For a while now I have been thinking about doing some restaurant reviews. I think that we really have a unique dining perspective. When you review restaurants for a living or for a news article you don’t usually dine with 6 children, I think this makes us uniquely qualified as I have noticed and entirely different atmosphere when we are with the children, versus when it is just two adults eating alone. Don’t you agree??
After my Son’s football game we gave him the option of where to eat. He chose Wings ‘N’ More. My husband frequently ate here when it was closer to his office and it had been a while so we agreed and off we went.
Trying to get seating for all of us is an adventure itself. Telling the hostess we needed seats for 2 adults and 6 kids was much harder than it should have been. She kept trying to add extra adults, we eventually gave up asking for a high chair and booster seat and went off to look for them on our own. When our server came, after introducing himself we explained that the kids were really hungry and could we order an appetizer of fried pickles ( don’t ask…) right away.
The drinks came, we had to send them back no syrup in the soda and waited, and waited. No big deal, we were ready to order by the time he got back. We ordered and as he was walking away he asked if we wanted an appetizer. Um, yea. Can we have the fried pickles (again, don’t ask :)) that we ordered when we first got here?? He had forgotten and went to put the order in.
The pickles came, dinner came, during this time we only saw our server once. Fine with me, we didn’t need anything, well refills might have been nice but I figured that was saving me trips to the bathroom. The food is really good here. They ( in the nicest way possible) really know how to make fried food. My chicken salad sandwich was really good, and the kids chicken fingers were super. Very little breading and lots of chicken. Makes me not feel so bad they are eating chicken fingers!
But the deal breaker? THE WAITER ADDED AUTOMATIC GRATUITY TO OUR CHECK!!!! We were Furious! I can see adding it to a group of teenagers or a large business group. BUT TO A FAMILY WITH 6 LITTLE KIDS, 2 THAT DIDN’T EVEN ORDER ANYTHING!! What a joke! My husband, much to my dismay, always tips very well. This waiter by doing this actually hurt himself. He charged us 18% and I know my husband would have left at least 20%. We even complained to the Manager who did nothing but said it was up to the discretion of the waiter. Then the waiter got really mouthy and ugly. We just paid it instead of arguing and left.
We will never be back.
Do you think they should add automatic gratuity to a single families order, even if there are 8 people?
Part comedian, part Dad, part athlete. He will boss around your children while they play ball.
Just as angelic as she looks, this girl could easily raise a Village by herself, and all the children would grow up to be President.
Self proclaimed, she would be a webkinz dog. Because, "they're cute, and puppies are too. And they're sweet and they always get along with other puppies."
This mini-Martha Stewart can handle ANY craft you send her way. She isn't all bows and rainbows, she's got karate kid moves!
Not "Pick-Me-Up" like caffeine, she wants you to pick her up! AND NOW!
Anything that can be destroyed WILL be destroyed!
Practically Perfect in Every Way for now! Nicknamed "The Panda" she is rolly polly and lives by the motto, "the little one, is KING!"
The resident Labradoodle, Miller got his name because Mom won and got to name the baby! Need something chewed up? He'll take care of it. Especially if it's expensive..
Definitely not!
That happened to us last month with our four kids. The crazy thing is that I think she was worried about the mess we would leave when we actually pick up after ourselves pretty well. It was the first time it has been added with a 'group' of five.
Speaking from a professional point of view (I served for 5 years in the food industry)… OH… MY… GOSH…. I'm so bugged for you! That was RUDE of them.First, the waiter probably thought he was going to get screwed because typically big families NEVER tip, their kids trash the place and you constantly clean up spills and refill a thousand tiny cups. However, if that bothers him he needs a new profession.Second, in no way shape or form should you have had to pay that gratuity-and what a horrible, horrible manager. He should have apologized and said it was up to YOUR discretion as to how much you wanted to tip. I hope you mentioned the server's sloppy service. Gratuity isn't always something you HAVE to pay. If you are a member of a country club and in your contract it says "Every time you eat at the place you get charged 20% grat" then fine, it's there. But a place like Wing's N More? MMmmmm not so much. Anyway, on behalf of all servers everywhere I would like to say that 15% tip is expected-considering I made $2.30 an hour and LIVED off of tips, and was working my butt off.. servers usually deserve it. Unless they're rude, in which case leave less of a tip and a NOTE telling them why or they think you're just cheap.And I'm calling Wings N More to protest for you!
I hate when they automatically add the gratuity. The tip I leave is always based on how well the service was, not how many people (especially just a single family!) were at the table.
don't you think a tip percentage should equal the amount of times they checked on you and carried through with your requests (the first time)! Lets see that means he earned a tip of roughly 3%!
I would have been FURIOUS! It's up to the descretion of the WAITER?! That's bull!
What a joke. He knew he was going to get that tip and that's why you got cruddy service. I wouldn't go back either.
Tips are based on how often my Diet Coke glass goes empty. They start with a good 20% and are deducted for every time I hit ice.When I take the kids out, I'm doing all the work for the kids. I'm placating them with bites of my dinner, sips from my DC (just kidding.That would be bad). All I really ask is that I have plenty of drinks and pre-dinner rolls or whatever. Between you and me, eating out is just as much work as making a dinner from scratch for your family. Maybe more.
I TOTALLY agree! I think ti is just as much work, at least for me. Trying to entertain the little ones is painful.
We were not satisfied with their service either and your story really takes the cake! I'm loving the reviews because parents (with a bunch of kids especially) need to know if they're about to waste their time somewhere!