My husband chose a local chain steakhouse for his Father’s Day Dinner. I’m not really up to cooking right now and he wanted a steak. Since we didn’t have a babysitter lined up, we chose a place that is “family friendly” despite the fact that the service is typically dreadful. It’s Father’s Day after all, and we wanted to include the kids. We’ll call this place “Tumbleweed.”
We got to “Tumbleweed” and as soon as we walked through the door the smell of cigarettes assaults us. I don’t think I’ve mentioned the fact that my oldest son has asthma and one of his major triggers is cigarette smoke. Also, I hate the smell of it and since I’m pregnant, smells are a million times worse. It makes me incredibly nauseous. We told them how many in our party and asked for a seat “far away from smoking.” They first take us to a table that is only feet from the bar, where the cigarette smell is still really overpowering. I’m already trying not to throw up and this is NOT going to work. So they take us to another table which is still close to the bar but at least far enough away that I’m no longer gagging.
We sit down and wait what seems forever to get our drink order taken. There aren’t a lot of people here so I am not quite sure why things are taking so long. It takes forever to get our drinks, and another eternity to place our food order. Meanwhile we’ve all drained our glasses and there’s no sign of our server with refills. We have waited quite a while for our food and I mention that it will probably come out cold. Guess what? When it finally did…not only was the order wrong, but it WAS cold. Finally someone comes by and asks us if it’s OK. Um, no. I did not wait 30+ minutes for cold food. So they take it back. Apparently they tossed it in the microwave for about 10 seconds because we get the same food back and guess what? Still cold. Screw it. I’m hungry and not in the mood. I ordered my *very expensive* filet medium. It was rare, even after tossing it back in the microwave. My sweet potato wasn’t even warm enough to melt the butter in it. I never got the steak sauce I asked for and we sat with empty glasses for most of the meal.
Perhaps my view is colored by the fact that my dad was in the restaurant business for many, many years. And though he was in fast food (Director of Operations for a sizable regional franchise) the concept for a sit down restaurant should be the same…good food and good service are key. If you can’t satisfy the customer, you comp their food, or offer a free dessert, or do SOMETHING in the way of an apology to try and keep their business. We got nothing. Not even an apology…an “I’m so sorry! I didn’t realize the food was up!” or anything would have been better than the big fat nothing we got. We spent a lot of money on a meal that was supposed to be special for my husband on Father’s Day. And it was an absolutely terrible experience. And after spending that much money on bad food and bad service, we can’t *afford* a do-over.
Oh, and to cap it off, I offer you a look at a portion of their kid’s coloring page. This is an actual scan. Note the ones I circled…can you unscramble those?
If you’re having a little trouble with those 2, let me help you out. According to the answers given on that coloring sheet, they are supposed to be “chicken” and “corn dog.” I am not quite sure when the word chicken started having 2 Ks in it and being 8 letters long. Nor am I sure when corn dog started replacing the N with a G, but that’s what they’re supposed to be. I am absolutely appalled by this…for the love of Pete, PROOFREAD these things! Good grief.
And now I feel guilty for being unable to cook, for not feeling up to a trip to Southern Pines or Raleigh, and for not planning ahead so we could have a nice dinner. So if you live in Sanford, stay away from “Tumbleweed” (which happens to be located behind Walgreen’s, off of Horner, if you’re not quite sure which restaurant I’m referring to) if you want a nice meal. As I said, we’ve had negative experiences with service there before but nothing this bad. Next time I’ll suck it up and cook myself.
Edited to add that my husband just told me there is actually a steakhouse called Tumbleweed. To clarify, this was not actually a place called Tumbleweed. It starts with an S, ends with an H and the letters in between go something like this: A-G-E-B-R-U-S
