Shooter McGee's — Restaurant in Alexandria

I usually don’t post about restaurant experiences because I rarely have a bad one. However, living in this era of blatant racism has compelled me to share for the first time, I experienced at this restaurant.

My husband and I often dine at Shooter McGee's, where we celebrated our marriage shortly after saying "I do" at the Justice of the Peace almost nine years ago. It’s our tradition to return to the same table every anniversary. Our experiences have always been wonderful until yesterday, Valentine’s Day.

We made a reservation for 6:30 PM, and I was dressed and ready on time. Unfortunately, our special table was unavailable, a sign of the rude awakening to come. Our waitress was friendly and took our drink orders, then returned to take our meal orders. We chose their three-course special: a salad for me and crab bisque for my husband. I also ordered an extra appetizer, the steak and cheese egg rolls. But we waited—patiently, at first—for our appetizers.

As we waited, I couldn’t help but notice a couple of a different race, seated after us, receiving their burgers, which take longer to cook than our soup and salad. Other white couples ordered and received their food one by one while we sat there, still waiting.

I finally caught our waitress's attention and expressed concern, mentioning how others who ordered after us were already enjoying their meals. I told her about our long-standing loyalty to the restaurant. She apologized and explained that the restaurant was overbooked. I calmly replied, “What does that have to do with us not receiving our appetizers while others who came after us had both their appetizers and entrees?” She promised to get her manager.

When the manager arrived, I recounted my experience. Her nonchalance only fueled my frustration. While she apologized and offered to cover our appetizers and drinks, we had to wait longer for the food to arrive. When it finally did, my salad contained ingredients I had explicitly requested to be left out, and the soup was cold, soon after, the other appetizer arrived. At that point, I was done. I told the waitress we were leaving.

She went to get the manager again, who returned with a check for food we hadn’t received. She claimed she would cover it but insisted we pay for the drinks because we had consumed them. I was distraught, and as tears fell, my Davie knew we needed to go now.

We paid the check and vowed never to return to the new “Racist Magee’s.” With nowhere else to go and every other restaurant booked, we settled for a sub shop. I had a chicken cheesesteak, and my husband ordered a steak and cheese. We went home, ate, and went to bed. I was emotionally drained and hurt by the experience, but I know this is only the beginning of our fight against racism.

Shooter McGee's you may have ruined my dinner, but you certainly didn’t...

Ok, from the beginning. I am not from around here and me and my friend drove by and stopped here because the curb appeal was on point. Inside we were met with a hostess who obviously hated her job and the fact that we showed up just agitated her. But we decided to stay anyway because it smelled amazing. After waiting at the table looking at the specials and looking over the menu for over 5 min with no one coming up to our table I was ready to leave until our waiter, Alex, stopped by and said he would be right with us. So we waited another 5 min for him to take our drink order. Thankfully he asked if we were ready to order because we were. We got our waters quickly but we were both very thirsty and I tried to slow down to allow him to keep up, but he couldn't. What was disappointing was that even though another waitress and the manager passed by with pitchers of water, none of them stopped to help Alex out and give us any. The food came out really quick and it was amazing. I got the turkey burger and my friend got the salmon. The chefs know what they are doing and they were the only ones who looked liked the enjoyed their job. Once we got our meal our waiter put on a hoodie and walked out... So I was thinking he was gone. But once our meal was over (which he never came back to check on us) and we had to ask another waiter that was so busy he kept flying right past us with tunnel vision for some water, our waiter returned to fill our water that was already full. We asked for the check because we were more than done. I never stiff anyone and it is still a job but I wish the tip could go to the chefs because out of the whole experience their job was performed the best. I would give them a separate...

the food is good, but the management is real poor and bad, i not writing this because they fired me without any explanation,i f not the way they did it.i just recently ask for some days because my wife she was having a baby and the baby has some complications, after ms Ann tell me that it was OK to take my days off i can back to work and they tell me that i was replaced without no reason, she didn't care i had a new born she just left me without a job, because she said that she can do what ever she wants went she wants, we talking about a women that is not professional for this type of business, what that's hurts me more is that i gave 4 months in this job of hard work and they throw me to the streets like a dog, now i can imaging why this women give her on child away,because she didn't care about him either, and the owner Mr Steve he new about it and he didn't care about it either, is a shame because he got two daughters but i guess hes ego its to high for him to put his feet on the ground, but whats comes around goes around, but besides my story the people don't now that the food over there is not fresh, like the ribs and the wings sometimes they past a hold week in the cooler and they still sell to the customer, so in real life customer are eating reheat food, even all the sauces and chili and soup are old for hold week,they mixed fish with raw meat that's can cause cross contamination and the customer they don't now about it and when sanitation comes they always c hitting at them, i am telling the true since i work on the back, and sometimes the food touch the floor and they still serve like that... that's the real back stage of...