I would like to preface this by saying I love Shoney's, in particular the Shoney's in Nashville, TN, at White Bridge Road. My parents met here, twenty five years ago when my mom was a server and my dad was a dishwasher. I had more than one birthday dinner here as a kid. My parents even had a sit down dinner with me here when I was ten to tell me (gulp) that there was no tooth fairy. So, although the food quality and service quality has been going down at this location for a while, I kept coming.
Tonight was, by far, the worst experience I have ever had at any restaurant ever. My server was very slow, and she messed up both my order (I asked for no onions or mayo, and got both on my burger) and my cousin's order (he asked for no tomatos, and got what seemed to be extra tomatos).
But I was willing to overlook that. I asked for a hot fudge cake. Since I can't eat ice cream (gallbladder has issues with dairy products), I suggested to my cousin, in front of my server, that he could eat the ice cream, and he could have the ice cream. Since our service had already been slow, my cousin joked that we should make note of the time. Good thing we did.
Twenty two minutes later, I recieved a hot fudge ice cream sundae. I was frustrated, but having been a server, I understood what it was like to juggle a menu and I said forget it, trying to be polite.
Then, as I waited at the register, I heard my server, LOUDLY, in the kitchen with the open door, complaining about me to the cook staff. I heard that I was a ""liar"", that she ""knew what [I] said,"" and how she'd ""better be getting a tip."" Baffled, my cousin loudly said, ""You know we can hear you, right?"" I can't imagine what would've been said he let it go further.
So, I'll never go back to Shoney's again. And unfortunately, this story will be repeated to many others. The constantly revolving staff, management, and changing menus were offputting enough, but the rudeness is intolerable.
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