27 South — Restaurant in Cookville

I will preface this by saying that I have over a decade of restaurant experience from serving, bartending and managing. I am very forgiving when it comes to dining. This was one of the worst dining experiences I have had.

My husband and I arrived to this restaurant for a reserved table of nine. Because of a confusion of reservation time on our part, our party arrived at different times between 5:30-6:00pm. When we arrived, the restaurant was mostly empty with only two other tables seated. We did receive water fairly quickly but was informed later that my grandparents who had arrived earlier had waited for 15 minutes for water in an empty room.

Once our full party had arrived, we waited for a while for our server to come over. Eventually, she came and took our drink order. It took over 20 minutes to get a dark and stormy and a draft beer. I’m not sure if the ginger beer was old or unrefrigerated, but it was barely cold even with ice and not very carbonated. I did not drink even half.

We ordered our food and the wait began. We received our appetizer of calamari which was okay. Our server noticed our water glasses were empty and said she would bring a jug over for us. It took 20 minutes to receive more water in a not full restaurant. While we waited, I kept looking around to see what was happening to only see our server joking around behind the bar. The main courses took over an hour to arrive. I had ordered the lobster roll with fries. The fries were cold and the lobster roll was tough and bland at best. Our server came over well after dropping off the food and I told her the meal was not good and that I was not eating it. When she asked if I wanted something else I told her I did not as I didn’t want to wait another hour for food. She apologized, but continued to ignore our table. We didn’t see her again until plates were cleared and we asked for the bill.

When paying, we told our server again that the food was not good and that the wait time was lengthy. Although I wanted to, we did not mention to her the lacking in her service.

This restaurant came highly recommended to us but we will not be returning due to the...

Last visit was super disappointing. My friend ordered her beverage and I was still looking at menu to decide on mine. Waitress walked away but didn't come back right away to take my order. I walked over to counter and let her know what I wanted. When she returned with drinks I let her know that we were on lunch. She then walked away without taking our order. She returned a couple minutes later and took our order. I ordered salad and chicken quesadilla. By this time it was 20 mins since we sat down. Our reservation was at 1. Sitting at our table we here the bell for pick up. One girl goes in kitchen door as other girl with food coming out. We hear a smash and a "oh no". We are sitting there thinking it was our food that just went on floor. 2 mins later our food comes out. I would maybe suggest next time that the waitress explains what happened instead of us sitting at table wondering if it was out food that was just picked up off floor. When our meal was delivered I had to ask for a to go container cause I literally had 10 mins to eat. The food has always been great here...that's not my complaint. The service the past couple of times I would say could improve. I would also recommend telling the people eating at your establishment that there is a lunch card available. Each time you go you get your card punched. I have been there three times now and not once did I know about this reward. My parents were the ones to tell me. I called the restaurant to ask and they confirmed. When I mentioned that this was our third visit the lady just said to ask the waitress next time for a card. No mention of show us proof and we will punch the card which would have been another nice offer....

Twice now we made a reservation for a table at 7pm for three people on New Year’s Eve, well in advance over the phone and both times they somehow managed to screw it up for us. This highly unprofessional customer service experience was made even worse through not only then keeping us waiting after the first conversation but also not even trying to give us a table. They essentially only offered us a gift card or sitting at the bar, which for three people is not a suitable dining experience.

It seems likely to be a tactic of overbooking and giving preference to bigger groups. Furthermore, it clearly says on their restaurant website that you can either call or book online to make a reservation and therefore I can reasonably expect either way to work for me to get a table and honor my reservation which they have not made and just sent me away.

Afterwards we went to another local restaurant who had no issues giving us a table and some good food. So, if they want my business again, they better rework their reservation procedures and system to ensure ALL reservations get accurately recorded and honored. Just want to give people heads up about making phone reservations. I’d say don’t bother.

EDIT: Talked to the manager and gave her the requested information incl. the call time stamp. However, only received non believable answers and a standard gift card which I refused, as it is an unacceptable solution for ruining our...