Kelseys Original Roadhouse — Restaurant in Ottawa

My husband I decided to stop by for a quick bite before our movie. Things started off fine. We ordered nachos and mac and cheese bites to share. We got our food pretty quickly. The mac and cheese bites were good but the nachos were not so much. I was digging into the sour cream that was provided only to find that there was mold in the middle as you dug lower.

I know that its not dangerous but I wasn't going to eat the sour cream and we decided to wave down our server to let him know so that the kitchen was aware. He starts looking at it then asks "Does it taste like mold?" This was the first point of contention for me with this establishment. I told him that it was in fact mold. He asked me if he could get us anything else and I said "maybe just more salsa". At this point, I was still feeling like it would be an okay night. I would continue to eat my food. I wasn't looking for anything free except maybe the extra salsa. Then the manager comes out.

The manager was condescending from the beginning. She says something along the lines of "I hear we have a problem with our food," to which I reply "just the sour cream. It was moldy but its fine. I asked the server for more salsa." She replies with "Well it wasn't mold. It was the black chips breaking off in the sour cream but you can think that if you want. Don't worry though. The food is on me." I mention I am not looking for a hand out and that we will still pay but just wanted to make the kitchen aware. This starts a bit of a back and forth and ends in her saying that I can think it was mold if that makes me feel better and myself quiet and upset.

The waiter came back around again and can see that I was visibly upset. I tell him that I feel like the situation wasn't handled very appropriately and that I just want our bill. He goes back to get the manager and she comes back out again. She apologizes but I really didn't feel remorse. I mention that I didn't want anything free from her and that we would pay for our meal. She begins to argue with us about who will pay and it ends in my husband sternly asking one last time for our bill and her giving in.

I left feeling awful. What could have been as easy as "sorry. here is your extra salsa" ended in a horrible situation. The manager was condescending, rude and argumentative. Whatever happened to the customer is always right? I've worked in customer service for many years and I would never, ever think to make a customer feel the way I felt throughout that entire experience. I felt a bit discriminated against and that they had a preconceived notion that we were looking for a free meal which could have been farther from the truth. We will NEVER go back to that...

This branch was my favorite. It had my first memories. It was a walking distance where i used to live. Visited every thursday to enjoy half price wings and in some occasions visited on Sundays. Sometimes with my husband and other times with a group of friends... or at least it was my favorite when I didn't sit down on the left side when a specific waiter is serving because she was always rude but that didn't keep us from coming back until yesterday... i won't name her because my purpose is not to harm her but I won't be coming again to that branch because of her rudeness.

Long story short, i moved to an area where barrhaven's location will be a 7mins drive but we decided to go in peak traffic time to remember our memories at bank street's location so we drove 30mins. So the thursday offer says get half price wings with a drink I KNOW that... but every single time i come with my partner or with group we were able to skip for some ordering drinks as well specially that other were ordereing beer or cocktails which will increase the bill.. it wasn't about adding a soft drink for 3.5$ that would make a difference for me. Anyway we ordered 15 wings and a big beer for my husband and for me 10 wings with a side of fries, so the waiter said you have to add a drink or else you pay full price, i said i don't mind that but i come every thursday here or bahhraven's location they never obliged me with a drink and the price of half wings was applied on the bill.. she said "well, they shouldn't have done that", i smiled and said okay.. then she said in a very rude way while giving a sarcastic smile and challenging tone "you either add a drink or you will be charged fully"; then my husband said its okay thank you we will cancel the order and leave, so she replied once again sarcastically good night and she left. I could have added a drink for 3$ and stay but the whole experience was ruined because of this unprofessionalism.

So if you go there, just sit on the right...

I spent over two hours eating food with my coworkers, drinks, appetizers, main, dessert etc... I wanted to bring 2lbs of wings home for my wife since it's half price wings. They won't give me the deal? Despite dinning in with several people and spending hundreds of dollars together, they won't do us a favour. That is not good customer service, that is taking your business for granted. Good customer service is willing to be flexible. This restaurant is in our neighborhood and we could potentially spend thousands upon thousands of dollars as return customers in our lifetime. Not happening now will be going elsewhere going forward. To be clear this is probably not the servers fault but probably the fault of a strict local manager/owner or strict upper management imposing these unflexbile rules on the servers. If someone is dining-in and asks for an extra plate to go special or not just give it to them. Dine-in special or not, flexibility would have gone a long way. Could you imagine had they done that maybe that would of tipped the scale towards making this our regular after work spot when ever do want to do an after work hang out. My colleagues did not look impressed and we laughed at how petty it was that they wouldnt let me take 2lbs of wings home for my wife. We didn't ask for 5-10lbs... just two pounds. I would bet 80-90% of the business of these type of restaurants are people in the area or return customers, i am both of these. No return customers no business. Review...