Gandy Dancer — Restaurant in Ann Arbor

I will list everything we experienced on this visit. I understand that, it being Thanksgiving, things are prepared early and service will be slower. I have been to this restaurant MANY times and NEVER have I had an experience like this there, or anywhere, for that matter: Our reservation was at 2:45, we arrived at 245, were seated at 2:55, which is excellent. We sat at our table until 330pm, where NO ONE greeted us, no one brought us water or bread. Meanwhile, every table around us were being serviced. The table next to us was seated AFTER us, and were waited on within 5 minutes of sitting down: water was brought, server introduced themselves. At 330pm, after both of us trying in vain to flag someone down, I proceeded to the hosts station and told them we had been waiting over half an hour and no one approached us, no water, no bread. Then I went back to the table and the manager?? Brought us water and our server appeared. He never told us his name, and we told him everything we wanted, because, by now, we had the menu memorized. He brought our champagne, but my flute had such a significant chip in the glass, prompting my co diner to say "watch out, so you don't cut your mouth on the glass!". Our waiter sighed and seemed annoyed he had to bring another glass. Frankly, with the sighing and mumbling, it was hard to know if he understood what we ordered. He walked by our table several times, never bringing our bread. We could see our bread, on the wait station, but he never brought it. We asked 3x for bread and 2x for more water. Now it was 4:00pm, our reservation was at 245, we have received water by the manager and our champagne, that had to wait while he got us an unbroken flute. Our waiter no where in site, more tables seated and served and approached with 5 to 10 minutes, and the people behind us, who arrived 20 minutes after us, were eating their dinner. We were still waiting on bread and our appetizers. So I go to the station once again and beg for help. 1. The whole point of going out to eat is so I can relax and I don't have to get up multiple times to get my food!! We ordered champagne, coffee, oysters on the half shell, scallops, turkey dinner, ceaser salad and dessert. So we were not your "water and entree" type. Then, finally, we received bread, COLD. we later asked for more and was told by the waiter we would "LOSE OUR APPETITE", if he brought us more. I'm diabetic and was expecting to eat by 330. Now it's close to 415 and I need some carbs so I don't have a diabetic emergency! He walked by our table 3x with water and gave us none. Another waiter brought our bread and we asked for our coffee now with cream, since we figured we would never get that too. Our original waiter brought our coffee, no cream. We asked AGAIN for cream and he disappeared. When he finally came back, AFTER we waited at least 10 minutes, I told him our coffee was cold. He let out the BIGGEST sigh of the experience and said loudly"fine!". Our ceaser salads had very little dressing and NO BLACK PEPPER!! which is actually an ingredient in the salad. We were never offered black pepper either. It was dry, bland and disappointing. Our dinner was half cold, mine was slid half off the plate, my co diners potatoes were On TOP of their cranberry sauce and it was half warm, half cold. The turkey was incredibly Salty. The only reason I gave the stars for food was that the desserts were great, but required little prep. I can't believe that the so called manager did not have the common sense to assign us a different waiter or table. The MOST INSULTING PART OF THE WHOLE EXPERIENCE: WE did not want to get anything for free. We wanted the same quality and service that the other diners around us received!! We had planned to tip very heavily, since it was Thanksgiving and we appreciate people who are kind and good at their job and gave up their day to serve us. This wait person was just the Worst. I refused to tip him. Oh, and did I mention we drove almost an...

So this was going to be a 4 star review because it took awhile once we were seated to get drinks bread but once we got our drinks and food the whole experience changed.

Service: as mentioned it took a bit to get drinks and bread but it seemed to be mostly the bars fault and not our servers. After we received the first food item no complaints! She was extremely nice and gave great menu recommendations! Loved Zoey

Timing of food: once we got the bread every single course of our meal came out perfectly on time, it was like someone was watching me eat my soup and knew exactly when I would finish it, honestly incredible.

Food quality: We ordered the crab cake with sauteed corn and I'll say that while flavorful it had like 6 corn kernels on it and was pricy for the size, definitely not a shareable appetizer! I would add some kind of puree corn underneath to help add flavor to this item. We also had the lobster bisque and that was one of the better soups I've ever had, rich and creamy and priced well. Some solid lobster bits would have improved it but no complaints for the price. For entrees we had the Dynamite style Chilean Sea Bass which was the most decadent and flavorful seafood item id ever had! We also had the vegetable ravioli, the filling was absolutely perfect in texture and flavor but the noodles may have been slightly under cooked. We were fairly picky in this and in the end everything tasted amazing and was fairly priced!

Manager: The manager was very off-putting throughout our meal and my only real complaint about our experience! She had a sour look on her face throughout the night and seemed to have some kind of staff meeting in the middle of the dining room which felt unprofessional and distracted us from our dining experience. Genuinely felt uncomfortable when she was near our table because of the consistently stern look, would not want to work for her.

Hostess: The hostess was incredibly friendly, nice, helpful, and got us seats in no time! She was the perfect greeting face and really set the night off to a great start! I think the hostess is often a thankless job so I like to mention them when they do well! Also she had on a "chic cowboy" blouse and it was...

Server/service was subpar. Had to repeatedly request others to get the attention of our server. Brought out drinks at least 10-15 minutes after being seated. Had to get someone else to help get refills. Went a good 15 -20 minutes trying to get attention of waiter, who was busy handling tables in a different room/rear most section of the restaurant.

Had to wait, probably 7-8 minutes, for second plate, when "shared salad" was served, with only one plate.

The young Asian American male server , who had two tables surrounding ours (3:30-4:30 pm on NYE in tables near windows [about 3/4 way back]), came by those tables at least 5x, while we waited with zero service. He also helped our table 2x. This OTHER server was extremely attentive to HIS section + accommodating to our table (who he wasn't assigned to).

We had our credit card on corner of the table for another 15 minutes, awaiting our server to bring the check. We could have easily been out of there 30-40 minutes earlier, IF our table had actually been being properly served. Multiple attempts to make eye contact with our server, throughout our meal, to no avail. Not once were we met with a glimpse towards us.

One member of our group had to repeatedly be told to "calm down" or "relax your expectations" by another member of our party, because frustration levels were so high. Believe me, you're absolutely paying for very high prices of 4/5 star restaurants, but with extremely slack service!

Also, our server never once asked if we'd like cracked pepper on salads or with dinner (We DID, but he was no where to be found). The extra (4th) place setting was also never removed from our table for 3, to give us more space, on those already too small table tops!

Had to REQUEST initial drinks, refills, 2x for more butter (because it was forgotten both times), the second plate, and the check. Server was never, except for ONCE, there proactively, checking on our table. Other tables were properly served by two different other servers vs our table.

Upon check out, never was asked whether we were Landry's members. Yep, for many decades... had to add the number,...