Worst Restaurants

Lise · Jul 11 07 10:33

List them. I like to know.

My most recent complaint. Tropika in Richmond. Arbedean Mall. Yes. That's one of the worst. We went in a group of 14 recently (with kids) and were given the shoddiest treatment. For one thing, with 14 ppl, how do you expect each of us to turn up exactly on time at 6pm? You've got to allow for some ppl to come in late (obviously with kids, you're gonna be late) and then to pressure us to start ordering the moment we sit down? CRAZY!!

To top it off, the manager was downright rude, he kept reminding us to order quickly and get out (they were trying to move us out by 7.30pm). He kept tapping his watch and saying we need to go soon. I bought my friend a cake (it was his b'day afterall) and the manager gave us the worst look on his face that clearly said, 'you shouldn't even bother bringing the cake'.

As we were cutting the cake, he gave us the bill. Needless to say we didn't tip very much. I understand if a restaurant is busy and you get minimal service but to do this to us...? Disgusting. I will never set food in this restaurant again.

Now what's your horror restaurant story?

Sportsdude · Jul 11 07 10:39

Easy for me.
Down here there's this local sports grill chain called Kriegers. 3 friends and I went there and got a 42 dollar bill for......
chocolate shake 4 dollars
chicken fingers 5 dollars
nacho 6 dollars
and a diet coke

I told them you've got it all wrong, they said nope its right. Never went back, the place closed.

Sportsdude · Jul 11 07 10:43

Another time last year I went to another sports bar for the local team was in the baseball world series. The place should have known the place was packed. So instead of having everyone work they only had 5 waitresses for about 200 people. It took 3hrs to get my food. 1hr to get my soda refilled. And the people serving were rude. I left no tip.

Gopher · Jul 11 07 11:09

Alberto's, Saskatoon - the pits for loud, in your face service.

Devil · Jul 11 07 11:39

Although not a restaurant, there is a Tim Hortons I went to in Calgary (Heritage, by the centre Costco to be exact)...and i ordered a croussant and a coffee. I asked for butter with my treat and the girl working is telling me they don't give out butter unless its for a muffin.

I am waiting for the punchline.....and there was none. So I ask to see the manager, and he went on and on about how they get taxed differenty for giving out butter with anything but muffins...etc. WTF?!?!?!!! Shoked and amazed, at one of the biggest money grabbing corporations in North America, I told him off, very loudly so everyone could hear what was going on. I was not really pissed off, but just amazed at him argueing about giving a customer some butter?!!

Not a big fan of Tim's anyways, there are way too many independant places that kick Horton's a*s!

P.C. · Jul 11 07 02:04

I don't get the big Timmy's fascination either. Here's a topper for ya.....we went to a KFC (a few years back)....and they were out of chicken. No kidding.....OUT OF CHICKEN !

Devil · Jul 11 07 02:19

Hard to beat that one. I once went to a diner in Palm Springs and I sent my breakfast back because it had a hair in it. No big deal, hair happens! But when they brought out a new plate, there was much more hair in it. I don't remember the name of the place. Never ate till lunch that day!

Devil · Jul 11 07 02:33

Sportsdude wrote:
Easy for me.
Down here there's this local sports grill chain called Kriegers. 3 friends and I went there and got a 42 dollar bill for......
chocolate shake 4 dollars
chicken fingers 5 dollars
nacho 6 dollars
and a diet coke

I told them you've got it all wrong, they said nope its right. Never went back, the place closed.

These prices won't seem so outrageous after you are in Canada for awhile...still expensive, but not shockingly crazy.

margretli · Jul 11 07 03:00

Oh man do I have something to say about Worst Restaurant.

The Elbow Room on Davie.
Their servers are meant to be pretty rude as a kind of joke. Now I can understand a little bit of humor when it comes to staff attitudes, and it can bring out the uniqueness of the place. However this was way too much.

