Big View Diner — Restaurant in Charlotte

*UPDATE TO ORIGNAL POST: I am responding to the restaraunt’s response to my original post, as well as providing clarity on what happened the night of and when we did finally make contact…….

The night of the event mentioned and my review was posted:

Once we realized the food was inedible, we tried calling, but there was no answer. As a result, we were unable to address the issues, hence was left with no food to eat (food was inedible). This was both an inconvenience and a stressor since our stove/oven had just broke that night, so we could not cook, hence why we ordered out.

Note: With this being our third issue in a row with their food, I decided to take time to post a review that night (I did not post any reviews with the other previous events).

With the previous events, we simply called as a courtesy to give them a heads up about the issues, thinking maybe it was a fluke; however, they just apologized and that was it. Didn’t compensate in any way and obviously did not improve their quality control issues.

What happened when we actually connected with a manger at a later date:

Since we could not get ahold of them the night of, we tried calling again during open hours and were told they could not rectify/reimburse our issue over the phone and that we would have to come in (another inconvenience).

They also said they had saw my Google review and wish we would have reached out to them first, for them to rectify it before posting the review (Note: I did do this the previous times we had issues and got nowhere).

Them saying this rubbed me the ring way. It seemed a bit like they were more concerned with keeping negative reviews off Google, than fixing their issues and servicing their customers appropriately from the start. Hence making sure that their paying customers don’t have to go through all this trouble constantly.

Needless to say, my husband having to go in to get the issue rectified, rather than taking care of it via phone, was just yet another inconvenience and time taken away from the paying customer.

Needless to say, all this combined was the limit for us! Although we appreciate that they eventually ended up refunding us THIS TIME……as a paying customer, we prefer good quality food and service and not have to be the one to be inconvenienced when they are the one making the mistakes. This is putting too much responsibility on the paying customer.

We just ask that you be more proactive in preventing such issues, rather than being reactive and allowing them to continue.

*ORIGINAL REVIEW POST: Placed a pick up order (both basic southern staples and diner food): Chicken Fried Steak Chicken Pot Pie

Chicken Fried Steak: Coating on the Chicken Fried Steak was thick and overcooked. The gravy’s texture was sooo thick and dried out, that it didn’t even look or feel like gravy. It tasted like flour and its texture felt like you were eating paste. A southern staple…..very disappointing!

Chicken Pot Pie: Both the onions and celery were raw!! They were hard/crunchy and the onion flavor was very overpowering! Not to mention, the turkey also tasted “off” as well.

Needless to say, the meals were both uneditable.

To top it off, my husband went to pick up the take out order we called in, but the front door was locked (before closing time-no sign on the door). So he had to go searching on how to get in. He found a side patio door open, so he went in that way. Note: They were not closed yet and people were still eating in the restaraunt.

This was our third, less than favorable meal, that we have had from there lately. Was hoping they were just having a bad night with the previous times, hence giving them another chance without posting a negative review. However, after the third negative experience, I had to post.

Between the prices and the poor quality, it doesn’t look like we will be returning. Miss how good and affordable diner food used to be! Sad to see yet another restaurant go down hill...

I've been going here for years but this most recent visit was the catalyst that would cause me nor my family or friends to return again. I made a reservation ahead of time as we were a larger party (9 people), which apparently didn't matter, because we still had to wait some time for our table to be ready. After we get seated, we waited even longer for our waitress Shelly to show up. We placed our orders, including one to-go order. Shelly offered to place that order in when we have our food, so it'll be warm when we leave. Somehow, the to-go order came out in no time while the rest of us had no food in front of us for at least 25 minutes. As this meal was a special occasion for us, we waited for Shelly to free up to ask if she could quickly take our picture - she immediately barked at us, verbatim, "I don't have time right now, I'm busy!" We were shocked and so turned off. We completely understand being busy, but she could've worded it better. After some time, she came back and said, "OK, how many to-go boxes do we need?" but we were clearly still in the middle of our meal.. since the food came out so late. She was obviously just trying to get rid of us. After we asked her for more time, she raced off to the front counter of the restaurant and very obviously talked bad about us to a coworker who was there - the coworker immediately looked across the restaurant right at us. VERY poor character on both their parts, and based on other reviews here, it sounds like the staff here talks poorly about their customers frequently. As if that wasn't all bad as it was, it's time for the check. As a former waitress, I completely understand the stressors of hospitality and appreciate the grind. I always try to tip at least 20% on all my meals and services, no matter what. Here are the 3 things Shelly did that are super shady and should be a warning to others going to this restaurant: She never told us that gratuity was included. After taking our payment (credit cards), she removed the itemized ticket from the folder so we wouldn't see that gratuity was included. I had to ask for the itemized receipt again, to check. She took an additional step to conceal the included gratuity by writing DIRECTLY ON TOP of it on the receipt - see the attached photo. The yellow highlight circles where it says, "Gratuity Included" but you can't really see it, because she strategically wrote on top of it with a marker. My guess is a lot of their staff uses this tactic, but definitely Shelly!!! She comes off nice at first but is very rude and inconsiderate. The entire staff comes off this way, and definitely wouldn't be worth another visit here.

Updated: Only adding this updated comment to clear up the fact that management did not speak to us, so I have no idea what the owner's reply below is talking about. Clearly they don't want to assist with any issues nor truly admit that...

The reason for three stars was the experience walking in. Let’s start either the food and table service: We had eggs Benedict , which was ok , but nothing to write home about .The corn beef hash was the best part of the meal. The gentlemen waiting on us was top notch.

Coffee was very good.

The experience walking in left me on the fence about returning. We entered at 10:45 and waited while the hostess or maybe manager (?) was answering the phone. We waited for what seemed like 10 minutes , when in reality it was more like 5 . That is still a long time to wait before even being acknowledged. We listened as she explained to the person in the other end of the call that they did not have any open reservations. She continued to look up other times and appeared to have no sense of urgency in addressing us or the line that was forming behind us. There was one other couple in the waiting area that had arrived before us. After the longer than normal wait , another staff member came up to the front as the manger was hanging up the phone. We were ready to be seated ! But not so fast, she told us that it would be a thirty minute wait for our party of two. I had scoped put the patio and observed at least 4 empty tables there that had been set for new guests, with at least another 8 open in the main dining room. We took a seat to wait as the parties behind us were greeted. All were told it would be a thirty minute wait. Two of the three parties took a seat to wait, while a party of two decided to leave. A moment later another team member walked up to the front desk and looked at the screen and called up the couple that had been waiting before we arrived. Next the manager / hostess told another team member to seat the party of six that had been in line behind us. Soon after we were called up to be led to our table.

I forget to mention the kicker- we were seated and handed lunch menus. Due to the experience at the front, enough time had passed that they were not serving breakfast from the full menu. Instead we could order a smaller breakfast selection from the lunch menu.

While it’s not a horrible experience, this won’t make me go out of my way to come back.

Maybe we will try again if we are in the area.

On a positive note / the cakes and pies looked amazing . I believe they can be...