Upon us entering, the waitress greeted the couple ahead of us, but did not acknowledge us at all. Finally got sat, and after our drinks arrived and our meal was placed, the bad experience began. It took 30 mins after placing our order for our soup to arrive, and no apology from the waitress about that wait either. French onion soup they offered tasted more like sweet tea with cheese and bread more than savory soup.
All the while, our waitress Lauran provided much better service to the two tables next to us, which were 6-party and 7-party. In my opinion, excellent customer service should be given to all patrons at a restaurant, regardless if it's 2, 6, or a high-school football team party. No one is better than any other, but certainly felt that way when I had to ask my waitress for a water refill, which took 10 minutes to get each time. After the whole meal was done (about 1 hour, 15 mins after we had sat down), our check arrived. And low and behold, they up-charge for debit/credit card payment. Nowhere on their property, at their hostess stand, on their menus, or at their tables does it mention an up-charge! But coincidentally, they have a 3rd-party ATM available, in case you'd prefer to pay an ATM fee.
And that wasn't the worst of it; I offered my card to Lauran, who swiped it a few times at the POS system right behind me. My dinnermate then saw her leave with my card in her hand, who did not mention that she had to try a different terminal. After 10 more minutes, she finally came back and explained that their credit-debit card system is not working properly and she is speaking with her manager for help; she then asked if I had a different mode of payment. I told her I only had cards, so I offered her a second card. After 15 more minutes of waiting, I checked my own bank account online, and saw that my card got charged properly for this restaurant. As soon as I sat up to find Lauren, she came over to me and suggested if I could use the ATM to possibly pay for my meal. Did not even take upon that rude suggestion; I just showed her my phone and proved my card was charged. She then said "oh great. Let me tell my manager". At this point, it dawned on me: why is she being the middle-man for all of this? Shouldn't the manager be involved directly with the customer? But no, even worse: Lauran walked over to the manager, who was SITTING AT THE BAR! Doesn't even want to give the customer the time of day or apology for this inconvenience. Lauran came back and had me sign the customer copy for her records, all the while apologizing for this machine malfunction. I simply took my card, said "thank you for the meal", then proceeded to the bathroom before leaving.
But wait, there's more! After I came out of the bathroom, Lauran stopped me and said that I forgot to tip and asked if I wanted to leave a tip.
So let me offer some tips:
-To Lauran, don't beg for tips from your customers as they're trying to leave, don't favorite other customers depending on their size of their party, and don't run off with customer's credit cards without explaining where you are going.
-To the manager: don't sit while you're staff is working hard, don't send them to communicate with the customers for machine failure or something of that manner, and you BETTER NOT BE DRINKING ON THE JOB!
-To potential customers: unless you want to be jipped for extra for using cards instead of cash, unless you want mediocre service from staff who don't have a clue about customer service or proper communication, and unless you want to be judged and served based on who you bring to dinner, save your time and stress and go to some other place in West Seneca for dinner. I definitely like Mooney's better; try them. read more