Monday, June 17, 2013

Not all Hooters are the same...

I was alone with my kids last night and downtown and wanted to find a cool, clean and nice place to sit down and eat.  I also wanted a location where I know has food that they will eat as well.  I saw the Hooters downtown and after navigating  the maze of one-way streets, I found a nice spot in front of Kiener Plaza.  My two sons and I were greeting warmly by a server named Nona and we were directed to a booth close to the door.  My kids had a bathroom emergency however, and we ran back to use the bathroom then.  The bathrooms were clean, which is always a plus.

Now after we sat down and were greeted again nicely by the server, she took our drink orders and she left to fill them.  I looked at the menu when my oldest had some questions.  First of all, I think everyone from Gordan Ramsay to Robert Irvine has said this, but you don't put items on the menu that you have no intention of serving!  The Hooters here had "Kid's Liver and Onions.....$22.99" on the menu.  So, it was the bottom item on the kid's menu and at first thinking it was a joke and then doubting myself because why would there be a joke on a menu?

Nona came back to take our order and she was asked by my son about the liver and onions which she replied that it was in fact a joke.  But still, why do that on a menu?  What if someone ordered it and wanted it?  Then that someone would complain because there was something on the menu that wasn't real.  It was not a very good or well placed joke.

So, we ordered boneless wings and went on waiting.  Just like other locations, we had received our food rather quickly and it felt like less than 20 minutes.  Albeit that the restaurant maybe had 10 other people it besides us, so it shouldn't have taken long at all.  But the waiting time wasn't an issue with this; the issue was afterwards.  You see that the service at restaurants has to be consistent and when our server is super nice and greets us and checks in on us every 10 minutes at most and then stops, it sends sense that she doesn't care.  The problem was that from the front door, 3 people came in who appeared to be friends with our server.  These two women and small child, hugged Nona and Nona went and sat down at the first booth with them.  Now, I had finished my food at the time and was waiting for my children to finish their's.  But, I watched our server chat and frolic with the group she sat at the first booth.  One of the older women even grabbed and squeezed her butt in her shorts.

So, now I sit and wait, and wait, and wait as my kids finish and we wait 15 minutes.  After 15 minutes the server, Nona, gets up and walks 4 feet over to our booth and asks if we need anything else.  You know, there is a certain kind of special when you ignore a paying customer for your friends.  I bet her friends will pay and I bet they will tip, as well, but the difference is that I would likely tip more if I had better service.

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