We wanted a low-key cheap dinner that wasn't fast food, and decided to go to Enny's. We call it Enny's because the D on the sign has been out long enough to warrant a name change.
We don't expect much when we come to a Denny's and i doubt people are going to Yelp to find out if it's a good place to eat or not, so i am using this forum to reach the manager, who may or may not see this and may or may not care.
It was not busy on June 16th at 8:30pm. We were asked by the waitress to find any seat/booth we like. We were quickly attended to with taking our drink order, then our food order. Then it went downhill.
It started with 2 children running along the whole path of the restaurant, screaming at the top of their lungs... playing, having fun. I usually don't mind this because the parents usually step in soon to put a stop to it, but no one did. I saw a customer who appeared to be the mom at the cashier station, not paying attention to her screaming children who are now taking turns throwing a blue plastic ball (the size of a softball). Then the lady leaves with one of the kids, and the other goes to sit at a table with who i assume is his father.
Meanwhile, our food comes, and we are swatting the gnats as we eat. As i wait for a drink refill, i notice the waitress is sitting at the booth (closest to the cashier station) feeding spaghetti to a little boy (about 4 yrs old?) that was once screaming and running. Ohhhhhh, ok that kid belongs to the waitress, and she has her little boy here on a Tuesday night at 9pm. Got it. Still waiting for a refill. She goes to help someone checkout and the kid takes off again, running around the tables with a ball. Dad just stares at his phone. No interest in helping reel the kid in.
Then an older couple stood up from the tables in the middle, they stare above to the tvs that are showing some sports clip, and the man makes his way to the cashier station. The child throws the ball and HITS the old lady who was standing there. And it hit her hard enough for me to hear it. I started to pay attention to what happened next. The mom, i mean the cashier, swoops up the child and scolds him (before she says anything to the customer) and it wasn't a real scolding, it was a "hey, you shouldn't be doing that stuff, ok?". Surprised she didn't give the kid a kiss and say it will be alright. Then the cashier says to the woman, oh my god, did he hit you hard?... no apology, the lady was cool and didn't want to make a scene, it seemed because she blew it off like it wasn't super frickin ridiculous. Meanwhile, even though this happened within 3 ft of dad, he doesn't do anything.... starting at his phone. Way to stay alert, dad.
Still waiting for a refill. Meanwhile, a gnat lands in the dressing that my husband got with his salad, rendering his salad inedible until he gets a new side of dressing.
The mom, i mean waitress, is up and down up and down, trying to feed her kid, feed herself, wait on other customers, deliver food, all by herself as the man she is with does nothing... and she actually isn't helping us at all. When new customers come in, she tells them to take any seat, while she herself is sitting at a booth. The guy who clears the tables was delivering food, and she would tell him from across the room that this table needs their order taken and that table needs a refill. We never got refills and the gnat is still swimming in the dressing using a cheese shred to stay afloat (see picture).
We decide to set the timer on our phone for 10 minutes. If she doesn't check in on us in 10 minutes, we are out. During that 10 minutes, i look at her pretty much the whole time in case she looks our way, i can wave her over. She doesn't look at us ONCE and the 10 minutes is up with no help. We go to the cashier station, pay our bill, and my husband tells her that we've been waiting the whole time to be checked on because there was a bug in the food and he couldn't eat it. All she did was say that it's hard for her because she is trying to take her break but got so busy. She gave us 15% off the bill, using a AARP discount (which we aren't AARP), and the discount didn't even cover the salad he never got to eat.
So, all in all, the waitress seemed like she was juggling way too much and couldn't get her job done correctly. We will never be coming back. She needs to take her breaks in the back or something when there is someone to cover her shift. If she is having her family hang out with her at work, then the dude that was there should have helped feed the kid, and not allow the kid to run around throwing balls at customers, but he did nothing, and all the pressure was put on the mom/cashier who in turn, ignored the customer. REALLY BAD.
She was young and cute, but in no way professional.
I mean, i've been to denny's before and left satisfied. This one was a nightmare. read more