LongHorn Steakhouse — Restaurant in Carrollton

Whats the point of having call ahead seating if you arent going to allow your customers to use the call ahead seating? We had a party of 20 and wanted a 530 seating. I tried calling yesterday to do a call ahead or reservation and was told that I would have to do same day calling. Thats fine. I call today around 1 pm and they told me that they cant do call ahead seating unless its busy. But that at 530 they wouldn't be too busy and should have no problem seating our large party and to call back by 5 just to make sure. I call again at 4 pm and ask again for a call ahead seating at 530. The manager gets on the phone and immediately tells me that there will be no way they could seat our party by 530 that there were already several large parties waiting. Thats why i tried to call earlier. He then continues to tell me that we could split it up to do 4 or 5 tables. I tell him i would have tk check with my family and call back. I call back within 10 mins and speak to a different guy, who was apparently also some form of manager, named Mitchell. I explain the situation tell him what the other mgr says and he says "yeah we can definitely do that. How many high chairs, kids menus and slings do yall need?" I also tell him that we dont mind being split up as long as we were still somewhat together. He says "we can do that just come in and ask for the blonde guy at the front named Mitchell" We arrive at 515 and I ask for Mitchell, he turns around and motions to the original man i talked to on the phone. He says "Yes we spoke on the phone its going to be about a 2 hour wait because there was a party of 16 and then a party of 18 behind them." And i said "Oh I spoke to Mitchell and he said we could do the split tables." And he (not mitchell) says "you said you didnt want to do that." And i said " no I said I would have to talk to my family. But we are okay as long as we are able to sit on the same side of the restaurant, i called back and spoke to mitchell." "We cant gaurantee that it will be on the same side that depends on how the dining room clears out. And even still it will still be about another 2 hour wait." So it will still be a 2 hour wait even with the call ahead seating? I dont understand. Why have it if you...

EDITED: I was contacted by a Longhorn Representative after my review below who apologized for the experience we had and that the call ahead feature was not properly explained. They then invited us to give it another try. Just the fact that they reached out to us was impressive, but then the food and customerDebbie we received when we went back more than made up for our first experience. It was served fresh and tasted delicious! Our server was friendly and attentive. Great experience! Thanks Longhorn for caring about your customers! This rating is not based on food. It is based on the service we received from the staff we initially encountered at the restaurant. It was a Friday night and we arrived a little before 6:30. We expected it to be busy but were surprised to see people standing outside in the misty rain with the lobby visibly full through the windows. There were just 2 of us so my husband suggested I see how long the wait would be for two. Maybe we'd be surprised. I hopped out and ran in to find out it would be 45 to 50 minutes. I didn't want to wait that long outside in the rain and was prepared to find another restaurant, but my husband suggested we see if they have call ahead seating. Perhaps we could go somewhere while we wait. When I called I was told that, yes, they do in fact have call ahead seating and the wait would be about an hour. We put our name on the list and ended up sitting in the car and talking in the parking lot of the restaurant. 45 minutes later we walk in and tell them we called ahead. The young lady hands us a pager and tells us it will be 45 minutes. What?! We called ahead, I remind her. "That doesn't put you on the list. It just puts your name closer to the front once you arrive." That was NOT explained when we called for the so-called "call ahead seating"! What good does it do to have call ahead seating if it doesn't put your name on the list?!?! What a waste of our time! We DROVE almost 30 minutes to eat at THIS restaurant and then sat in the car for 45 minutes only to be told we'd have to wait 45 minutes yet again. We went somewhere else for dinner. Very disappointed! Longhorn Steakhouse if you don't actually have call ahead seating don't tell people...

I called for a reservation about 4:30, and was told there was no wait and no need for reservations. Get here an hour later, and told there will be an hour or more wait. Although I was upset, I calmly explained to the young man checking people in that we had already called in an hour prior to that, and were told not to make a reservation. He told me it would only be about 15 minutes and there was only one person ahead of us and he apologized for the misunderstanding. After 25 minutes, I asked how long it would be. He said it would take another 30 to 45 minutes. When I reminded him he told me it would be 15 minutes, he informed me that there were several people who called ahead and made reservations. He said "that's right". He continued by telling me that their policy is to not take reservations when there is no wait. I reminded him that he told me I only had 15 minutes to wait when I got there, he said "I don't know what to tell you", and started checking in another guest and ignoring me. At that point, and keep in mind that I was still keeping my cool, there was another employee who noticed what was going on and came over and asked me to give him 2 minutes. With in that 2 minutes, our little remote buzzer went off to let us know that our seat was available. Not sure why they would allow a young teenage kid to make decisions that would only serve to enrage a customer. The only reason I did not go off, is because I have worked in retail for 20 years and I'm just not one of those people. Matter of fact, I absolutely hate those people, but this kid pushed me to that point. Luckly enough, everyone else who worked there did everything the right way and treated us like we were wanted and respected. I give 1 star because that 1 kid virtually ruined the entire visit to...