Denny's Debacle

Steele Lane, Santa Rosa
March 5, 2006

Annette, Bailey and I wanted a quick meal after fighter practice, so we decided to go to Denny's.

The restaurant was busy, but I figured that we'd get seated fairly quickly, as we were a party of three. Instead, a party of 5 and a party of 6 were seated before us. No big deal, they were there first. We had to wait 15 minutes to sit.

At last, we were seated. A couple that showed up just after us were also seated. Perhaps the major rush was over... 20 minutes later, I decided that there was a real problem here, since the waitress finally showed up to take our orders. Somebody had forgotten to come by to ask for drinks and appetizers.

After 20 or so more minutes, our food came. Our drinks had arrived shortly after we asked for them, but once again, somebody had forgotten to come by and ask us for refills. I was pretty sure that they must have been short on staff, but Annette pointed out that there were a couple of employees that had not been doing ANYTHING other than talking to a third person for some time. Bailey (I believe it was her that noticed, though my recollection was fogged due to hunger) mentioned that a couple that had been seated much later than us were eating french fries.

Did I say that our food came after 20 minutes? Well, mine showed up, though the order was wrong, Bailey's showed up, but even though she had ordered the same meal as I did, her's was half my size.

When I pointed out that I had requested sausage instead of bacon, the waitress took my food away instead of just getting the two pieces of sausage I wanted. Perhaps I was a bad boy? Bailey said nothing to the waitress about her miniscule portion, as she did NOT want her food disappearing too.

Oh, by the way, Annette's Omelet had yet to make an appearance. The waitress said something about the cooks messing it up and having to re-do it. 10 minutes later, it showed up. Of course, the cooks had somehow messed it up again. She had ordered her "ultimate" omelette with all bacon, rather than with bacon and sausage. Somebody took this to mean she wanted a bacon and cheese omelette, and would pay for the "ultimate" omelette. Taking Bailey's cue, Annette refused to let the waitress take the food back. I think she actually grabbed the plate and would not let go when the waitress attempted to pull it away.

About this time, the couple that had been seated shortly after us left. I don't know if they got fed, or fed-up, but either option says bad things about the amount of time we had waited for our food.

Five minutes into Annette's meal, the waitress came back with the veggies for her omelette. Lucky for Annette, she had started with the hash browns. Again, no attempt was made to refill our drinks, until Bailey requested more hot water for her tea. Even with that, Annette and I did NOT get a refill for our water.

Finally, after we ate our food, I had to go to the register to get our ticket. We would probably have died of starvation before the waitress came around again. Needless to say, I'm not eating there again, and if I could have, I would have left a negative tip. Did I mention that we went to Denny's to have a QUICK MEAL?

Oh, by the way, the food sucked too. The Pancakes were leather skinned from sitting under a heat lamp forever (and remarkably still cold), my ham was overdone, and my hash browns were under done.