Among Friends

[drizzellla]

Tonight we went out to dinner at a popular steakhouse restaurant.

As we were sitting down the waitress asked us what we wanted to drink. She wanted us to order the special drinks. Since we didn't have a chance to look at the special drinks, I said I would have ice tea. My husband ordered a glass of wine

The waitress brought a carafe  of wine.

We ordered an appetizer and we got it in a reasonable time. I ordered a house salad and entree. The waitress asked if I wanted the salad before the entree.  I said yes.

We sat awhile. Then a server came out. She tried to place our entrées on 2 different tables. Then she came to our table. There was a side we did not order but the rest was our entrees. 

We eventually flagged down our waitress and said I did not get my salad. When I was almost finished my entree I got the salad. 

I asked for another drink. We were both finished eating and waiting for the check. I had waited at least 10 minutes for the drink. She flew by and said she would get me my drink. I said never-mind.

She was pushing dessert. We just wanted the check. We looked at the check. She charged me for 2 drinks. And picked the most expensive carafe of wine, even though my husband asked for a glass. And charged us for a side we did not order. We had her remove the charges for items we did not get.

We then noticed she put that we were a party of 3. We were wondering why. 

Does it matter? 

[CAcableGirl2]

@drizzellla   Once the bill had been corrected, it would no longer be an issue to me and I wouldn't be upset, but I would certainly have her fix the check and if you think it was intentional, I would speak to management.  

If she was just new or overwhelmed, I would just let it go....but I always double check the checks just to make sure that I'm not overcharged.

It certainly sounds like she tried to "upsell" you to increase the amount of your bill...and therefore the amount of your tip.

Oh, and be sure to keep your copy of the receipt and compare it to you credit card statement, if you paid using a credit card. 

[ECBG]

I would have asked for the manager.  Her behavior was inexcusable. 

[SharkE]

We were eating at a bbq restaurant one time and where I come from you can't eat bbq without onions. I asked for them couple of times, never came

Tx isn't big on onions. LOL

[blackhole99]

Was this happening on purpose or was the place so busy and they didn't have enough waitresses and she made a mistake? I would have said something about the wine when she brought the carafe to the table. I know the more the waitress sells the bigger the tip, so that might explain it if they were not that busy. I always like to give servers the benefit of the doubt because basically they work for tips.

[Sage04]

@SharkE , are the onions cooked or raw? That´s a new one for me.

[MarkeieMark]

I would have asked for a manager in a NY minute.  Don't care.

[FancyPhillyshopper]

Maybe the popularity means they are overworked and overwhelmed.

Maybe the server is new.

I would never accept a carafe if I ordered a glass--OR if I did take it, I would say nothing.

There is no glamour or high pay in the server world--it is just a way to minimally make a living.

I try to always be kind and tip well.

[rms1954]

Things don't always go perfect.  We go out to restaurants with expectations that everything will go smoothly and it doesn't always work out that way.  Could have been a number of reasons this was not a good experience.  You ask "does it matter."  Yes it matters.  But I would have spoken up earlier on when issues presented themselves. 

[drizzellla]

We have eaten in this restaurant several times before. Tonight it wasn't nearly as crowded as before.

The waitress was not new. She had been doing this job for years.  I think that is why she tried to get us to order drinks before we saw the menu. It worked on my husband. He looked at the wine list after he saw how much the wine was.

Good Idea- we will check the credit card charge.