The Rolling Rooster — Restaurant in Austin

We partnered with this restaurant for our tour. We were very excited to partner with an Austin-based Black-owned Soul Food restaurant, and to support them with our large group. However, they were not prepared to serve our large group, as promised. We waited nearly an hour for our guests to be served. The restaurant hadn't finished the food or reserved enough seating for our group, after being informed numerous times of the group's size. (Our team had not only spoken with the restaurant weeks prior, we had also gone by the restaurant in-person the day prior, to ensure everything was organized. What was even more frustrating is that the hours on their website do not match those on Google. Our team called when we were almost to the restaurant and spoke with the staff who didn’t think to mention that they were already closed. When we arrived around 9:15 p.m., they informed us that they had already closed at 9 p.m. even though Google said 10 p.m. We were still able to confirm the details of the dinner but we weren’t able to sit down and eat, like we’d discussed we’d be doing. The staff was completely nonchalant about us going out of our way to be there.) They also informed us that they knew how to service a group of this kind yet in reality, hadn't organized a way to get the family-style dinner to the group in a timely fashion. We were also informed that the sides we ordered were enough to feed the group, which they weren't. We were then forced to order additional sides once we arrived to ensure all of our guests were able to eat their fill. Instead of moving quickly to resolve these issues, much of the wait staff stood around watching the manager do these things on her own. In fact, the manager actually directed some of the wait staff to obtain social media footage of our large group instead of getting the food out to our guests. There was absolutely no sense of urgency as they watched our guests grow increasingly restless. The entire team appeared to be completely aloof. The manager then began to ration the food of the guests, which is completely not what we asked them to do, in addition to arguing with the guests. The team was so unprofessional that our team actually offered to assist in serving the guests, which they refused numerous times. After this extremely poor experience, the manager had the audacity to demand, yes demand, an extremely expensive gratuity (25%). This was not discussed upfront nor was it presented as mandatory on the receipt. It was literally listed as optional. Yet, she demanded it be paid. Rather than apologizing for her mistakes and working to correct them, she doubled-down on why this was necessary. To be clear, our guests had also already tipped their waiters individually AND we had already paid for all of the food we ordered upfront. To top it all off, the food was mediocre at best. The yams, greens, and baked beans all tasted like they came out of a can. The chicken, macaroni, and fried fish were just okay. This was an extremely disappointing, and frankly embarrassing experience for our team. It left our guests with very negative opinions, which to a certain extent, were unfairly attributed to us as a business. Our guests were coming from all over the country and were highly disheartened with the carelessness and poor customer service of The Rolling Rooster, and the subpar soul food experience. Needless to say, we will not be returning or partnering with them at all in the future. Ironically, they actually asked all of us to leave reviews. It seems like they were sadly not aware of their poor service. We hope this review will serve as a learning experience for the restaurant and staff, and as an...

I always try to patronize small business restaurants when I'm out of town. I found this place while googling. I always check reviews before I decide to visit and theirs were good. So let me start off with my complaints. I highly suggest you guys find another method to package your food. I read in another review prior to visiting about food being soggy. Thankfully I read that bc as soon as I picked my food up, I took it out of both the plastic and paper bag. I'd rather have luke warm food than soggy food. Also I think it should be disclaimer or a warning, that it's not a family style restaurant. When I walked in, I thought I was in a club bc of the loud music. I totally wasn't expecting that type of atmosphere. I enjoyed the music while waiting but was just a little surprised, not really a complaint. I was under the impression it was a family style restaurant for whatever reason......Now to the review of the food. I ordered the 3 piece fish, 3 piece wing and 2 sides combo. I got collard greens and cheese grits as my sides with a piece of cornbread. My total was $21.23. The fish omgosh, I made sure I requested tartar sauce bc I read in a review that it's not automatically added to your order. Baby I didn't even need tartar sauce bc that fish was so good! As you see in the picture, it's only 2 pieces bc by the time we made it back to the hotel I had already eaten one up. The chicken looked very bland and I honestly was expecting it not to be seasoned. The looks were so deceiving bc the chicken was well seasoned all the way through. It had a very good taste. It had a hint of sweetness or maybe that was just me but either way it was good. The sides were ok but nothing to brag about. They were just okay, not bland but okay. The cornbread was like cake and cornbread. It was like a mix of jiffy and cake mix but not super sweet. It was an odd taste and an extra charge of $0.50. If you're just gonna sop up the collard green juice with it like I was,then it really shouldn't matter much. I just couldn't eat it though. If I would order again, I would just choose the waffle. Overall the the best part of my meal was the protein, the fish and chicken. Go for the waffle and skip the sides. If I had done that, I'd probably be giving a rating of 5...

It is with great dismay, and regrets I feel not only my responsibility but my obligation and duty to write this review. As an African-American consumer I choose when possible to support black-owned business. I find it unfortunate on rare occasions that we give passes for the inconsistencies, lack of service and quality of product to our own that we would never allow to our counterparts. On Friday evening I made a small catering order for a gathering at my home which consisted of 1/2 pan of greens, 1/2 pan of mac and cheese and 1/2 pan or in this case 27 "FRIED WINGS w/extra dust". I asked to pick up this order precisely at 11:30am the following day - Saturday. Due to past experiences with my order not being ready upon arrival and having to wait an addition 25 to 45 mins. Upon my arrival this time at 11:40 I opted to call to ensure my pick up was ready. The host advised me that they had not begin the order since they wanted it to be hot upon my arrival so the would get started right away and it would be ready when I arrived ( I'm here🤦🏾).

Finally picked up my order 45 mins later and behind schedule. I arrived at home and to my dismay the order for wings were completely wrong. For the price of 27.00 I got (27) dried up/old hot wings (chicken jerky) see photo below. I am convinced that these "wingettes" we're NOT just prepaired fresh. I called in and spoke to the same host who apologized explaining the the cook was new and didn't quite understand the order. She went on to explain I could return but there would be a 30 upcharge 😳.ARE YOU SERIOUS!!! I inquired about my inconvenience of not getting my order when requested and driving all the way home (South Park Meadow) only to discover the gave me the wrong wings🤷🏾‍♂️. She stated if I had ordered this before I should know there was an upcharge. She apologized again for the new cook, but she could not give me free wings. What about my inconvenience, my time, and my gas fir travel. I ordered the night before, not my fault you have a new cook that does not know the difference between wings and wingettes (see photo below).You saved 30.00 but you lost a FAITHFUL customer. Rolling Rooster 🐓, KEEP ON ROLLING, but I'm getting off this train for Better Service, and Better...