A couple of weekends ago, my mom came to visit me and take me out to dinner. Since Applebee's had just opened, we decided we would try it out. Since Geneseo doesn't have many "sit-down" restaurants, I figured that a restaurant like Applebee's would be a welcome addition to the town. After spending an evening there, I think I figured wrong.
As someone who works in a restaurant myself, I'm usually not too critical of the service I receive when I go out to eat because I know how demanding the job can be. That being said, the service at Applebee's was atrocious.
When we got to the restaurant, they informed us that it would be about a 45-minute wait, and there were many other people standing around waiting for their buzzer to go off. That is perfectly understandable; it was a Saturday at about 5 p.m., so having to wait for a table at a new restaurant isn't much of a surprise. However, anyone who works in a restaurant should know that when the restaurant gets busy, you need to be working as fast as you can, doing everything you can to satisfy your customers in a timely manner.
What I witnessed while we waited for our table was an absolute joke. I could look around the restaurant and see several tables empty, waiting to be filled. Five minutes later, I could turn around and see the same tables still empty. This is inexcusable: when a restaurant has a waiting list it should be a priority of all servers, hosts and managers to make sure that empty tables are filled as soon as possible. Instead, servers were sulking around the restaurant, seemingly unaware that there were, in fact, customers inside.
Eventually, we were seated. As our meal progressed, I was continuously shocked at the lack of courtesy and effort among the staff. When our appetizers arrived they did not bring side plates. After we asked a server for one, she proceeded to go stand in the corner for a few minutes, play with her hair, and then grab the plates. Maybe she forgot she was working.
Throughout the meal, we were never even asked if we wanted another drink. I ordered ribs, and they didn't taste too bad for about the first two minutes that they were on the plate, then they quickly became cold. A couple of minutes after our food was served, the server walked by and dropped the check on the table. We literally had just started eating, and of course we were not even asked if we wanted dessert! To cap off the evening, as I got up to leave after our meal, a server practically knocked me back into my seat.
Hopefully Applebee's employees will learn proper restaurant etiquette, because the restaurant could truly be an asset for Geneseo. If not, as my mom stated on our way out, "Next time, we'll go to the Omega Grill."