Never again will we visit this McMenamins. We like the chain usually and know that you don't go there to get fast service. However, no matter how slow, the staff at other locations are very sweet, relaxed, and nice. NOT HERE.
Not only did it take almost an hour and 20 minutes to get acknowledged, seated, and fed, we were treated extremely poorly. As if we were a nuisance by just existing. We came to a restaurant looking for food and beverages. How DARE we?!?
While there I saw at LEAST three other couples arrive, be ignored, and walk back out without notice. They were quite busy, but we've been to other McMenamins which were equally busy and had no problem doing their jobs and being kind. I'm a big, tall gal and am fairly certain I'm not invisible, but these women ignored me (and others) masterfully. It takes WORK to avoid eye contact at that skilled a level.
Since it was so unpalatable, the next few days we wondered aloud about this location and heard from other patrons about it. The consensus is generally the same: Hit or miss on the service. Definitely don't sit on the side of the restaurant that has one certain server, and don't go during a busy time. It's also preferential if you're with the in-crowd: The younger server saw two patrons (obviously familiar to her) come in and ran up to them with a 'Hi Kids!', hugged them, seated them immediately, and they had their food in 20 minutes. Guess you have to know someone.
To our specific experience: We waited standing inside the door for at least 10 minutes. It took at least 8 minutes for someone (the youngest of the servers) to acknowledge our presence and tell us it would be a few more minutes until we were seated. There was a group of 3 women in front of them and they didn't get acknowledged much either, but at least they got a smile and eye contact.
Once we were seated, we were acknowledged with a head nod and a 'we're busy so it will be a few more minutes, and she just had two more tables in front of you'. The woman put down some menus and ran off.
Our server (an older woman who was curt and icy) literally said fewer than 15 words to us the entire time. This woman gave zero flying figs. At least 15 minutes after we were seated we were asked what we wanted to drink (not given water or anything upon arrival) and asked what we wanted to order for food at the same time. We ordered a glass of water and a soda water. It took her another 15 minutes to get it to us. She slapped some silverware and a napkin down with the drinks and ran away.
Cue another 35 minutes until we finally asked about the food. At this point it had been over an hour from front to back and we'd seen our server 2 times. At one point I tried to flag down another server to ask for more water (one refill). As she blew by the table she curtly said the other person would be right with us. Nope.
The food came. My burger was fine. My husband's sausage platter wasn't done and one of them was lukewarm.
Our server came by once more (because at this point it was after 2 pm and the lunch rush was over). I asked for the bill and a box at the same time, because we didn't know when we'd see her again.
The woman was SO RUDE I do not have the adequate words to describe how hurtful the experience was. I don't care if you're overworked and busy, etc. You make eye contact with people and acknowledge their presence. We were low maintenance. Only at about the hour mark did we ask about the food to make sure it was coming out/that the order was actually put it, and my husband - who is a saint and extremely patient - did it nicely. She was defensive and said in one breath, 'I don't know it depends on what you order other people just ordered salads and that stuff comes out faster I'll go check in a minute'. Gee, thanks. We weren't sure how a restaurant worked, but glad you bit our head off about it.
A smile would have done wonders. An acknowledgement that we weren't pestering her simply by existing would have been great. I've never seen a more tight-lipped, rude set of servers in my life. I have to give it to the young gal on shift because at least she smiled occasionally, but the other two would've rather shaved off our eyebrows and kicked us out the door than look at us.
We almost got up and left about four times. We should've - there are other restaurants within walking distance and I would've felt more validated as a human. Avoid this place at all costs. read more