The person paying (with the company card) did know and made some effort to help out, but it was tough because he was at the opposite end of a long-ish table and I think that the waiter told him the same thing that he told me…it’ll just be a few more minutes.
I agree, it wouldn’t have been so bad if they had done any of those things. An apology would’ve made a huge difference to me.
Hi neighbor. I heard they are open again, but just for weekends, and it’s $30 a plate. 
A story from years ago. Spent the weekend helping my sister & BIL move into their new house. BIL said he was going to take us out for a nice dinner (cause it was late and nobody had energy to cook). So we went to a nice supper club/dance place. It was about 2 hours after our regular dinner time, and we all were quite hungry, we discovered. We were seated promptly, at a small table right on the edge of the dance floor near the band platform. Waitress took orders for nice steaks quickly, brought us drinks & basket of rolls, breadsticks, etc. soon. Then … nothing.
We were busy talking about the new house, plans for changes, etc. Eventually we realized that we had devoured everything in the bread basket, it had been a long time, and the nighttime band started to arrive and set up right next to us.
Finally the waitress came by, looking annoyed, and asked us if we wanted anything else, or should she give us the check (which she had in her hand). She looked shocked, and left for the kitchen. We never saw her again.
The manager/owner came out with free appetizers for us, and said our order would be out as soon as possible. It did come, and was really good food, but by then the rock band had started playing right next to our table. (All the other tables near us had been moved to open the dance floor. ) Apparently she had forgotten to tur our order in to the kitchen, and didn’t remember our table until her shift was ending. I think BIL got a good discount on the bill.
So we not only waited a couple hours, but then instead of the meal got the check!
I went to a restaurant with some friends when I was in college. We gave the waitress our order, and then waited for a long time. We were talking and enjoying the company, so we weren’t upset, but it was sure taking awhile. I eventually flagged down another server and asked about our order (it had probably been over an hour…). The server looked kind of horrified and said “Oh, wow - your waitress quit!). I said that I hoped we weren’t the table that made her quit, and we re-ordered and got served in a reasonable time, the second time.
The longest I’ve ever waited for a meal in a restaurant was 2 hours. The reason I lasted that long was that I couldn’t leave!
A large group of us (12+) headed to a local pub/restaurant after an event. We all got seated around a big table and the waitress (her first week on the job) took our orders. Everybody got served but me. She checked on us, I complained, and she resubmitted my order (which wasn’t unusual, just something off the regular menu) to the kitchen. It never came out. By then everybody had finished their meals and we were all getting ready to leave. As we departed I made it a point to call the owner, the floor manager and the waitress over. I then condemned the kitchen staff with Extreme Prejudice and pointedly told the manager and owner that the waitress was completely innocent in the debacle and that she should catch none of the hoped-for flak.
The owner poured a handful of “Free Drink” coins in my hand as we left. I stopped by McDonalds on the way back to the hotel.
It’s typically absolutely delicious. Nicest people own it, too.
Y’know … for next time.
Me and my wife were out with her son, and his wife. Nice big Italian place. We got on the list and got our buzzer and went to the bar area and stood talking. . . about 45 minutes later. . .“What about our table?” We went to the front desk and they said they buzzed us 30 minutes ago. . . turns out the battery on our buzzer was dead.
Lot’s of you are much more patient than I am. I have a 10-minute limit from seating to ‘something’ happening (water, order, simple acknowledgement) and then I’m out (or if I’ve had good service before, I go back up front and ask the greet/seat folks for a table where I can get service at…that works wonders).
Most impatient diner I ever saw was the Nobel Prize winner Murray Gell-Mann. We were at a Skeptics conference and several of us were sent to take him to breakfast. We hadn’t been seated more then 2-3 minutes before he started fussing, then got up and started to chase the waitress(es) to get them to come over to the table, while the three of us cowered in out seats. Was a pretty good breakfast, though…
But my line you don’t cross is don’t serve someone who came in after me while I’m still waiting…Applebee’s did that to me once and I haven’t been back for 15 years (I hold very few grudges, but those I have I hold tight).
FWIW we were at Busey Brews Smokehouse & Brewery.
Looked like Kathmandu Restaurant moved and is now a stone’s throw from Busey Brews
The worst was when I went to dinner with my wife, her boss, and the boss’ husband. We were seated at a nice table by a polite hostess, our drink orders taken then delivered, then the waitress came and took our orders… except mine. She took the other three and I opened my mouth to order and she simply walked away. I called for her but she kept walking. The place was busy and we had been seated near the back of the restaurant so I didn’t get a chance to flag her down again. When she brought the other meals out ~20 mins later she noticed there were only three entrees on the platter. She asked me what I had ordered and I suddenly felt my wife’s fingers digging into my thigh – she was warning me not to blow up and be a dick to the poor kid, which I wouldn’t’ve have done anyway. I told her I had just ordered a small side salad, which wasn’t really true but I didn’t want to wait 20 mins for my meal and just be starting to eat as everyone else a the table was finishing up. It still took 10 minutes to get a bowl of lettuce.
