Grogs — Restaurant in Lambton Shores

My mother (95 years old) wanted to take us out to Grogs. The food was good, then the service turned into a train wreck. I asked for hot tea. It came warm. I attempted to get the server's attention for about 5 minutes, then when she came by I mentioned that the tea was not hot. Instead of saying, "Sorry about that, let me get you a new tea." She said the water came out hot. If I wanted a new cup I would have to pay for it. I explained that sometimes, even though the water comes out of the spigot hot, it likely went into a tea pot that was cold sitting on the counter. That day happened to be an unusually cool day, that's why I wanted a hot tea. She then argued with me, "that's the way we always serve it." Nonetheless, I said, can you bring me a new tea with the tea pot hot. "you'll have i pay for a new tea bag" she replied. I said I would not pay for the second tea bag. She then takes away the teapot and returns the pot full of hot water with the used tea bag still in it. I asked for the manager. The manager came to the table. The server defended herself, and the manager supported her and walked away. He then came back with a second tea bag in the package. By the time he returned, I had a full teapot that was now tepid, with what was weak bitter tea left over from the first tea bag. I didn't use the second tea bag. The server returned to the table with the bill, charging me for two cups of tea, neither of which I drank and the second tea bag was left unused, still in the packet. I went back to the floor manager to complain that not only did he charge me for the first tea that was undrinkable, he charged me for the second tea that was unused. He would not change the bill. We walked out very disappointed on how Grogs made such an issue over tea. It would have been SO EASY to just have apologized with the lukewarm tea and offered me a new pot at the beginning. When we were leaving, I said to the server, very calmly, the terrible experience, with my mom, that we had with Grogs. Her reply as we were leaving, "You made my experience serving you terrible". I have been to Grogs loads of time and it has always been a good experience for us with the food and service. Now I can't see myself going back to a restaurant that does not care about customer experience and argues...

My family and I spent our first time in Port Franks this week and had heard so many good things about Grogs. In fact, our first experience on their patio this past Friday was great.

So imagine our disappointment when, upon our second visit (where we also brought along my mother-in-law), we had a truly TERRIBLE customer experience.

We were seated at 6PM. We ordered wings and salads, and a simple kids pasta Alfredo for our two year old. Nothing complicated. It was not especially busy (many empty tables around us).

After waiting nearly an hour, the server finally arrived with the salads, no wings and (most important) no food for our two year old! At this point, we were all so frustrated that we asked to speak with the manager whose attitude exactly reflected the service. She sincerely did not care that we’d waited as long as we had, offered no recourse or apologies and even suggested it was our fault for the wait (“can’t you see it’s busy?”).

At no point were we rude or difficult. Just direct.

I had been warned about the Port Franks local’s attitude toward out-of-towner’s, but everyone here has been wonderful. Everyone, it seems, except the management at Grog’s.

We love the area and will likely return for years to come. Unfortunately for Grog’s, we will never return there again. If Grog’s management is reading this, understand that your lack of service resulted in years of lost revenue from our family, and from everyone we’ll bring with us to the area for years to come.

P.S. anyone from Grog’s management team is welcome to contact me, I’d be happy to speak with them about the experience. This is not a rant from a scorned customer. My experience is probably describing an endemic problem with your business. You can fix it, but it requires attention. Reach out anytime.

UPDATE: Don’t be fooled by the management response below. They never responded to my email (which I sent promptly). A month later, I still stand strongly by my review. My family’s experience at Grog’s hasn’t just led me to boycott their restaurant; it’s made me rethink ever visiting the entire Port Frank’s...

Sept 1 dinner time take out section. Food is really good - but not worth the unkindness we experienced and witnessed. I’d not have bothered to leave a review had there been kindness. $14+tax if you add 1 item to the $10 pepperoni pizza that comes with a specialty (Grogs pizza). You need to tell customers this when they order. Then will refuse to refund - even though the order was not to kitchen staff. We were told there is no way to refund on their debit machines…attempted to belittle us. Eventually manager came - no eye contact no apology, got gift card for difference but staff extremely rude and belittling - 4 of them “pizzas are expensive nowadays” - we said, had you told us adding mushrooms would cost us $14+tax we’d not have added them. She said has always been their policy (no menus nor order signs posted—just order at till) - tell us when ordering that it’ll be $14+tax for mushrooms and would not have been an issue. We used our gift card for tarts - we asked what flavours they were and you’d think I’d asked her the dumbest question- told me “they’re tarts” I had to ask if nuts or raisins “they’re tarts” They were set back from till with cookies on top and thought she’d hand them to us - I asked which do I take- said didn’t care and turned away. I’d have thought she would unpile cookies then hand them to me . Did not seem happy we were using gift card. We’d been going for decades - will never be back and we made sure every cent of that gift card was spent by giving our remaining balance to another customer. Another customer came and picked up order and asked for napkins and was told “right in-front of your face”. The micro aggressions towards customers and own staff was quite toxic. Sept 1 dinner time take out section. Food is really good - but not worth the unkindness we experienced and witnessed. I’d not have bothered to leave a review had there...