Denny's — Restaurant in California

This was once our go to Dennys but after a handful of not great meals we will not be going back.

It started when I ordered a medium steak for dinner. I warned them when ordering that I really wanted it medium and I would send it back if it was well. I got the steak and it was well done. I let them know and they took it back to the cook. I explained (because I can cook) that the steak literally only needed a minute and a half per side. The 2nd steak comes out and its exactly the same, well. I cut it in front of the waiter and show him its well and told him I wasn't going to send it back because my family was eating and I wanted to eat with them. They gave me half off the steak which is fine but I'd rather have the steak cooked the way I asked.

My next visit in, the cook came out to wash her hands or do something by the coffee. She made it a point to look over and say hi so we acknowledged her. We order (no steak this time) and the food starts coming out. One. Plate. At. A. Time. I felt that it was intentional, my meal first, then my husband's, then my kids, we had to let the kids plates cool so by the time we started our food was cold.

My food wasnt great.

As we are paying, the cook who i had never seen until this visit is at the window waving us good bye with a big smile on her face. Maybe I was reading into it but again, I felt it was a weird intentional thing because of my previous complaint. It could have been random but it didn't feel that way.

We haven't been back. One other small complaint is that there is 1 specific waiter there. He is a nice kid, remembers regulars, but he talks to much and asks way too many personal questions. It's very awkward at times when he lingers after asking a couple questions. I'm all for chatting with the staff but it's too much and on days that we are tired and going out to eat the last thing we want is to have a 15 minute forced conversation with someone. I'd recommend he just cut it back a bit and try to recognize social cues that the conversation is over...

The worst Denny's I have ever been to I ordered a grand slam I'm here an hour later and he still hasn't even started my grand slam there's literally three people in the restaurant itself and guess what I was the very first person in the restaurant before the other two got here and still have no Grand slam after 45 minutes the worst Denny's I've ever been to this cook needs to learn something I ordered a Grand slam sandwich which is egg bread a little bit of cheese and then sometimes some people put bacon bits or something up in it I used to be a cook so I know exactly how long does it takes s* he didn't even bother cooking my s* until somebody else came in to the restaurant and then he started cooking my s* and that was 15 minutes after I came in like are you serious like this cook needs a fun another job or something I don't know what's going on but I hope they fix the problem because this place says it's a 4.2 ratings as if I would give it a 2.2 and I'm still being nice I feel like the server was awesome and that's all I got to say about it the place was empty I ordered my food and I'm waiting 45 minutes for a damn Grand sandwich I paid for my sandwich when I left so now technically Denny's owes me money but we all know how that happens that's nothing's going to happen from that they're going to pocket that and just say oh well and still keep the cook and still not change anything so yeah don't think I'm going to be going back...

I ordered an appetizer. I then 10 minutes later placed our order. Our 5 year old was getting anxious and the server, although sweet and carefree smiley, did not know how to be a true server. She came back to the table 10 minutes after we ordered our dinner plates...(still no appetizer)...to tell us they were out of the entire appetizer. (Chicken strips!)

Keep in mind we were the only family in this diner.

Longer story short, she mentioned this about the appetizer asked us if we wanted nachos instead, and I looked at her and said...no, shouldn't the food be done soon? Her response. Yes. All smiles.

Service during our food eating time. No return for refills. No napkins. No attention. Was she busy? No. SERVER, Great customer service for a retail job, please leave the food industry. COOK, please learn to cook. Chicken nuggets should not be hard, when I ask for no tomato, I should not have to peel it off myself, and learn to identify your ingredients stock ahead of time. I should have made you make the new selected appetizer and then take if off my bill completely since it came with my food.

Did I still tip, absolutely. Because she needs to quit that job and get a different one that can pay her more. She was sweet, but that cook is...