In reference to my family's visit 3/24/2012:
I continue to try and eat at local establishments and continue to have the same results; poor service and so so food. Why do I bother? I am hoping I can leave a ZERO STAR review, but it would seem I have to give a rating for the review to be posted.
Tonight I took my family out for dinner at 614 George or is it the George Street Café? It doesn't matter because we will never return to either. The service was non-existent though our server apologized and introduced herself as an owner without sharing her name. I never received my side salad either. This was never recognized or acknowledged by staff. My wife waited for a refill and for mustard. And when I say waited I don't mean a matter of a few minutes. I mean 10-15 minutes. Everything took way too long.
As for the food, my Cajun catfish was pretty good and I enjoyed the twice baked potato I ordered. The rest of my family didn't fare as well. They all ordered various burgers which were charred to excess on one side. Sort of like someone forgot to flip them which would go hand in hand with the type of service we received. The side fries came after the burgers like it was too complex to get them done at the same time. And as far as I am concerned for what we got we were overcharged.
My first job was as a busboy in a busy hotel restaurant. I was a tipped employee so I don't ever stiff anyone. In fact, I am hard pressed to leave a bad tip. I left a big fat zero tip tonight and left a note to see YELP. I feel kind of bad about it but I am guessing the owner isn't paid as a tipped employee so that's what you get. It is very frustrating especially when you want to support your local businesses rather than national chains. However it would seem the national chains have an actual training program for staff and hold them accountable to provide good service to their customer. Just really disappointing.
I have to admit I'm actually pretty unhappy about having to pay for this dinner. I wanted to take my family out for a nice evening in our hometown. I guess the good thing is that we all found it humorous as things went from bad to worse. The ambiance was murky. I mean it was too dark to even read the menu or bill and the flickering light fixture over my left shoulder almost gave me a seizure. Stay away unless you have plenty of time to kill and have low expectations.
And followup:
I just thought I would update this review since the owner of the establishment contacted me regarding my initial experience. Let's just say the outcome of her attempt to rectify my bad experience is further proof of just how half-ass and lame this establishment is.
After my scathing review I received a message here on YELP from the owner who apologized profusely and made excuses for the poor experience my family suffered. She assured me this wasn't the way her fine establishment normally operated and went so far as to offer me a $50 gift certificate to use at the George Street Cafe. I actually though to myself, ""Wow a business owner who actually cares about her customers.""
Boy am I a naive dumbass. After talking it over with my wife to see if she actually would want to try this dump again, I responded to the message and asked what next steps I would need to take. I am still waiting for any return message. The owner's protestations and kind offer were just so much hot air as her followup to her kind offer is just as horrible as the level of service we received while visiting the George Street Cafe. Should anyone disbelieve me I would be happy to copy and paste the content of Ms. Dunbar's message to me. And don't think I write this update without thought.
So to sum it all up avoid this place like the plague. And I would like to let Ms. Dunbar know how my initial impression of her being a pretentious poseur would certainly appear to be dead on. Some advice, Amy; do what you say and say what you do.
more