Well, three, really. I had been wanting to try Peaches in Webster as I'd heard good things about it, and I knew it was owned by Charlie - the guy who had owned Charlie Brown's. Charlie Brown's was a diner in the city that had a reputation for good food and good service.
I went with a friend one Friday at about noon time. Even though it was lunch time, we wanted breakfast food. The menu was extensive and looked great. I decided to have Eggs Benedict, the classic version. They had at least ten different versions of Benedict, but I went old school. My friend had a three cheese omelet. We both ordered shredded potatoes. Everything was great, including the service. I hesitate to order Eggs Benedict because, quite often, the Canadian bacon can be a) dry, b) grisly or c) just plain over cooked. What I had that morning was perfect.
Because of my experience on Friday, I convinced Joe to go back on Sunday. It was probably about 1:00 pm, but we both wanted breakfast, and we were both very hungry. The hostess didn't give us breakfast menus, so I had to go up and get one. When the server arrived, she took our orders, but didn't pay attention to the beverages, and then forgot to take the menus, which were quite large. I said, "Do you want these?" And she replied, "Oh, yeah. This is my third double in a row, and I can't wait to go home." I said to Joe, "Wow, I hope she doesn't take it out on us.
The food arrived. Joe had some kind of eggs and pancake combination; I, again, ordered the Eggs Benedict. What a difference a day (or two) makes. The Canadian bacon was a, b AND c. I couldn't cut it with my knife, let alone chew it. I figured when the waitress came back to check on things, I'd get another one or something different. The only problem? The waitress never, never came back. I was so hungry that I took the meat out and started eating the rest. Some other waitress came by and filled up Joe's long-empty coffee cup. I didn't even see our waitress. I thought she might have left. I finished all the english muffin and egg and sat there with the inedible Canadian bacon on my plate. And I was seething. The longer she left us sitting there, the madder I was getting. I finally asked another server if she could send ours over. After a long time, she finally meandered back. She said, "How was everything?" I kept my voice as even as I could, but I was so angry. I said, "If you had even bothered to come over and check on things, I would have told you that the meat was inedible, but you never came back." She said, "Oh, sorry. Do you want some more?" "Not now," I said. She asked if we wanted her to let Charlie know. I said, "Yes." Charlie came over and inspected my dried up old Canadian bacon, and asked if I wanted a new Eggs Benedict. I told him I was full; I couldn't eat another one now. I would have liked another one earlier.
When the waitress came back, she said that Charlie had the check; he was going to make an adjustment. Now, if it were my restaurant, I would have comped at least the one breakfast and given us a small gift card. But no. Charlie gave us $4.00 off my meal, and then proceeded to make me feel like I'd complained without cause and gave us all kinds of excuses about why the waitress never came back. I left with a very bad taste in my mouth, and it wasn't the bacon. I will not be going back.
Yesterday, we went to the Cracker Barrel in Henrietta for a late breakfast. Three of us ordered our meals and then sat and waited. And waited. And waited. Though, this time the waitress was always checking on us to see about our beverages. Finally, about 30 minutes into the wait, she came by and said that she "had the manager on our meals" and apologized for the delay. The manager came with our meals, kind of forgetting bits and pieces, but ultimately we all had what we'd ordered. Then he said he was going to take the cost of one of the meals off the bill. We thanked him very much. They'd been very attentive, apologetic, and were giving us something back. They had us at comping one meal. However, a manager, who was higher up the totem pole than the previous guy, came over and said he was going to comp the whole bill. He apologized profusely, said their goal was 11 - 20 minutes to get the food on the table and they'd failed. Wow. WOW!
And, yes, we WILL most definitely go back to the Cracker Barrel. That was great customer service.
yours in breakfast,
Tracy
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3 comments:
There's another place I have gone to for breakfast for decades on Park Ave, very consistent food and service until the one morning while having brunch with my kids I find an inch long sliver of wood in my omelet. The server says "maybe its an uncooked piece of mushroom" and I'm thinking more like a piece of the crate that the mushrooms came in. They offered another and I said no thanks but had to ask to have it taken off the bill which they complied. I've been back since but I really do watch what I eat now.
The food was fantastic at the Crackerbarrel. I was very taken by surprise when the 2nd manager came over and grabbed our check off the table (which had to have been $30 ) and said everything was on him. I will go out of my way to go back there again - that kind of service is so rare! Yes , the server still got an excellent tip.
Nothing like a good mushroom, cheese and wood omelet. Yummy!
I'm not impressed with Peaches. Just another mediocre diner.
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