Rapscallion Table & Tap — Restaurant in Acton

I have worked in the area for years and drive past this restaurant daily and decided last weekend to finally give it a shot as I had heard they served poutine. The girlfriend and I went over last Sunday the 15th at 4:15pm and were treated to one of the worst dining experiences either of us has had. To make a long story short I will simply list the issues that occurred in the 50 minutes we spent there.

Waiting at the host stand for multiple minutes as multiple staff walked in and out of the establishment right past us no less than 4 times without a word. As a couple we are both 30 and starting from the first introduction to our server to the last interaction we were referred to as "kids" no less than 7 times. The tables are served water as starters prior to drink orders being taken (rather common of course) however they are normally not out of plastic glasses nor are said glasses normally dirty. Due to every table starting with glasses of water each table must have those cleared off at the end of each flip of the table. The servers seem to dump said water into the floral arrangements in the outdoor patio area instead of bringing full water cups into the dish area (odd choice but go green I suppose!). This practice led to a server dousing my left side in water before we had even seen our own server for a drink order. We ordered poutine as an app and a pasta dish with salmon along with a burger and fries. I happen to enjoy medium rare however am always nervous about it in restaurants so I make sure to ask my servers if medium rare tends to go over well in the kitchen or if it would be a safer option to order medium. I was assured that the kitchen would have no issue with medium rare (since the other dish was a pasta and salmon cook times should not be hard to nail). The burger came out so well done I could not find even a spot of pink, and there was plenty of black charing. When the server finally came over to check in on our food and noticed my barely touched burger she asked if it was OK. I reported the issue and since it had taken so long to see her from the time we had gotten our food I reported that I would not need a new one cooked up (my date had gotten nearly half way through her food and was looking for a box). The bill was brought over once I asked for it after reporting the burger and asking for a box for my date. The bill came to $101 prior to tip. Once again..... poutine, salmon pasta, burger ( that was not eaten due to it being cooked completely wrong and reported to server) and one soda as my date had water. Dining out has been going up in cost and I certainly expected a bill reaching into the 80s but for such a subpar experience it was rather shocking.

I believe some rather large adjustments to staffing need to be done for me to want to revisit this establishment. The venue is cute and is a shame to be wasted on such a...

My friend had invited us for dinner here as she had 2 wonderful dining experiences recently. We were all looking forward to spending a good time with our friend, drinking your crafted beers and eating some good food tonight. Unfortunately, the excitement was immediately dampened the moment we walked up and talked to the hostess (usher).

She was rude! When we approached the reservation counter, there was no greetings and no smile. When we asked for a table for 5 for outdoor seating, she told us there were no more tables available for us even though I saw several empty tables available. It was around 5 pm, and the restaurant was not too busy, and by the time we left some tables were still empty. My friend reminded her that she had called earlier to make a reservation, but the hostess said she remembered and reiterated that the table reservations are only for party of 6 and above in a rude tone, and since we were only a group of 5 we could not be seated at a bigger table. Frankly I was turned off by the way she spoke to my friend, and the way she talked to her made it feel borderline racially targeted. Anyway, we understood that this is the policy of the restaurant, and were okay with being seated at the smaller table. However, halfway through our dinner, I noticed that she brought a party of 5 to one of the vacant 6 person tables.

When we were almost done with our desserts with just some beer still in our glasses, this same hostess came up to our table. She told us that she was going to start cleaning up our table and urged my friend to "quickly finish up" her beer as there was a waitline. Personally I think this was rude, as we were not yet done with our food and drinks, and we were the only table she went to. I can't help but wonder if it was because we were the only people of color in the restaurant at that time.

The only reason why I didn't bring this up to your manager right there and then was because it did not feel right to put my friend in the spotlight and cause a scene with my children present, but everyone in our group felt that this one hostess' behavior was off as well.

To be honest, your food and beer were good, the atmosphere was pleasant, and the waiter and waitress that served us were very friendly and helpful. I would have given you a good rating, but the rude attitude and actions of your hostess was really a...

I give the benefit of the doubt only once.

A bit of background: Last year, I took my family (party of nine) for dinner at this establishment. After eating and ordering desert and all, I asked for the bill. The bill came and the wait person brought me the credit card machine with the Tip choices on top. I chose 20% and paid and er all left. Later I was thinking that the bill was more than I expected and then I thought—perhaps they charge me service upon which I also tipped. All in all a 40% tip.

That was my bad for not having properly checked the bill and I take responsibility.

This year, we went back—same party of nine— and had lunch. This time around I checked the menu where with the smallest font possible it indicated that there will be a 20% surcharge for party of six or more. Once we were done, I asked for the bill and the wait person, again, brought me the credit card machine with the choices of tip right in top, placed the machine in front of me and left… no word of warning about the 20% charge already on the bill. I check the bill and in fact a 20% surcharge was added.

I think if you are going to charge extra—which I can tolerate — it is incumbent upon you to tell your customer that a 20% surcharge has been Mae—just so the customer is aware in case they have not studied the menu form top to bottom including the very fine print I think it would be courteous to do so and failing to do tat it appear like an active effort to mislead and take advantage of a customer who perhaps was too preoccupied with friends and convention to do a study of the bill and/or the menu.

I don’t care if your food is good and cooked to the proper temperature I don’t care if you brew your own beer and I don’t care if overall the food is good. I dislike being maneuvered.

Further—I had ordered a side of fries which came very late at the end of our meal… I sent it back because it was too late and they still charged me for it. Really… for $4?

Anyways if you are going to this establishment make sure you are on your toes and study all written material because you are on your own and if you make a mistake no one will be tell...