Gerrys Charcoal Chicken — Restaurant in Wellington

UPDATE... !!EMAIL REPLY FROM OWNER AT BOTTOM OF MY REVIEW!!

My question is who owns this place now??

Iv been in there 3 times this year each time interesting experiences first time 20min wait second time I ordered 2 1/4 chicken meals and they tried serving me 2 chicken and chips instead the third time was the worst I waited about 20 minutes for them to decide if they had enough chicken for me to order 2 1/2 chicken meals so not a massive order... note it was 7pm on Friday night.. I was then told the wait was going to be " awhile " the staff couldn't give me any indication what so ever a wait time... my question to the owner is how are you meant to have customers order or wait when your stuff have no clue what is actually going on even though they are the ones running the show...?? Is there any adults around there cause it appears to be young collage age children??

Disappointed used to be a nice meal now its hard to even get a meal out of them...

Email response as follows...

Hi Dean,

Thank you for taking the time and contacting us. I am sorry you haven't had some good experiences lately.

Friday night they did have a wait on chicken around 7pm. I am sorry that the team took too long to be able to give you an estimate on how long it would be. I have been told that the wait was going to be approx 30 minutes.

We try very hard to predict how much chicken we will sell in any given period, Sometimes we sell more, earlier than expected and that is what caused the issue on Friday. Chicken takes around 2 hours to cook, so we are always estimating well in advance, we also do not like to cook the chicken too early as it can become dry. We want our customers to have fresh chicken that they enjoy.

Your Chicken meals / Chicken Chip mix up, I am not sure on the cause of that, Either the staff member who took your order misheard you and didn't repeat the order back (which is against company policy), Or you ordered the chicken and chips but meant meals in your mind (Trust me people do get them mixed up on occasion), or the chicken and chips was someone else's order that you got given due to claiming it when the staff took it out. All 3 of scenarios have happened in the past, and if the customer lets the team know they are happy to resolve the problem at the time.

I own the place, but I cannot physically be there all day everyday. It is both physically and mentally draining doing that. My first 3 months was 100+ hours a week there plus more work at home at night, i was surviving on 2 hours of sleep a night. I also have young children that need me to be a mother for them. Therefore I have supervisors who are in charge when I am not there. There is at all times an adult supervisor present.

With our operating hours, most staffing hours are during the night shift. These sort of hours suit high school students who are just starting out in the work force. I take it as a privilege to be able to help support them in the early stages of their working life. I would love to have more adults to work there, however most adults prefer Monday-Friday day jobs and different industry's to hospitality so getting them is hard to come by.

Both myself and my team pride ourselves on producing fresh food fast and efficiently. We kick ourselves when we get it wrong, we look into the issue to learn from the mistake to help prevent it happening again.

Again, thank you for taking the time to contact me, without customer feedback (both good and bad) we cant learn from mistakes or pat ourselves on the back when we get told we are doing well.

If you have any more questions let me...

*Update: I have since returned to get another roast beef meal from Gerry's, having given them what I thought was a good length of time (several weeks) to get familiar with the business since taking ownership. I am sad to say that I was very disappointed and have dropped their rating from 5 stars to 2 stars! I was given 2 very small slices of fatty beef and the rest of my plate was literally overflowing with vegetables - in effect I was charged $17.90 for a plate of vegetables and some gravy with the barest minimum of beef (2 small slices, each one probably no more than half the size of those I used to get) and potatoes that were not only tepid and soggy from being smothered in peas, carrot etc, but also dry to eat while somehow being overly oily on the outside. I understand that everyone runs their businesses the way that works best for them and that living up to the standard set by previous owners can be difficult (if not impossible), but I do not feel I got value for my money and I'm sorry but sadly I will not be returning....they may have just been having a bad day on both occasions I bought food there, but I feel that the price tag is too high for me to risk returning yet again for another overpriced meal that imo just isn't up to standard, especially when I know I can go elsewhere and get value for money and consistency of quality.....after all when it comes to food we are spoilt for choice in Upper Hutt. :(

**Edit: this business has changed hands since my original review and although I was not as happy with the food or service on offer as I was with the previous owners, it is important to give people the chance to grow into their business & learn, so I reserve judgement for now.

The food is great and the portions are generous. The staff are happy to go the extra mile to help...I highly...

Nice people, great value. The chicken itself is quite nice and a whole one will def feed the family. I asked for extra chips...man they give you a lot. Nice to see a place operating like this that isn't a total rip-off. 🙏

Edit: I just went there for the first time in a long time and purchased a family pack, they are simply amazing... chicken is incredibly well made and perfectly seasoned, the girls behind the counter are very sweet and friendly and packed it into box for us. Chips are plentiful unlike so many other shops in 2023, chicken schnitzel was also delicious. Thank you so much for a great...