Last year we purchased a camp about 15 minutes from Airline Brewing Co. in Amherst, Maine. Their burgers were highly recommended by a good friend, and sure enough they were excellent. The beer selection was excellent too, and we ate there frequently with no complaints. The ambiance was and still is old time Maine hunting camp, which we loved.
Fast forward to this year. We've eaten there twice in the past ten days. The first time we went with our daughter in law and our two grandsons. Service for drinks was ok, but food service was painfully slow. When our food finally did arrive it came out one plate at a time and the orders were screwed up. I didn't realize I'd received the wrong burger until I'd taken a few bites. One of my grandsons received his burger a few minutes after mine, and he figured it out. My daughter in law ordered the blackened haddock. Our server didn't realize she hadn't put in the haddock order until we said something. My daughter in law received her haddock about 15 minutes later. We figured it was just an off night.
My wife and I decided to swing by the night before last. Once again, the drink service was very quick, and our server seemed very responsive. We placed our dinner order which consisted of the nacho w/chile appetizer, a burger, and a bowl of chile (their chile is very good). After a long wait our nachos arrived, ice cold. We waited another 45 minutes and decided if our food didn't arrive within 5 minutes we'd get our check and leave. The food arrived just as we were about to get up. It was ice cold. I worked in the restaurant business for over twenty years. For our entrees to arrive cold they'd have to be sitting out for quite a while without being placed under a heat lamp. Maybe the chile is kept cold and wasn't heated up properly? Maybe it's not held at the proper temperature and just spooned into a bowl? This isn't rocket science. We had to send everything back to be reheated, which took my burger temp from medium to medium well done. The reheated fries were barely edible. I think I ate three of them. My wife had two or three bites of her Luke warm (after being reheated) chile. We were extremely disappointed.
I'm not sure what's going on at Airline Brewery in Amherst. The dining room seats between 30 and 40 people. It was busy, but certainly no busier than it was during any of our visits last year. Several tables that arrived after us both evenings appeared to get their meals ahead of us. Because I've worked in the restaurant business we're polite to a fault. We're generous tippers. I tipped 20% both visits this year despite the terrible service. Last year I tipped 25% at a minimum. I could take a guess as to what happened our first visit this year but I should be careful, as it might have political overtones. Did they remember us from the week before on our second visit this year? Who knows. We're really disappointed and won't be back.
As they say, fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. read more