GOOD Experiences with Restaurants

[KingsGambit]

Buffalo Wild Wings in Owatonna, Minnesota. I drove from Kansas to Minnesota in one day once and was pretty exhausted once I crossed into Minnesota. I stopped there, very hungry (I hadn't stopped for lunch, choosing instead to munch on peanut butter and crackers while driving). Normally, someone dining by themselves would sit at the bar, but I wasn't there to drink, so I sat at a booth by myself. The waitress actually sat down across from me on the other side of the booth to take my order, and that was just a really nice touch of customer service after such a long day.

[JonathanL]

Anyone here have any good experiences with ad-bots on forums?

[Cow Poke]

Have you ever had EXCEPTIONAL service at a restaurant, bragged to your friends about it, then took them there to share the experience --- only to have ROTTEN service when you get them there? Has happened to me a couple of times.

It makes me really appreciate restaurants that are CONSISTENTLY "good" rather than OCCASIONALLY great. Our IHOP is consistently good AND occasionally great - but the wait staff seems to be very well trained in attention to customers -- a very good breakfast, friendly people, and only moderately expensive -- but always crispy bacon if you ask for it!

[rogue06]

Have you ever had EXCEPTIONAL service at a restaurant, bragged to your friends about it, then took them there to share the experience --- only to have ROTTEN service when you get them there? Has happened to me a couple of times.

It makes me really appreciate restaurants that are CONSISTENTLY "good" rather than OCCASIONALLY great. Our IHOP is consistently good AND occasionally great - but the wait staff seems to be very well trained in attention to customers -- a very good breakfast, friendly people, and only moderately expensive -- but always crispy bacon if you ask for it!

Around here folks have a distinct preference for either the Awful Waffle (Waffle House)^[1] or IHOP. One of my friends hates IHOP because he says that the service is lousy saying that it takes forever to get seated, waited on and served.

Well one day it was my turn to pay and we happened to be across the street from the IHOP that's relatively close by to where I live so I said that's where we were going. Even though he grumbled I insisted.

Although it was real busy everyone was seated fairly quickly and efficiently (there was only a slight wait because all the tables were occupied). The waitress came over about two minutes after were seated and since he hadn't decided if he wanted breakfast or lunch said she would be back in a couple of minutes which she was.

We both ordered breakfast and it came out quickly. When we were done my friend complimented her service and told her of the bad experiences he had at the IHOP down the road from where he lives. A couple minutes later the manager came over and apologized for his negative experiences and gave us both half-off coupons for our next visit.

He left a $10 tip (the person who doesn't buy the meal always gets the tip).









1. To be fair I like Waffle House but I definitely prefer IHOP

[rogue06]

Anyone here have any good experiences with ad-bots on forums?

If there were any restaurants that served spam they could get an honest job working there.

[Cow Poke]

Around here folks have a distinct preference for either the Awful Waffle (Waffle House)^[1] or IHOP. One of my friends hates IHOP because he says that the service is lousy saying that it takes forever to get seated, waited on and served.

We ate at a Awful House in Atlanta back when I went there to rescue my confused med-mixed-up brother from the Georgia LooneyBin. (He had epilepsy, and the doctor gave him a new prescription, which TOTALLY messed him up and left him wandering dazed through downtown Atlanta, being arrested and committed by Atlanta's Finest. (can't blame them))

Anyway, the Awful House food was horrible - it's like it was cold fried in oil, dripping with grease, bacon limp -- hash browns were mushy...... so, oddly enough, we left there and went to IHOP and had a GOOD breakfast!

[Adrift]

We ate at a Awful House in Atlanta back when I went there to rescue my confused med-mixed-up brother from the Georgia LooneyBin. (He had epilepsy, and the doctor gave him a new prescription, which TOTALLY messed him up and left him wandering dazed through downtown Atlanta, being arrested and committed by Atlanta's Finest. (can't blame them))

Anyway, the Awful House food was horrible - it's like it was cold fried in oil, dripping with grease, bacon limp -- hash browns were mushy...... so, oddly enough, we left there and went to IHOP and had a GOOD breakfast!

Waffle House is awfully awesome! Mmmm those hashbrowns are good. Covered, chuncked, diced and capped. I love greasy diners like Waffle House. The people you meet in those dives at 2 or 3 AM are fascinating.

[Cerebrum123]

Waffle House is awfully awesome! Mmmm those hashbrowns are good. Covered, chuncked, diced and capped. I love greasy diners like Waffle House. The people you meet in those dives at 2 or 3 AM are fascinating.

You really should hear Jim Gaffigan's material on Waffle House. It's pretty funny. One that fits well with your post.

"At Waffle House their slogan should be "It's 2 AM, still time to make one last bad decision"".

[Cow Poke]

Waffle House is awfully awesome! Mmmm those hashbrowns are good. Covered, chuncked, diced and capped. I love greasy diners like Waffle House. The people you meet in those dives at 2 or 3 AM are fascinating.

It would be worth it to go just to watch you interact!

[Adrift]

You really should hear Jim Gaffigan's material on Waffle House. It's pretty funny. One that fits well with your post.

"At Waffle House their slogan should be "It's 2 AM, still time to make one last bad decision"".

Sounds about right. Lots of interesting interactions. Lots of people coming out of the bars adding to the entertainment. One night you might be called a fag by a gang of 1% bikers for having a mohawk, another night a severely obese bearded gentleman with cloths full of holes from spot welding might buy you your meals because he thinks you seem like nice kids. Never know what you're going to get in those types of places. The food's relatively predictable though. Bad coffee with plenty of sugar and cream and greasy hashbrowns hits the spot.

[rogue06]

Waffle House is awfully awesome! Mmmm those hashbrowns are good. Covered, chuncked, diced and capped. I love greasy diners like Waffle House. The people you meet in those dives at 2 or 3 AM are fascinating.

This is true. We used to stop there on our way back from late night ballgames, concerts and the like. You really do meet some "interesting" folks there in the early morning. Of course I'm sure there was at least one person who told his/her friends about the weirdo they ran into there after meeting me.

[Jedidiah]

There is a little breakfast and lunch place near where we live. It is called Bobbies. We go there fairly often as a group after Church. They are so good to us. We hang around for a long time talking and they always say to take as long as we like.

[rogue06]

One last word about the "Awful Waffle" (Waffle House).

While for the most part their food is adequate^[1], I cannot remember a single time where the service wasn't good to excellent. The wait staff was always friendly (even at 2AM) if sometimes a bit quirky.










1. Unlike CP I never got anything but crispy bacon there. In fact, there was a short period of time several years ago that IHOP was serving very bland, nearly tasteless bacon but Waffle House never did.