K C Steak House — Restaurant in Bakersfield

This place was on its way to getting a 2 star 🌟 🌟 review, But something interesting happened at the end, and they redeemed themselves to 4 🌟 🌟🌟🌟 stars! (I don't know why this thing is not letting me give a 3 &1/2 stars 🌟🌟🌟 As to how they redeemed themselves, I'll explain why,... BUT FIRST, THE CRITIQUE: Regarding the waitress: So, as a Server, in the restaurant & hospitality business, you are expected to greet the clientele with at least A SMILE & GIVE YOUR NAME! That's not too much to ask for. But aside from lacking that, our assigned waitress ALSO didn't seem too eager to attend us, as if she was stressed out already (It was barely 12pm) By the way, everything I wanted from the menu at first was not available until after 3pm! 😖 So having to settle for something else, I ordered a particular platter from the menu, & what was delivered was chopped up meat rather than a traditional whole steak that I am supposed to slice & cut to my liking, not theirs. The manager, who was a sweetheart, was actually serving it to us while at the same time, our assigned waitress, finally catching up to us, accompanied her to help with the other food. At this point, I had to say something. After asking my question about THE OBVIOUS, the assigned waitress (who never even introduced herself) managed to answer before the manager did and this is what she told me: "Uh, yeah, that platter is served that way but I probably should have told you" And my response was: "well, yeah, I think it would have been a good idea since the menu never specified that. Usually when people order something that is called a "steak," they usually assume they're going to get a full steak so that they can cut it up and prepare to their liking, and AGAIN, nothing like that was described in the menu, right?" At this point her manager asked me: "Are you not OK with this?" My answer was: "Well NO, But I'm not going to reject the order since we've been waiting for our food for over an hour." At that point, the manager(not the waitress)did what was professionally expected and apologized, before we started eating our meal. Again, the manager was very nice, and obviously caring about this experience. As for the waitress...whatever... The food was still good, and as I was pondering what type of dessert to ask for, we were pleasantly surprised by the manager who, appeared with 2 dessert platters! She apologized again for the misunderstanding and said that this was their way of apologizing and making sure that things "will be better next time." I told her: "You've read my mind because I was actually getting ready for dessert!" And as we were finally getting ready to leave, our assigned waitress who's name we still don't know, FINALLY SMILED as she bid us farewell! I wonder if it's because maybe she happened to glance at the receipt where we gave her a $15 tip(suggested by my wife - I had suggested no more than $10), or maybe she received a little talking to, behind closed doors...who knows?...

REMEMBER! LITTLE THINGS MATTER, WHEN IT COMES TO COURTESY, & MANNERS!

Also, going forward, I GUESS I'M ALWAYS GOING TO ASK IF THAT STEAK IS GOING TO BE PRE-CHOPPED, BEFORE IT...

On Saturday 12/16/2023 my wife and I arrived at 6:45pm for a 7pm reservation for our company Christmas dinner that was reserved in November. There was a total of 13 people who were to be attending. When my wife checked in, she was told by the host at the front that they were just waiting for the party to finish up at the table that they were going to be sitting us at which was next to the musician as we had requested. We sat down by the front door to wait to be seated. After about five minutes, several people started coming in from the front door and the back door. We noticed that some were being seated and others were being told that unless they had a reservation they had no availability for dinner. There was a large group that came in that stated they were with the Ashley group. We heard one of them say their reservation was for 7:30pm. It was now 7:15pm and we had not yet been seated yet even though when they asked if our whole party was her we told them yes. There was an older lady with blonde hair that appeared to be the hostess, who saw my wife looking at her. She mentioned to one of the younger hostess that we had checked in first, then came around to ask us if we were with the Ashley group. We told her no we were with the Les Schwab company Christmas dinner that had a 7pm reservation. She asked again if the complete party was there yet. And we said yes, she said ok your table should be ready shortly. My wife then saw them take the group that claimed to be the Ashley group to the table that was to be cleared for our company dinner. At 7:30pm one of the younger hostesses notified my company manager that they were just waiting for the customers to leave and pointed to a different table now that was close by the front door just behind the wall. At 7:45pm my company manager went up again to ask when we were going to be seated. One of the young Hostesses said we have 2 tables ready for you. When we followed her to the "tables" they were actually booths. There were 13 of us of which 7 were men of a larger size. There was no way we would all be able to fit comfortably and eat. My manager then told the older host with the blond hair that this was not professional or acceptable. She then told us that they had double booked and that they had actually given our table away to someone who claimed to be with the"Ashley" group which was not even our group. From the beginning to the time we left (without eating), there was lack of communication as well as no attempt to try and right the wrong that had been done. This was company Christmas celebration that would have led to multiple return visits had we not been such poor customer service. My manager ended up on last noticed finding a place where we can be seated comfortably and savage the day that supposed to be a Christmas party dinner blast. I highly don't recommend these place once so ever what waste of time. Also mention most of us were outside in the cold waiting patiently while this place showed us POOR...

Can't say I was impressed. My friend and I met up with a few other ladies, for a total of 7 ladies in our party. Upon arriving on what we thought was on time we found the other ladies had already been served drinks and the "bread, butter, salsa" appertif. My friend and I were seated at the end of the table, which was fine. But, after about 15 minutes we had to beckon a waitress to take our drink order.

During this time, they had what I can only describe as a "karioki" band that played a variety of songs that in a "party" venue would have been fine....but this was DINNER...and we had to contend with music played so loudly that we couldn't hear the person across the table or even sitting next to us. With a mixture of country, pop, reggae...you name it...it didn't make for a pleasant dinner setting, especially with it so loud.

It took almost an hour before the waitress took our menu order. At my friend and I still had not been served the "bread, butter, salsa" appertif. I finally was able to make eye contact with our waitress, who told me that they were waiting for it to come out of the oven. Some 10 minutes later they brought us bread.....COLD BREAD.....definitely not from out of the oven. I REALLY HATE BEING LIED TO.

Finally, after over an 1 1/2 hours, our meal arrived (we ordered the Dinner for Two"...which consisted of Country Potatoes, Steak, and mushrooms. I can't say much for the dinner...it was O.K....we asked for medium rare....it was medium to well. The steak was equivalent to one decent sized dinner steak that was cut up into pieces. The mushrooms were fine, though it would have been a healthier dinner if instead of mushrooms, a mixed vegetable of some type was served. Suffice to say, I've had better at numerous other places here in town.

Lastly....after 2 1/2 hours we finally received our check...which the waitress had lumped entirely into one check, EVEN THOUGH she had been asked to make 4 separate checks. She was annoyed...and after having served 3 other parties their dinner, she finally came back with separate checks....with an additional charge added which was called a "service" charge...of $10 and more depending upon the amount of the check. No one at the table understood what the added charge was for....was it just to split the order....which was requested from the beginning....or was it the tip which may have been added to the combined check for a party of 7....we just didn't know...so assumed it was the tip...since the total of my friend and i's dinner was $58 - $59...with a service charge of $9.90. We ended up leaving a little more because we just weren't sure.

Suffice to say from the time we arrived at 6:45 until we left we were there...contending with headache causing music...for 3 solid hours. I will NEVER go back...