We stopped by Arby’s on the way home.
That restaurant closed a few months later. Shocker.
So I guess technically I had to wait 40 minutes or so. But really, I had to wait the whole evening because a tiny side salad was not what I wanted for dinner and basically ordered it to be polite.
That was sweet of you.
A few years ago, we had our company XMas party/dinner at a local seafood restaurant (NOT Red Lobster!).
Everyone else ordered off the menu, but they had a “Specials” board up front, and I ordered off of that.
By the time my food arrived, it was room temperature, I was the only one left at the table, it was closing time, the manager was looking pointedly at his watch, at me, at the door, at his watch again, etc.
CANNOT believe this place is still in business. They have mostly rave reviews, their food is really great, but every now and again, they pull this shit and get a 1/2-star from someone.
We were at a Bernie Sanders rally in 2016, which of course ran long (boy oh boy, can he talk!) Since the rally started at 7:00 PM, we went at 6 to get in the long line, and we didn’t get out of there until after 8:00 PM. It was just my son and I, so we went to the Perkins which is on our way home.
We just ordered basic breakfast items, nothing fancy, and sat and sat with a couple waters at our table. We were close enough to the kitchen to hear the conversations, so when after 40 minutes the waitress asked the cook where (our) two plates were, they said they got sent out, obviously to another table. At no time did the waitress come over and explain what’s going on, offer to get us drinks or refills, or check up on us. We waited a few more minutes and got up to leave. As we were walking out the front door, I could see our waitress with a couple plates, wondering where we were. Nope, not going to be paying for that. We got home and I made a couple eggs at 9:30 PM.
I haven’t eaten at a Perkins in years, but my recollection is that they were always slow. One time in college a group of us went there, and our food was out in some ridiculously short time (5 minutes?). One of my friends dashed outside to check the sign and make sure we were actually at Perkins.
My longest wait after being seated also was at Perkins. Around 25-30 years ago wife and I with our firstborn who was around 2yo. Seated, got water and then nothing. Fairly busy but not that bad as we didn’t wait for our table. Half hour passed and we got up to leave. When hostess asked how things were I told her we didn’t know as we haven’t seen our server yet. Waiting line then and I said it loudly. She insisted we sit and we’d be taken care of. I said I had a very hungry and fussy 2 year old and we weren’t going to wait. Drove two parking lots over to our first ever venture in Applebees. Mentioned the story to our server and my son had his fries and whatever inside of 5 minutes. I think they came with our drinks as we ordered his meal then so he’d get started.
Breakfast place I used to really like in LA, The Brite Spot.
Went in for breakfast and saw some friends of ours who were just almost done eating. They had a big booth and called us over. We okayed it with the waitress sat down with them. We ordered and then were chatting with our friends…30 or so minutes. We asked the waitress about our order when she cleared our friends’ plates…and it seemed like maybe she had forgotten to put our order in…so we wait another 10 or so minutes. We see other tables getting served who came in way after us. Our friends have to go and they get up to go pay. We wait a few more minutes and then we’re pretty resigned to just leaving but that’s when our food finally comes. The waitress mutters “better late than never.” and then scampers off…We take a couple of bites…cold. We just walked out.
Went to the Red Lion Tavern and had an amazing German breakfast.
Do they serve barfi?
Sorry, couldn’t resist.
This happened to me and a friend on a trip to Budapest a few years ago. On our last day, our flight back to the UK was scheduled for late afternoon, so we planned to have a bit of lunch in the hotel bar before heading out to the airport. We had eaten there before and they did a fantastic goulash, so we ordered that. Got our drinks, and waited. After about half an hour (I had my eye on the clock all the time because of the flight) we saw another couple across the bar who had come in after us, getting goulash. So I grabbed the server and asked her where was our goulash? She apologised, went to the kitchen, and came back in a few minutes and told us, sorry, we’ve run out of goulash now!
I think we had a sandwich.
I just remembered another one… Sunday of San Diego Comic Con. Myself and two friends went to the famous BBQ place from Top Gun…very crowded of course at the end of the con and I had to catch a train in two hours (the station was a 15 minute walk) and one of my friends had to go to the airport shortly after that…I thought we’d have probably just enough time to eat and then I’d have to go. To make things even easier once we were seated and ordered–about 30 minutes into that two hours, I just asked if I could pay my check then–that way I could just leave when I needed to…now another 30 minutes… then 45…and then an hour had passed…still no food. Eventually I just had to leave.
The one friend who had a little extra time before the airport also had to leave before his food got there. Our remaining friend (who I think might have been staying another night so he had all time in the world) was served all three of our meals after about 2 full hours at the table.