As a frequent diner and a former waitress, I feel uniquely qualified to comment on our most unfortunate lunch today at the Loon. We were craving burgers, and rather than go to our usual haunt, Jakes, we decided to branch out. And boy are we sorry we did. Hey, the burgers were great. The meatball sandwich was equally tasty (even if it wasn’t very hot). But the service, in a word, sucked.
We waited and waited for her to take our order. We waited and waited for our food to arrive. (The meatball sandwich came out a good five minutes after the rest of our sandwiches.) We waited and waited and waited for her to bring the check. And, to add insult to injury, our server added 20 PERCENT gratuity because, I’m guessing, we had seven at our table.
Just to be sure we didn’t miss something, we looked at the menu for a gratuity policy regarding large parties. Not a word. Even so, most restaurants that add gratuity for large parties add 18 percent, not 20. That way the server gets the standard 15 and the other 3 percent can go back into tip sharing for the bus boys or whatever. But 20 percent on seven sandwiches at a bar? Are you kidding me? So, in the interest of full disclosure, we didn’t pay it. No, we didn’t stiff her. She got 15 percent, which was 15 more than she deserved. Especially because it took her–you guessed it–forever to run the credit cards.
The moral of this story? Stick to the stiff drinks at the Loon after dark. You’ll be so tipsy you won’t notice if you have to wait.
