Ever been to a restaurant where the whole idea is to make you wait? Went out for dinner tonight.

[applegrove]

Ordered. Waited 3/4 of an hour. Food came. Ate. Got bills. Waited 20 minutes. And it is always like that at this place. We asked the manager and he said they had a later in the evening rush and he had already sent home much staff. We got there at 8:00 pm. That must be the business plan. To not pay waiters the 8.90 an hour they get paid.

[ZombieHorde]

1. Yeah, I've eaten at Applebees before.

Some of the food was really low quality, but I did enjoy my fajitas.

[RebelOne]

2. Yes, I am been to many 5-star restaurants in Miami.

My then-boyfriend would only go to those restaurants. Even though we had reservations, so did everyone else. We usually had a 30-minute wait. The food was always excellent, but the wait was not worth it. I would have opted for a fast food joint.

[kwassa]

3. Making you wait makes the restaurant seem more exclusive and cool

to some people. Appearing cool can mean big money to a restaurant.

I hate waiting for anything. I develop strategies throughout life to avoid crowds and lines. I would go to a restaurant like that, if I really wanted to go, at an off time.

[No Vested Interest]

4. Making you wait also increases the bar traffic -

You're invited to use the bar - order drinks- while you wait.
I don't like waiting. either.
Reservations help sometimes, or a quick call before leaving home to see how long the current wait is.

[kwassa]

6. and alcohol prices are usually a 300% markup.

Big money-makers for restaurants.

[pinboy3niner]

5. They ought to call US the waiters, lol nt

[Locut0s]

7. Yes I hate that...

We eat out as a family quite a bit. Never anything really expensive just lots of medium and cheap places. We have waited far too long at far too many places. One of thing things, aside from the food itself, my mother likes about eating at Chinese restaurants, authentic ones, is that they have a habit of getting you the food really fast

[csziggy]

8. Steak & Shake - Waited 30 minutes for WATER

3 in the afternoon, we were the only customers. Four servers huddled in the corner, chatting about personal stuff - we could overhear their conversation. 30 minutes after we entered and were seated, one of them finally broke away to bring us glasses of water. My husband had to wait longer for his cola. Server didn't take our orders - which we had been ready to give the first time she came to the table - until she brought the cola.

45 minutes after we sat, she finally took our orders. Food took nearly 30 minutes to arrive and the orders were wrong. Another 30 minutes to fix that. By the time we were finished, the early dinner rush had started and the evening manager arrived. When he took the payment for the meal he asked how things were. I told him in detail. He offered us a coupon for two free meals, which we declined. I told him we didn't have time to waste for another afternoon in his restaurant.

The only reason we waited was that we were both tired and didn't want to have to drive to another place. By the time we were fed up with the lousy service, it had gone beyond the point of just walking out.

We did eventually go back to that Steak & Shake. The staff, including the manager, were all new and service was much improved.

[nomorenomore08]

11. I mean, I don't blame people with shitty jobs for slacking off a little, but that's ridiculous...

2 hours for a frickin' fast food meal???

[csziggy]

13. Yeah - it was horrible. That was one of two times I've given an insult tip

Two pennies. Leaving that amount was so the server knew we did not forget to tip - but that she had not done her job at all.

Generally I am a very generous tipper but when the service is so bad it almost seems intentional, I will let the server know their work is substandard. When I say generous, my policy is to start at 25% for average service. The last time we ate out, I had coupons for an appetizer and a dessert (birthday and anniversary coupons from the restaurant). I added on the menu costs of those items, then tipped at 30% of the total - which made the tip 50% of the billed amount. Our server was very happy.

[OriginalGeek]

14. Not excusing them for this instance

but Steak and Shake isn't truly a fast food restaurant - they have a hostess seat you (well, most do - not in cziggy's case) and wait-staff takes your orders and delivers your food that was made to order. It's just that the food is all burgers and such. Great shakes and I love their burgers but yeah, what cziggy went through was ridiculous.

I didn't always live in Florida but my grandparents on both sides have always lived here (since I was born) so we visited often even when we didn't live here. Some of my earliest memories were of my dad taking me to Steak and Shake and I suspect some of my daughter's earliest memories are of me taking her. We love the place so maybe I'm willing to give some latitude they don't always deserve.


cziggy, I'm glad you gave them another chance - looks like cleaning house at that location helped a lot.

[mrmpa]

9. Check this one out......................

One Saturday morning, my 83 year old mother & I did some shopping at Costco, across the street is an IHOP. I haven't been to one in years & Mom has never been to one. Mind you now this was at 10:30. I walk in and am told it will be a 1 1/2 hour wait. I walked out of there real quick. We drove up the road ended up at Steak "n Shake, they offer a very good break, without a wait.

[noamnety]

10. This is what my husband never gets.

If I have a long day at work and come home beat, he always thinks that's a good time to go out to eat so I don't have to cook.

If I'm tired though, I'd rather spend 10 minutes making dinner, wait a half hour for it to cook in the oven, and eat - all the prep work's done in the amount of time it would take to drive someplace.

[olddots]

12. There is a chain of delis in the Valley --I won't mention the name

Jerry's Deli ( so I lied ) they are open late so they have a captive audience but they make no sense at all ,the place is empty 10 P.M Monday and the guy says " we can try to fit you in " Everyone hates the place but they go there even if the service is worse than the food and it's over priced .......what a strange business .

[femmocrat]

15. We usually walk out if that happens.

There is always another restaurant up the road.

Once sat and waited and waited in Ground Round. It wasn't crowded, we were just being ignored. When we finally gave up and left, the manager actually ran out the door asking us to come back! WTF? Never went back.

[In_The_Wind]

16. They want you buy drinks at the bar while you wait.