Luckys 13 Pub — Restaurant in Bismarck

I am shaking my head after my fifth visit to this restaurant with so much potential. It reminds me of some great lounges in Las Vegas where locals tend to gravitate towards rather than the touristy casino cafes. Great uncomplicated menu filled with all things delicious. I've had all three meals here and the ingredients seem fresh, tasty, and ample. So here's my dilemma. Lucky 13's just can't seem to navigate their way from good to great. All of my visits were marred by simple and exasperating lapses in service. And I mean simple, yet profound. And I really, truly believe, they can get past them. First, some basic attention to the fact their patrons want their food HOT. Our group of three had Sunday breakfast and all of our servings were tepid. The time before the food was cool. The time before that, and the time before that... On each visit I made sure the server was informed. Nothing came of the previous notices, but on this visit, my companion was very upset over the temperature of his eggs, pancake, and toast. He went as far as asking the table adjacent if their food was hot. They answered that it was not. And when the server returned to our table to ask how we were enjoying our meal, my friend was very vocal in his displeasure. A short time later, the shift manager appeared and listened patiently to his complaint and apologized. She furthermore took care of the entire bill. I was slightly uncomfortable with my friend's mild rant, but I get it. We pay good money for the meal, let's get our money's worth. Next, how bout some wait staff savvy? Like bringing ketchup and hot sauce to the table when the food is delivered? Who wants to wait while waiting for the condiments? Just bring them out please. Yeah, who knows, maybe half your customers want to douse their eggs with Tabasco and their potatoes with ketchup. 50% is good odds! Finally, how about the wait staff come around a little more often with refills of water and coffee? Get a chance to know their customer a little better. I know you're busy. You should also realize we're busy, too. And we chose to come here. Come on, take that short leap and get great! I want to come more often and bring my friends and not have to apologize for those things that I know you can...

There were 5 of us, 2 arriving a little later. We could tell right away our waitress was either new or ignorant because she had to go ask someone else every time we asked her a question... like what the soup of the day was, or if they offer veterans discounts (my dad has been here many times and knew they do, but for some reason asked her rather than letting her know this) each time she would walk away to go ask, I could see that she would just stand by the plates for a while, occasionally chat with coworkers and would eventually come back. She must've messed up on someone's bill because they had to go complain to the host, they must not have seen her standing by the plates, she only came back after they left to collect her tip from the table. When the other 2 joined us we made sure to order their drinks with all our food, then watched as she went and stood by the plates and chatted with coworkers some more. After about 20 minutes of chatting she finally had plates to deliver to the table behind us (she got their order wrong so instead of sending it back they decided to swap plates) we grabbed our waitresses attention to the fact she still hasn't brought the 2 beverages out (a water and a soda) this time thankfully they arrived and she brought 2 more bowls of popcorn because my sister just knew she wouldn't get her meal before having to go back to work. Sure enough we waited about 45 minutes for our food so my sister had to get a to-go box. The waitress also has what looks like a male appendage tattooed on the side of her face. Aside from the terrible server, the food was great. Cover up the tattoo because no one is looking at it close enough to tell what exactly it is, and stop standing by the plates, go work the floor like you're supposed to and this review would've been much better. Even if it was your first day, walk around, ask people if they need anything or if the food tastes good, that's literally your job...

Came in last night for supper with our friends. Lucky's was our first pick as we have never been disappointed by the food, drinks, and service. However, last night we were extremely let down. It took about 10 minutes to be greated by our server, we ordered drinks and i got a moscow mule--as i always do when i come to Lucky's. Typically i get asked what kind of vodka id prefer, but our server did not. Not a big deal but once i got my drink i could tell it wasnt a good vodka so when i asked for another drink i request Tito's and some flavored liqour, she suggested raspberry and my drink was great. Fast forward to our food, only two of our plates came out(there were 4 of us) and about 5 minutes go by and our server stops by noticing we are missing our order and she asks US "is the rest coming?" We looked puzzled at her thinking well how would we know? And she walked away. Food came out, no complaints to the chef however when i ordered the street tacos our server asked if i wanted chicken or brisket and i asked for chicken--i got brisket. Luckily for her i enjoyed the brisket. Once our server brought our bill she immediately wanted to explain to me the charge of my second moscow mule(knowing the charges were wrong)-which is by the way $8, she said she had to charge $1.50 for the titos and another $1.50 charge for titos for the drizzle of flavoured liqoure i asked for. I told her this has never happened when i have come here, i have never been charged extra for my preference in vodka which i know is not an upchange. She continued to argue with me about the charges of an outragious $11 drink that i always get when i go there. She ended up having a manager take one of the $1.50 charges off knowing i was upset. Came back with the bill, threw it in our table and walked away. Needless to say Lucky's will no longer be a restaurant we visit with our...