Twice now it’s happened; last week and now tonight.

Last week at local Mexican place, this week at PF Changs.

Place is half full. Waiter doesn’t seem too swamped. Food takes FOREVER to get, and we end up getting entrees as we are finishing
apps which took way too long to get.

Waiter keeps disappearing for long stretches.

It just seems like a malaise has descended upon the entire restaurant industry and no one gives a rats ass anymore.

And then you get the bill and get sticker shock because things are WAAAAY more than they used to be.

I don’t get it.

No different in other industries these days.

The top and talented staffers are all leaving for better paying jobs, meanwhile what's left is the mediocre and awful to manage everything else.

Won't be long before we just tap our phones on the computer and Amazon serves us our meals.

I get the impression that a lot of these restaurants now do so much more take-out/DoorDash than ever before and dining-in has now become almost an afterthought for them. It sucks

We are fortunate in that we have a couple really top shelf restaurants around us, prices are high but the service and food is excellent. We’ve pretty much given up on anywhere else as the story sounds the same here. We’ll go once every 3 or 4 months to splurge because of cost. On occasion we have to stop somewhere because of working late or other necessities and we’ve made the exact same comments and observations as you at most. As someone else stated, it’s that way everywhere, not just limited to restaurants.

People need to quit keeping the mediocracy going. I go to one restaurant fairly often because it has not fallen off at all. It ruins the entire meal for me when I am sitting there getting aggravated because the waiters are so bad.

The last time I went to one of our favorite restaurants this blue haired 20 something took our order where mine was a pizza which was loaded with Jalapeno's and pepperoni. She comes back 30 minutes after dropping off the food and asks me if I would like another water. There are two pieces of pizza missing and my water is empty. I couldn't eat any more pizza because my mouth was on fire. There is just no thought put into anything anymore, it's all reactionary these days.

The best pizza restaurant near me has never reopened its sit-down area.

That area now has all the tables with chairs turned up on the tables.

It kitchen is still open with a few people in it

It is most likely making more money than it ever did, just doing takeout

My Daughter, who was born and raised in the Midwest, Chicago.
She now is the GM at a very upscale restaurant in Napa, CA. The restaurant workers are well compensated.
She worked at LA restaurants and restaurants in Miami and Dallas as well as Chicago.
She constantly complains about not only the workers, but the managers she has to hire, but the Napa workers seem to be the most trying of the bunch. There idea of time off would give any manager fits. Any time, any place seems to be the norm for days off or early off.

Her Midwest work ethics are lost on the west coast.

One of the areas oldest and best dive bars with world famous chili and burgers had their chef quit and walkout during last Friday's lunch rush. Bartender left all alone but he managed thanks to understanding customers.

We have a well run Culver's that is reliable and a couple of mom & pops that we patronize but we mostly buy good food and eat at home.

Took Mrs. Mike out to Nami (like ichiban) tonight. The waitress we got was not on her game tonight or she thought she would get a better tip from another table. She did manage to hustle around for the ten top behind us..when I paid I made sure I expressed that she wasn’t receiving any tip tonight because she couldn’t be bothered to check our drinks or ask if we needed yum yum sauce.

You can't purely blame the waiters.
It is management's responsibility to make sure everything runs smoothly.
Proper supervision is the key plus the issues may be with other aspects of the restaurant as well that affect everyone.

No, I Don’t Think That They Have. (Just Given Up.)

short staffed, former employees make more on unemployment/foodstamps than working!!

I’ve found that the only reliable places anymore are either local one or two location joints or those run by a single family. Chains? Forget about it. Just more mediocre staff and service.

As you note, I think a lot has to do with the increased amount of DoorDash type ordering.

I couldn't agree more that many restaurants have dropped in quality; of course there are several that never had it to begin with.

Experiencing letdowns too many times and with the higher cost of eating out, my wife & I made the decision two years ago to do the following:

1. Eat in as much as possible. Fortunately we have a couple organic markets and a very good Asian grocery store that we can find necessary supplies at decent prices. Garbage in, garbage out definitely applies to cooking. We both are good cooks & it's easier to eat healthy but sometimes we need to get some fresh air...

2. We have a couple higher end restaurants we like to frequent but will only do so on a less crowded night, in other words not Fri or Sat. It seems no matter how good a restaurant is these days, good help is hard to come by so when things get hectic the less able have to work, thus lowering quality.

3. We also have a couple family run restaurants that are staples in the community and we consistently obtain delicious food at great prices. Unfortunately there's only so much Italian and Greek food I can handle before my waistline suffers.

4. When trying a new place we only order 1 thing - either an appetizer or entree. If they screw that up or it's mediocre, they had their shot and we don't go back. Sounds harsh I know but value based eating is at a premium these days.

5. Chik-Fil-A has for the most part kept up their game and is our fast food staple.

There used to be several really good seafood restaurants in our area (just north of Orlando). They're all gone, not COVID, they were closed way before that.

