This experience nearly broke our family. My husband who spent many years in food service was so…read morecranky from the service, or lack there of, it took my daughter and me several hours afterwards to calm him down. I consider myself a fair reviewer, and will do my best to provide constructive criticism in hopes the management will take some steps to educate their staff.
My husband, daughter and I spent the night at the Boulderado on the evening of 4/23. In the morning -4/24 -while they finished packing I went down to the restaurant first to get a table as we only had about 50 minutes to go back to our room to get our belongings and check out. The restaurant was not very busy, and I thought to myself, "Great!" The hostess picked up 3 menus, then paused, sighed, and said she wanted to give the server a bit more time to catch up, and she asked me to sit on a bench, though there were multiple open tables where I would have gladly waited. My husband and daughter joined me shortly thereafter and the hostess finally seated us, saying there was only one server working. She handed us 2 breakfast menus when there were clearly 3 of us, and my husband had to get up and go to the host stand to get another one. Our server came by after some time and took our order. Oddly, we saw a different server with another table so she was not the only server working after all. She brought my husby's coffee, but no spoon. Well, at least there was a knife because several servers passed our table without even a glance. He was never asked if he wanted a refill, even when he asked for a spoon and his cup was nearly empty. She didn't even give him enough time to ask for more.
The kicker was the manager, pony tail guy- standing outside the restaurant in front of the coffee bar with our server and two other young ladies, laughing it up while we were sitting there completely surrounded by no coffee. Not one person asked if they could bring us anything else throughout the entirety of our meal. We literally had to wave them down for the spoon, then nothing.
Time was running out so I sent my grumpy husband and frustrated daughter back to the room to get our luggage and said I'd wait for the server to pay. I sat there another 5 minutes holding my credit card up, and even caught the eye of pony tail guy across the bar, but eventually had to just go to the bartender to ask for the bill. I likely could have just walked out without paying and no one would have even noticed!
I will say the food was fine. Hubby had the Denver omelette, which he said was flavorful, and our daughter and I each had the Avocado toast which was very nice. Loved the seedy bread. However, the service-or lack thereof- left a bad taste in our mouths. We love the Boulderado and will be back, but unless there is some training of their young waitstaff we aren't likely to return to Spruce. Overall, the restaurant staff seemed completely disinterested in the customers and couldn't be bothered to even offer a friendly smile. For a hotel like the Boulderado with the reputation of a historic gem, we expect much more from their restaurant.
We have dined there previously, most recently last year when we had a lovely server, a much more mature and professional lady who was lively and joked with us. It was a very busy morning and she made sure we felt taken care of even when things took longer. We left with a smile on our faces.
A few final words of wisdom- 1) even if things are busy, stop by a new table to offer a pleasant word and let customers know someone will be with them shortly, even if it's not your table 2) when you bring coffee be sure you provide a spoon, and at least one check in about a refill 3) stop by to ask if your customers need anything else, and get them their check in a timely manner 4) if you are a manager, don't stand around gabbing with your staff in plain sight of your customers, while said customers are being ignored, and 5) a smile goes a long way. The only smile we got was from the bartender who at one point seemed to be the only person running the show.
