I had the worst birthday dinner experience this past Friday at Jimmy’s Famous Seafood in Baltimore, MD. It started and ended with their rude hosts. I had made an 8:45pm reservation for that Friday, but I looked online at around 6:24pm. They had a 9pm available, and due to one of my guests running late, I called to see if it was possible to move the reservation 15 minutes later. So I called the restaurant to ask if they could move my reservation to the 9pm slot, and the host told me yes, that was fine. I arrived to check in around 9:05pm. The host told me they had a 15-minute grace period, and because I was out of that window, they gave my reservation to someone else. There was no space in the dining room for me and my two guests to sit and eat. I explained to the host that I was within my 15-minute window because my reservation was moved to 9pm when I had called at 6:24pm. She said it was still listed as 8:45pm, and she could do nothing but seat me in the bar where I didn’t want to spend my birthday. If she had been kind and apologized, I would’ve felt less irritated, but she showed no concern, had an attitude, and didn’t care.

When we went to the lower level where the bar was located, we were seated right at the front door, where it was freezing from people coming in and out. Even though the table area was supposed to be considered the restaurant area, the waitress made us give her one of our cards to start a tab even though we were just dining. Our lemonade and sodas were watered down, and the food was overrated and underwhelming.

The next morning, I checked my bank statements and noticed that I had been charged $89 for my meal and an extra $60. I asked my friends who came with me to check their bank statements, and one of my guests was charged $84 for her meal and had an extra $102 charge on her card. We called the restaurant when they opened, and I asked if I could please speak to a manager and with an attitude, Stephany, who answered the phone, told me straight up no, I can’t.

I told her that what I was calling for required a manager, and she rudely again said no, I can’t talk to a manager. And I told her that my guest and I were charged extra and needed to speak to a manager. When she, with an attitude, looked into what happened with my name and credit card number, she told me that I had a reservation and that I had not shown up and was charged $60 for a no-show.

I told her I had paid $89 with that same debit card when I ate there the day prior, so obviously, I had shown up for my reservation. She rudely told me the $60 had been refunded, and my friend spoke to her next. Stephany started listing what was ordered that cost $102, and none of us ate those items. She tried to say that this bill came from one of us, and she named the person, but it was a male we didn’t know. So she took my friend’s name and number, and about 30 minutes later, a manager called back and apologized. The manager didn’t know how my friend was charged for someone else’s meal but said she’d look into it and refund my friend. The manager’s guess was that the check amounts were similar, so her card was double charged. My friend’s meal was $84, and the extra charge was $102. Those 2 check amounts are not the same.