We wanted fish, so my wife took me out for my birthday last month. We went to (don't laugh) Red Lobster, just down the street from where we live.

Our waitress was a middle-age black woman. Contrary to the preceding posts in this thread, we had outstanding service. The waitress was very attentive. She made a point of passing by our table frequently, without being intrusive, and was quick to notice if we needed anything.

She got a rather large tip, and she earned it. If we go back there, we will be sure to ask for one of Jenn's tables.

I usually just eat at home. Generally, restaurant food on those infrequent occasions is casual take out.

We don't go to upscale restaurants anymore. Food may be good but the service, while professional, has always been impersonal and indifferent. Polite and somewhat friendly but definitely arms length. It's just not enjoyable and I'd rather just cook at home.

The only place I go regularly is an old fashioned place diner type of place. Service is friendly, personable and you never want for anything. They are very dedicated in making you feel welcome and ensuring that you have a good dining experience. The customers I've noticed tend to be all polite, well mannered, and elderly (like me).

Good food, good prices, great service. I tip very well there - I hope none of them leave.

Other than this one place, I have very little desire to eat at restaurants these days. There is no hospitality or service in restaurants; it's just food for profit. Service is so mechanical that the food might as well just come out of a vending machine. I'd rather just eat at home.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
There used to be several really good seafood restaurants in our area (just north of Orlando). They're all gone, not COVID, they were closed way before that.

We wanted fish, so my wife took me out for my birthday last month. We went to (don't laugh) Red Lobster, just down the street from where we live.

Our waitress was a middle-age black woman. Contrary to the preceding posts in this thread, we had outstanding service. The waitress was very attentive. She made a point of passing by our table frequently, without being intrusive, and was quick to notice if we needed anything.

She got a rather large tip, and she earned it. If we go back there, we will be sure to ask for one of Jenn's tables.

Here's something that will surprise the hell out of you. I used to do electrical repairs in Red Lobster. One day I go there and whatever the problem was happened to be at the back door when the fish truck showed up.

I looked over the new arrivals as I talked to the store manager receiving the order. I asked him, "hey almost all of this stuff says wild caught or fresh." He informed me the majority of the seafood they ordered was either flash frozen wild caught or local fresh fish. I was surprised there was zero farm raised, I wish I had asked them a better breakdown and had a better memory of which items were wild/fresh. I know the Rockfish was local.

I walked through their kitchen, freezers, and backroom areas. They were prepping food, not opening bags of frozen stuff or things that needed to be microwaved or reconstituted. The amount of higher quality food stuff and in-restaurant made items was a real shock to me. I previously had considered them fast food seafood, I was truly impressed.

I would not hesitate to go there although I haven't been since 2019.

Pre-covid my wife and I ate out 3-4 times a week. Probably one low end, 1-2 medium end and 1-2 high end restaurants per week.

During covid we started ordering Marley Spoon and Hello Fresh meal kits. The variety is like eating a meal at CHeesecake factory every night. The quality equivalent or better. Everything is fresh, delivered right to the front door for about $22 each 2 serving meal. We do 5-6 meals a week and eat out once a week.

NOW, when we eat out, the food is either cooked wrong or super salty, not the same quality, or the server sucks...... literally 1 out of 5 meals do we really enjoy the experience. I see a lot of disappearing servers......you don't see them for 10-20 minutes at a time and the restaurant isn't even busy. It's really disappointing. But I think a lot of restaurants dropped their food quality a bit to try to stay competitive. The good servers moved onto something else and the servers they have just don't care.......I don't get it.

Me and a buddy go to the taco Mac near my house simply because they are the only place open after 9 on that you can get a beer at.

Typical experience of last visit. We walk in the door. 9:15 pm on Friday night. The greeting person/ sitter looks at us coming and walks away coming back several minutes later. Guess he had something more important to do. I say table for two. He looks at his chart, looks over his shoulder and says we have to wait until he can get a table bussed, even though a third of the tables had customers, a third we’re not bussed and a third we’re empty.

We stood at the door until finally seated at 9:26. The table was literally covered in nasty water, so much so that I had to go to another table to get napkins to wipe it off so I could rest my arms on it.

9:34 waiter takes order, two burgers, two beers.

9:45 waiter returns to table empty handed and tells friend we’re out of the beer you ordered, some weird brand, friend orders another. I inquire as to the Budweiser I ordered. He said your ok we’ve got that. I asked then why didn’t you bring me one?
Mumbled something about wanting to bring them both together.

10:01 waiter brings beer.

10:09 waiter brings burgers, friend asks for ketchup. Food barely warm, ketchup never comes.

You get the picture, it’s like this pretty much every time. Poor service, poor management because they don’t notice or care about customers experience, foods ok. Burger, fries, one beer, well over $20 before tip.

So here’s what I don’t get. A bunch of restaurants have closed or not reopened after the pandemic. There should be tons of servers needing jobs. Where are all the competent people who lost their jobs?