Vinny's Clam Bar — Restaurant in Bremen Township

I can't even begin to explain the experience we had. Some of the worst customer service I've ever received in a restaurant. But I will do my best.

First off, I'm from New Orleans and live in Tinley Park. I know a thing about hospitality, having grown up in a city that caters to this industry.

We planned a night out weeks in advance to celebrate my wife and neighbor's birthday, made a reservation and our neighbors got a sitter ( which is important for all who know the feeling to get a quick night out while on a "time crunch")

We arrived 5mins prior to our "reservation" and assumed we would have to wait a few minutes - Typical, no big deal. But then our wait lasted 20 minutes, then 30. After almost 40 minutes, we got frustrated and inquired as to the status. Meanwhile , I will note that no one advised us of the situation and that our wait could be longer than usual.

I spoke to the assistant manager, and at first, it was a cordial conversation. He apologized and stated that they were waiting for the previous party to leave that was at the table they planned on seating us at. At first I didn't say too much, but thought it was extremely weird that this one table was the only table holding up our party of six.

By this time, 45 minutes have passed and my party is a little irritated. I suggested to the assistant manager that "we" offer the table drinks at the bar as we had a reservation and they were clearly finished their meal. He said the company has a policy to not rush parties because it's rude - But apparently that outweighs a party of 6 with a reservation to have to wait over 45 minutes. (Also it's important to mention we were standing the entire time, due to no seating available for waiting guests.) Bad company policy and that needs to be adjusted. I eventually asked to speak to the general manager who had not come to address the situation with my group at all. This person was literally hiding in the back of the restaurant to avoid the cluster at the front. Yes, we were not the only party that had to wait.

After speaking with said GM, he tried to explain that the party we were waiting on hadn't been seated for 2 hours and he was watching them closely. They had paid their bill over 30 minutes ago and were just socializing. He advised that they would make it right once we sat down.

After waiting an hour we decided to take our business elsewhere- the assistant manager did give us a gift card for $150. Which we plan to donate to a homeless person or to some charity event.

The point is that we had a reservation, and it wasn't honored, and it wasn't until we were leaving to go somewhere else that they decided to rectify it. A suggestion for this restaurant would've been to buy a round of drinks for our group while we waited, or even communicate the length of time that we were going to be waiting, but we had to go to the hostess stand to find out the information ourselves. Again, this company knows nothing about hospitality or what it means to service customers.

We ended up having an amazing dinner elsewhere that we will frequent often from now on for sure. We wanted to give this place a chance and maybe we will try again but their policies are not customer friendly for all. If you make a reservation for somewhere there's no reason why we needed to wait an hour for a table without communication or some kind of solution besides stating "we can't make that table get up, it against our companies policy." Most places know better, even post 1hr and 45mins for dining. Maybe this place...

I had an interaction with an extremely rude manager last night and I feel the need to relay this experience. I am not a complainer at all, and the experience has to be really exceptionally bad for me to say anything. I came with a party of 5 for dinner, the 5th person being my 18 month old son. I brought him in his stroller as it’s the easiest way to keep him content and in one spot while in public. They seated us at a corner booth (important context here, there was one opening to the booth and one place I could put the stroller.) No one said anything at the door, the server didn’t say anything either. It’s not an ideal situation but again, this was the one place I could put him at the table they gave us. If someone had offered a high chair or a different place to sit, or asked me to leave the stroller I would have gladly done that. In a high chair he would’ve been in the exact same spot though, as it was literally the only place to put him.

As soon as we were done with our meal, a very rude and condescending lady approached me to tell me how unsafe this is and how worried she was for my son. I honestly wish I had this on video because I was shocked to have an employee anywhere talk to me this way, let alone a manager. I’m not a sensitive person, there were a thousand ways she could’ve asked me to move him but she was extremely rude and confrontational from the beginning. I was taken aback at first so I didn’t say anything. She asked me to put him in the booth… did not offer a high chair. I’m not sure how she expected me to get an 18 month old to sit in the booth and stay in one spot. What she was asking me to do was more dangerous than leaving him in the stroller. Anyways, this lady walked around for several minutes giving our table very obvious dirty looks and shaking her head while staring at me. She came back while we were waiting on our check to confront me again, was really rude for a second time. She told me someone said something to me on the way in about the stroller, which was a lie either from her or another employee. Then she kept arguing with me and the rest of our table about how she wasn’t being rude… it was honestly unbelievable. Another manager came to talk to us and offered to move our table, he was apologetic as I’m sure company policy dictates. She changed her tune really quickly smiling and opening the door for me on the way out as soon as other people were looking. The other three adults with me also thought the way she was talking to me was crazy, extremely confrontational from the first thing she said.

I have to say I don’t think the customer is always right, I’ve worked at restaurants. I am not exaggerating about her attitude, and there’s no way I’m the only person to have an interaction like this with her. You could not pay me to return to this restaurant even though the food was alright. Service was ok except for...

I was extremely unimpressed with this place, I did not enjoy my first and probably my only visit here for many reasons.

From the moment we sat at our table until we left it was a long waiting game.

We sat outside which was a bit chilly but very pretty out on the patio. We did not request the outside but got it anyway. It too is about 10 minutes before we were greeted by the water person and then another long wait for the server to appear and take our drink and food orders. It took a while for the drinks to arrive after we ordered them.

We ordered a wedge that we split and asked if we could have ranch instead of the dressing it came with but the server was unaware of the restaurant had for options (not sure how you don’t know the menu and your condiments if you’re serving tables) it took a while for the server to come back to tell us they don’t have ranch so we just accepted and moved on. The salad came and literally 3 minutes after our food came. We had no time to eat the salad we just got. We mentioned this to the server and he just brushed it off. Next - the food, my husband’s was fine but mine was awful. I ordered the chicken Parmesan that came with a white sauce rather than a red sauce, odd but no big deal. I could not eat this pasta as it was so incredibly dry and COVERED in Parmesan cheese. There was so much of it that it literally made it difficult to chew and swallow. I tried scraping as much off as I could before I ended up asking for a bolognese sauce to try to mask the flavor and texture but unfortunately that did not help. At this point I am frustrated and inform the server why I prefer the sauce and that I simply did not like my dish and could not eat it. My husband told him to just box it up because he hates to waste food but I didn’t want it at all.

After that I left to find the restroom and asked my husband to ask for the check , the inside was cute and and fun, would have rather been there than on the patio. When I returned, the server still hasn’t visited our table to ask him for the bill, after 5 minutes of my return he finally shows up. It also took forever for the bill. We notice that the park is still on the check. I’m angry at this point. Not once did he apologize or send a manager over or try to correct it. This place was overpriced for the dishes served. I mean $36 for 2 thin chicken breasts and a pile of pasta doused in Parmesan cheese? Awful, just awful. I was so unhappy leaving here. I don’t think I will...