waiter, before I decided to just stand up and grab the bottle and pour some drinks ourselves. This entire time we still had no more water and not our first bread. Once he finally showed back up to take our orders he asked if it was ok to put a bottle in reaching distance of 2 people in a booth. This is where things started to get much worse. I then asked about what type Oyster mushroom was used in the saffron fettucini. He said that he didn't understand what I was saying. I repeated myself, and he stated that my question didn't make any sense. I repeated myself one more time and he stated that there was only one type of oyster mushroom in yet again a condescending voice. I was under the assumption that the customer was always right when ordered, especially when he was actually right. I was also under the assumption that your facility had some knowledge of mushrooms. I felt no need to teach a taxonomy lesson, but I did briefly explain that there are blue, phoenix, golden, tarragon, etc... mushrooms. My fungi knowledge is vast, I guess I should expect the same of others. He never offered to ask the chef, as he "knew" he was right. After that encounter I just ordered the whole fish(most expensive entree?) after I asked about it and found out it was close to a "red snapper". When I was told there was only one left, I had no idea that that meant it wasn't really even servable but if you wanted to order it, we charge you for it. My cohort ordered the potato gnocci with the lamb ragu. Our charcuterie finally came. The "hot" chorizo, was neither temperature hot or spicy hot, so I have no idea what your intentions were. It was small shriveled up little pieces with not much distinctive flavor. My Prosciutto di Parma was not what it was supposed to be but was something like a salami. Ironically, I liked it, it was thick and the pepper chucks were a little much, but still had good flavor. The Parmesean was good, but I'm not sure if it should be automatically served with honey. The salt/sweet vibe worked, but would have worked fine with our "sweet, sweet champagne". We didn't talk to our waiter for a while after that. It was still well before 10 and him and the apparently only other waitress on duty were too bust closing down for the eve. When he did finally show up with our plates the presentation was pathetic. So it was obviously not just an off night on the wait staff. My whole fish was a little burnt in the face and covered with greens, very interesting way to present(I have pictures). My buddies dish looked edible but at first bite I could tell he wasn't happy. He was paying for the bill so I was trying to play it up and enjoy myself the entire time, but as soon as I dug into the fish, the reality set in. This fish was nasty. Burnt on the head, not even a chunck of cheek left. The middle was chewy and of a strange texture. The lemon jam was pungent, but other than that not usable. We obviously didn't like our food but felt no reason to complain, if anything we shouldn't have had to, we deserved an apology, but I assume no person that had financial interest in the place was working that day. The waiter did take time from his cleaning job to ask his last table if they wanted dessert, by this point we just wanted out of here quickly. We discussed another bottle but got one else where. The bill came and we were overcharged, it was only a buck or 2 so, we let that go as well. Paid/tipped and walked out pretty pissed off I must say. I'll try it again at some point.
Is this review positive or negative?
Pick your answer from:
[a]. negative;
[b]. positive;
Answer:
[a].