The Severed Cortex

Nancy and I decided to try out the Red Robin last night. The service was atrocious. So bad that we got up and left. We both wrote letters to corporate. Here's mine.

My wife and I are both professionals with very little time to cook during the week. We eat out a fair amount and in Edwardsville, IL the choices are somewhat limited. We were happy to see a lot of new restaurants begin to open including the new Red Robin. Several times we have driven by the new place, but the lines were just too long. Today we drove by and there was no line. We decided to give it a try despite the story one of my co-workers who lives down the street told me. (She actually waited in the long line, was eventually seated and had her order messed up twice. She chalked it up as the store being really busy, but after today’s dining experience I’ll have to let her know that I don’t think it was because of the crowd.)
There were two parties in front of us and the host eventually got them seated. I thought it was odd that the host did nothing more than hold a menu and wait for someone to lead us to our seat. Eventually someone showed up, but as we were walking into the dining area it became clear that our seat finder had no idea where to sit us. Part of this was because she realized that none of the open tables had been cleaned. She asked another staff member to wipe down a table, to which the staff member replied, “I don’t know where any wet rags are”. Our seat finder shrugged off her this response. Eventually our seat finder managed to locate a table, but not before we stopped in the middle of where most of the other staff was bringing food out of the kitchen. We were clearly in everyone’s way. Once seated, we noticed the slightly animated older couple next to us. After several minutes of standing up at his table, the gentleman was eventually able to garner wait staff’s attention. He asked to be moved somewhere else. I assumed it was because he didn’t like the seat. Later my wife said she overheard him say he was tired of waiting for someone to wait on them.
This being our first time in a Red Robin we took our time looking at the menu; probably more time than normal. No one came to our table. My wife and I made small talk for approximately 5 minutes. Still no one waits on us. A couple is seated next to us. In less than two minutes, a waitress showed up to take the new couple’s drink order. Still no one bothers to wait on us. We decide that perhaps dinner at a locally owned restaurant might be better and we get up and leave; something we have only done once before more than 10 years ago.
Both my wife and I have worked in the food service industry. She waited tables and I worked in a kitchen. We understand how stressful it is to work in a restaurant. We also understand that for a restaurant to work there must be a system in place that coordinates seating customers, taking orders, and fulfilling them. Your restaurant’s system is a mess. If the restaurant was jam packed with people I could certainly understand confusion. Although this was at 5:30 in the evening, the parking lot was not full and there were plenty of open tables. My perception is that you have entirely too many people standing around. It’s like someone told them they had one job to perform and no one was allowed to stray from that one task.

• One person did nothing but hold the door open. She didn’t open the outer door; only the inner door.
• The host didn’t do anything but hold up menus and wait for someone to approach him. He didn’t even tell them which station to seat us.
• The seat finders didn’t know where to take us, but they knew their one job was to find a table. Eventually they completed this task.
• One woman walked past us several times holding a clipboard and writing things down. I don’t know what her function was, but I’d bet you’d get a lot more business if she spent more time wiping tables, talking to customers, and did less writing. Hopefully her job is not to write your customer service manual.
• Wait staff waited on the two tables beside us, but apparently our table was someone else’s responsibility.

We have a lot of professional friends who are like us. They like to eat out, are passionate about good food, and because of their schedules are always looking for new dining experiences. We all rely on each other for restaurant information. In fact, most of them come to my wife and I for information; we both write blogs on a variety of topics including food and our friends tend to use us as a concierge service. Sadly we will not be recommending your establishment. Fortunately there is a newly opened Qdoba across the street, a new Panera bread next door, and a 54th Street Grill and Buffalo Wild Wings opening next door within the next couple of weeks.

James Moore Edwardsville, IL