Grand Pacific — Restaurant in Bartlett

Upside: the food is good.

Downside: the service is bad. Very sporadic. The servers can be downright rude, and are indifferent at best. (With the exception of the older man with glasses, who I'm told is named Bobby.)

They seem to have a thing against giving drink refills. My family has been three times prior to today; each visit had the same problem. The first time, the waitress told us rudely that she wouldn't refill our drinks because "they were closing". There were 30 minutes left! None of us got a single refill. On the next visit, our (different) waitress ignored us the whole time—except for when she randomly decided to give us the bill, 20 minutes in. She came over, wordlessly put it on the table, and walked off, not acknowledging our empty glasses. We weren't done eating, but we paid anyway. We then went up to get more food. When we came back, the waitress was talking and laughing with another employee, clearing our table! She looked surprised to see us again, and muttered, "Sorry. Thought you were done." Ok, fine. But now that you see we aren't, how about refills? Nothing doing. We were ignored again. Sigh. It was evident that she wanted us to leave—which we did, soon after. During the third visit, one of us had to ACTUALLY CALL OVER A SERVER TO GET REFILLS. Double sigh.

We didn't have that problem today, thanks to Bobby. His attitude and service were exemplary! Everyone there should take lessons from him.

The (other) staff have no regard for your personal space. They make no effort not to bump into/brush up against/reach over you. The moody girl bussing our table repeatedly bumped into me as she reached over my current plate for what she wanted. She never once apologized. And yes, there was plenty of room. She just didn't care.

They also have a thing about staring. Today, the young, tallish waiter with glasses was leaning against the computer in the dining area, arms crossed, staring at all the diners. He looked as if he wanted to be anywhere else but there. Later on, I saw the girl who bumped me also staring at everyone, with the same face. One of the men who refills the buffet suffers from that same habit; on two out of three visits I've noticed him watching customers while they get their food (including me), and I've more than once seen him follow up the stare with an aside to a coworker (in their language), at which they would both laugh. Their body language made it clear that the customer was the object of whatever was said. Extremely rude.

The staff yell across the restaurant to each other. And I do mean YELL. At one point the girl who bumped into me yelled something (again, in their language) to a man standing at the computer in the dining area. And he heard her! She was standing next to our table, the one closest to the dessert counter. Basically catty-corner to the computer. There was a fully-packed, noisy dining room in between them, and the man still heard her! (And yelled back a reply.) This is unprofessional, and inconsiderate of customers. Especially the one whose ear they're practically yelling into.

But I'm saving the best for last: the RESTROOMS.

The women's was in an absolute STATE! It's always dirty, but today was the worst it has ever been. The smell…ugh. Each of the stalls looked as if someone had taken a trash can full of used toilet paper and personal items and dumped it everywhere. All over the toilets, the floor… One stall had an entire roll's worth of toilet paper thrown all over it! Like a college student had been there and "toilet papered" the place! How does a restaurant have a restroom like this? I'd rather use the ones in Walmart! It was appalling.

I can't say I'm surprised, though. Upon returning to my table from that horrendous experience, I saw the young, tallish waiter with glasses again. He was "cleaning" a table (aka wiping crumbs onto the carpet), and dropped a big handful of used napkins and trash onto an overflowing trash can. It tumbled off onto the floor. He left it there (with the rest of the trash that had already fallen) and...

The food was mediocre at best. For a buffet that supposedly prides itself on sushi, the quality wasn’t what promised, even Kroger’s prepackaged sushi honestly tastes fresher and better. Out of all the dishes available, I could count the dishes worth eating on one hand.

The service, though, was what truly ruined the night. From the beginning, the staff hovered around our table with an attitude, watching us like hawks. We came as a group of six—four adults and two kids—for a birthday. When we asked if the restaurant did anything for birthdays, the hostess rolled her eyes at us. That should have been the first red flag.

Things went downhill fast. One of the kids wasn’t planning to eat originally, and the staff became obsessed with it. They repeatedly circled back, counting plates and drinks out loud, saying, “Only five people eating.” Later, when that child changed her mind and had only a few bites, not even half a plate, they still charged as if she had eaten an entire meal.

At one point, I spilled my soda and politely asked for help cleaning it. The server did so without complaint, and since it was my mess, I tipped her for it. We also asked to switch tables afterward to make things easier, but she deliberately sat us at the table closest to her station—perfect for her to keep monitoring us.

During all this, a member of our group told us about a previous visit where the staff had forced her to tip. I brushed it off, thinking maybe it was just a one-time bad experience. Unfortunately, I was wrong.

When it came time to pay, we split the bill to three payments: • Group 1: one adult + one child • Group 2: one adult • Group 3: two adults + one child (the child who barely ate)

Groups 1 and 2 tipped. Group 3 did not, simply because they didn’t have cash left. That should have been the end of it. Instead, the server chased us across the restaurant, demanding a tip. She rattled off several excuses, claiming she cleaned up my spilled soda (which I had already tipped her for), that she “took care of us,” and other weak arguments. But it was clear what was really going on: this restaurant pressures guests into tipping whether they want to or not.

This is a buffet. We serve ourselves. The only thing the server did beyond the bare minimum was wipe up a spill—which had already been compensated. Harassing guests and chasing them down for extra money is not just unprofessional—it’s humiliating and predatory.

Between the mediocre food, the constant surveillance, the overcharging for a child’s barely touched plate, and the staff’s aggressive obsession with tips, this was one of the worst dining experiences I’ve ever had. What should have been a simple birthday dinner turned into an exhausting and embarrassing ordeal (and apparently, that’s not unusual for this place). So, if you want to tip like crazy for tasteless food and awful service then you would...

Would not recommend. Never made it to the table because the staff is extremely rude at the hostess stand and judgmental. We did not appreciate how the guy looked at our oldest daughter as if she were an adult woman and she is under 13. He attempted to question our daughter and that is a definite NO GO. You speak to the adult not the child. They will not get our money or business and we quickly took our business to another establishment that was more accommodating, polite, and kid friendly as well as customer oriented. We will never return to this establishment. If I could rate -0 stars I would.

Added response: There is nothing that can be done to rectify the situation. My daughter is 11 and yes she is bigger than the average 11 year old, her father is 6’5” and her grandfather is 6’9” not to mention her uncles all range between 6’2” and 7’2”. She comes from a family of tall men and women, just like my six year old is the size of a 10 year old and my 3 year old is the size of a 6 year old and my 5 month old looks the size of a 1 year old. We come from a family of giants and we are proud of that and we certainly don’t expect our children to be ogled and looked at differently because of their size, that’s one and 2 . The implication that we are trying to “ cheat the system “ by paying a cheap rate for a child is extremely insulting. We left your business where we would have spent $70 + dollars on “ not so great” food and spent $115+ at a restaurant that had way better customer service and respect. Not to mention mom, me, is a nurse and dad is a mechanic and owns his own lawn care service so we can afford to feed our children whatever they desire. We will never return to this establishment , there is nothing to be done to rectify this. And I will be posting my response on google so that any other family that is blessed with beautiful babies that develop ahead of their age group can beware and steer clear of your...