One Friday morning/early afternoon, we went to get breakfast from that place. We went inside, and it's practically empty. One of the waitress brough a cup of coffee for us. It's their rule (said so on their menu) that the customer go and refill their own coffee, that's perfectly fine by us. So we sat down, and looked over the menu. 5 minutes later, we politely ask the waitress to take our order. She told us that she does not take orders, it has to be a specific person. Ok we chuck it up to the "uniqueness" of the place. That "other guy" was on the phone at the time, so we thought ok no point in worrying about it, we'll just wait.

10 minutes later, the guy still on the phone. It's not just chit chat conversation, it sounded like it was serious business that guy needs to attend to. That's fine too. So we ask to see if anyone else can take our order. Nope, you have to wait for him to get off the phone. There were at lease 4 staff at the place, and only what 2 to 3 table of customers. This is 15 minutes after we walk into the resturant, we were being denied service because the staff that are standing around are "not allowed" to take orders.

I was pretty pissed (lack of food did not help) at this point and suggested that we go and have breakfast some where else. So we walked up to the idling staff, and asked how much was the coffee. Guess what, it was $2.75!!! It wasn't anything special, it was just a regular cup of coffee. The cup wasn't even very big! The person who took the money was laughing at us and made some smart ass comment about how funny it was that we could not take their attitude.

Not only that the food (and coffee) was way over priced, they told us to sit there and wait because that's just the way they run the business... and made fun of us all at the same time.

It was just a little too much for me to take. I would never go back there again if I can help it.

Lise · Jul 11 07 04:42

Wow. Those are some interesting stories. I just don't get restaurants who treat customers like they're trash. I thought the success of your restaurant will depend on word of mouth. I'm just baffled by this all.....

I feel that most Chinese restaurants have the worst service. It's ok if you're Caucasian, you get the star treatment but when you're Asian, man, you might as well go eat at a fast food joint.

Sportsdude · Jul 11 07 04:43

really? That's a shame.

Lil Me · Jul 11 07 10:27

Thanks for the warnings, everyone. I have been tempted to try Tropika again, since the last time I went there was almost 10 years ago (on Cambie). My grandfather had a stroke in the middle of dinner (he nodded off and we couldn't wake him up) and left in an ambulance. Needless to say, the rest of us paid the bill and left in a hurry. We didn't really eat, but the food LOOKED delicious.

weird al · Jul 12 07 02:28

Yeah it's just amazing the places you can go where they think they are doing you a favor by condescending to have anything to do with you at all.

Or they mistakenly "correct" your (correct) pronunciation, the food is goofy at best, lethal at worst, etc., which can happen even (and perhaps most often) in the most pretentiously elegant - or is it elegantly pretentious?- places.

Next time I get a raw deal, maybe I'll stage a heart attack. Yeah, that's it! Or if it's true, as George Carlin said, that you get a 5-minute warning of your impending death, I'll go to my least favorite restaurant and just die there! Yeah!

P.C. · Jul 12 07 02:36

rofl weird al.....Yea yea.....that'll learn em.....dieing really ticks them off.

....but don't forget to leave a tip.[img style="CURSOR: pointer" onclick=url(this.src); src="vny!://www.cheesebuerger.de/images/more/bigs/e058.gif" border=0]

weird al · Jul 12 07 02:45

P.C. wrote:
rofl weird al.....Yea yea.....that'll learn em.....dieing really ticks them off.

....but don't forget to leave a tip.[img style="CURSOR: pointer" onclick=url(this.src); src="vny!://www.cheesebuerger.de/images/more/bigs/e058.gif" border=0]

That just gave me an idea for that Canadian Tire money they give you when you buy something at Crappy Tire. I'm-a hang on to that stuff from now on, by geez, for tipping purposes.

Oh and for Lise, who said "Disgusting. I will never set food in this restaurant again." - - - you shouldn't have to do that anyway Lise. They should at least be able to take care of that by themselves. As for tipping them Lise - next time that happens to you, tell 'em weird al already took care of the tip