Lincoln Street Kitchen & Cocktails — Restaurant in Charlotte

The first time I came, it was a Sunday early afternoon and fairly empty. The service was good, food was great and the portion sizes were reasonable. That being said, DO NOT come here on a Saturday night if you’re hungry or plan to spend less than three hours. Though the restaurant is not full, I’m sitting here waiting a literal hour for my food. When we were first seated, it took a while for our server to get around for to take drink orders. No worries, I’ve been a server, I know how it gets. However, once I put the drinks and starters in, it took her another 45 min to get around to us. When she finally got to us, we had finished our starters and nearly the first round of drinks. I’m patient, but it started getting ridiculous. We put our food in an HOUR ago and all that has come out is sides (Not all). Nobody (hello, management doesn’t feel the need to do table visits?) has acknowledged the long wait, and we had to flag her down To order more drinks. Also the proportions (SO FAR, because ya know, most our food hasn’t touched the table) are so much weaker compared to brunch. So again, I’ve been here about 2.5 hours. I’m still hungry, slightly tipsy, very annoyed. I’ve been a server, I know how it is when your kitchen is just not on it. My issue is them seating the entire restaurant with one server and not apologizing for the wait. I understand this isn’t your traditional restaurant in which you get huge plates of food at the same time, but dinner is overpriced, and under serviced. BRUNCH ME PLEASE.

UPDATE: I wrote the above review while still waiting on my food. After we finished our food and again didn’t see our server for a while, I went to find a manager. To my surprise she WAS the manager, according to one of the food runners. We finally were able to grab her to ask to be closed out, she told us to give her a sec. ten minutes pass and we see another table (seated after us) stop her and ask for their checks. She stopped what she was doing and closed them out immediately and THEN eventually made her way to us. I didn’t want to say it at first but I’ll say it now; We were a table full of minorities, the other table was not. Draw your own conclusions. We split the bill and my boyfriend and my bill was around $120 (still hungry and my buzz had worn off at this point). My boyfriend still elected to tip the standard 20% (how sweet is he?!) which was close to $30, meaning the total should have been around $150 right? To his surprise, the next morning he had a pending charge for $180 on his account... she felt as though she deserved a $60 tip after all that? He called and they immediately adjusted it, as reflected on his statement..I recant the brunch me please comment because now it’s NEVER me please! As you can see the owner responded asking what day I was in when I CLEARLY stated in my above review that it was a Saturday night. July 25th for your records. I’m taking...

Biggest complaint - food took unacceptably long and that was never acknowledged or addressed.

I picked up my phone at 6:50 to pick a restaurant and was able to reserve a table for 7:30. So, they weren't booked or seemingly busy. Sat in a 16 table dining room with 5 tables empty. So, not full capacity.

Ordered our appetizers as soon as we were greeted. Those ended up taking 21 minutes. Tartar and bread. The apps were on the table when we ordered entrees. We ordered those at 7:57. So there wouldn't be any need to course that, because we were already eating the appetizers. That being said, I couldn't tell you what happened. We didn't get our dinner until 8:52. And not a single person acknowledged that. FIFTY FIVE MINUTES after ordering. Our server didn't apologize for the wait. Even if she chose not to apologize, she could have at least let us know she was aware. I've never worked anywhere where a manger wouldn't have been notified, 100% done at least a table touch, and likely offer something as an apology. Who wouldn't be a crab ass by the time the food came? The entrees were decent. But waiting that long is only going to raise the expectations for quality.

I understand it would be on the customer to mention if the food tasted bad or something. But it's not my job to point out that it's taking forever.

And just to add on, in that exorbitant amount of time we waited, our share app plates and silverware were not picked up or remised. Just my fork was taken with the main app plates and I didn't even have a new fork by the time the meal came out. Which was, let's be real, PLENTY of time to remis someone.

We felt we had zero repor with the server because she just didn't show face besides to mention we would be the next ticket out in passing. We were not. And even when I asked what the pasta of the day was, she just showed me the toast screen for me to read it myself. ....what? 😂😂

So there was no open dialogue happening to the point where I felt there would be a good or right way to address it myself. I briefly looked around for a manger when I stepped away to use the restroom. But I saw our food walk by and was too hungry to continue that venture.

We paid, we left, keep a better eye on your floor and...

Update: Management at the restaurant responded more thoughtfully following my experience by email. I’m changing from 1 to 3 stars because the restaurant indicated they will do better to remedy the gap in their training and refunded our meal.

Original: I don't eat red meat. But this restaurant decided I had no choice in the matter.

I explicitly asked if there's any red meat in the dish. Our server said no, that there's only shrimp in it. Shrimp? I was going to order the huevos rancheros and the menu listed no meat or fish. I asked her to clarify and she said she made a mistake thinking about the shrimp and grits that another person in my party ordered. She explained there's no meat in the huevos rancheros at all.

The dish comes and I prepare a tortilla with a bit of bean, egg, and avocado. I take a single bite and I immediately taste SAUSAGE. I look down and it's obvious the beans are cooked with sausage. I flag the waitress over and I point out the sausage to her. I say, "This is sausage." She responds, "I don't know. It's not supposed to be. Let me check with the chef." She comes back and tells me it's sausage, apologizing profusely.

All the restaurant did was not charge me for my dish. Are you kidding me? I had a single bite and immediately sent it back when I realized there was red meat in it. Not charging me is nothing. I get the server was very apologetic but . . . I can do nothing with her apology. The restaurant should have at least comped my drink or at least one of the dishes we ordered. Ridiculous and unprofessional.

I really wanted to have a pleasant experience here. Made a reservation over a week in advance to celebrate Mother's Day belatedly. But instead I had an awful experience where I was essentially tricked into eating something I didn't choose.

ALSO! To add insult to injury, the server came back at the end while we paid and she asked me if I don't eat meat because of my RELIGION. I think it's incredibly disrespectful and unprofessional to ask a patron about their religion. I didn't respond and the whole...