Wild Goose Tavern — Restaurant in Chatham

Reached out to Jennifer Simmons, Inn Manager to no avail. I guess their restaurant manager was right, when you’re as big as they are they don’t care about the little guys opinion. What a shame. ——— Dear Wild Goose Management,

I am writing to express my deep disappointment and frustration with the deplorable experience I had at your restaurant on July 2nd, 2023. Despite having a reservation made for 8:00 pm, my fiancé and I were subjected to an unreasonably long wait time, missed the anticipated fireworks, and shockingly, were still left without our meals. Furthermore, the behavior exhibited by our waiter, who claimed to be the manager on duty, was highly inappropriate and insulting.

While I understand that delays can occur, especially during busy periods, it is completely unacceptable that a reservation made in advance was not honored and that we were made to wait such an excessive amount of time to be left without our meals. This resulted in us missing the Fourth of July fireworks, which was a major disappointment.

Throughout the wait, Juan Carlos repeatedly assured us that our food would be ready in just ‘a few more minutes’ after supposedly checking with the kitchen. Although we patiently waited, we became increasingly frustrated when we witnessed two tables seated around us, who arrived after us, receiving their food. This blatant disregard for the order in which customers were seated and served was both confusing and disheartening.

Seeing our frustration Juan Carlos came to our table I asked him how long on our food since we had been waiting for almost an hour and a half he offered a second round of drinks on the house which we politely declined we just wanted to know the status of our food he said he wasn’t sure but was going to check. At this point, we decided to approach the waitress serving the neighboring tables and requested to speak to the manager. To our surprise, Juan Carlos returned, claiming to be the manager on duty his demeanor had now changed and he pointed at his name badge in a condescending manner and dismissed our concerns in an arrogant tone. He even went as far as to say that he didn’t work in the kitchen and implying that writing a negative review would not affect the popularity of the restaurant due of course to its privileged location. This display of unprofessionalism and disrespect left us astounded and humiliated.

To add insult to injury, Juan Carlos loudly offered us "everything" for free, insinuating that we were attempting to get a free drink. This was a gross misinterpretation of our intentions, as my fiancé and I had only consumed one beverage each while waiting an hour and a half for our meals. His attempt to embarrass us was both offensive and uncalled for.

In light of this horrific experience, I demand a formal apology from your management. The treatment we received from Juan Carlos, who claimed to be the manager, is completely unacceptable and tarnished what should have been a pleasant evening. It is crucial for your establishment to take immediate action to rectify this situation in order to maintain a respectable customer base.

If no appropriate measures are taken to address this issue within the next two weeks, I will feel compelled to share my unfortunate experience through various online review platforms and alert my circle of acquaintances about the disrespectful encounter I endured at Wild Goose.

I genuinely hope that this letter will serve as a wake-up call for your management, prompting immediate improvements to prevent other customers from enduring such a regrettable and frustrating experience. I eagerly await your prompt response and resolution to this...

If you’re looking to ruin your night and waste your money, Wild Goose Tavern is the place for you.

We came in with high hopes, but what we got was careless service, cold food, and a management team that clearly doesn't care about the customer experience. For a place charging fine dining prices, they deliver fast food quality—and honestly, fast food service would’ve been a massive upgrade.

It all started when they brought over our 3 bottles of wine… but forgot the glasses. Small mistake, but it set the tone. When they finally poured the wine, no one bothered to ask if it was to our liking—something you’d expect at these outrageous prices.

Then came the real disaster: we waited over an HOUR for appetizers. Just two soups and some raw bar items. Not one check-in, no updates—just staff walking by as we sat there confused and increasingly frustrated.

To be clear, a few people in our party work in the service industry—we tried to be as patient and understanding as possible. We get it. But this wasn’t a busy night handled poorly; this was blatant carelessness and a total lack of communication.

When the apps finally came, they were mediocre at best. We had to flag down our server just to order entrées, and when those finally arrived—almost two hours after sitting—they were STONE COLD. The burger? Freezing, with unmelted cheese (I’ll attach a photo). The swordfish? Lukewarm. The lobster quesadilla? Barely tasted like lobster. And the fries? So bad they were practically inedible. And for a large party running up a high tab, some basic communication and care should’ve been the bare minimum. We didn’t even get our water glasses refilled once. Eleven people, sitting for hours, literally thirsty.

Our reservation was at 7:00. We didn’t leave until 9:35—causing us to miss another reservation we had for cocktails. By the end, we were standing up at the table trying to get someone’s attention just to pay the bill. The damage? $800. When we asked to speak with a manager, we were offered a small discount—nowhere near enough to make up for the trainwreck of a night.

And we weren’t the only ones. Tables around us were visibly upset and complaining too. That should’ve been our sign when we first walked in. Bottom line: the owner and management should be genuinely ashamed of how this place is being run. The prices suggest a high-end experience, but what you’ll actually get is a disorganized, understaffed, slow-motion disaster. Either they’re cutting corners to save money, or they truly have no clue how to manage a restaurant—or both.

Skip Wild Goose Tavern and spend your money somewhere that actually respects its guests. This was one of the worst dining experiences...

We stayed at Chatham Bars Inn. I wanted to try one of the restaurant in the hotel. Unfortunately, There is no open table until very late. Hotel recommend Wild Goose Tavern to us. I have to say Wild Goose is obviously overrated. They label themselves as Fine Dining. There is no way you can call them FINE DINING. From Food, Customer service and environment are terrible. It's Casual dining not Fine Dining but their price is Fine Dining.

Our hotel is nice enough to drop off us. (Highly recommend Chatham Bars Inn) at Wild Goose when we sat at our table and waited at least 10 mins before the waiter showed up so we could ask for a glass of water. We ordered Appetizers then the AC vent started to blow at my face with the smell from the kitchen. My husband went to talk the manager about switching the table but she refused to even seeing a bunch of tables open. She said there is no tables available but she said she can turn the vent upwards. So she did. Then the room got really hot. The waiter brought us some cold bread after we finished our appetizers that was also cold. Shouldn't the bread be given before the appetizers? anyway he gave us bread but didn't fill up our water glasses. We were thirsty. He didn't take our empty dishes away. We have been waiting for our entrees for over 40 mins. We asked the manager how long will it be? We have 2 hungry under 5 year old kids. She said only few mins. We waited another 15 mins. Still No food. We were very hot and no one didn't bother to fill up our water. I didn't know where our waiter or Manager were. We had to go looking for them. We found the manager, we required the check because we didn't want the food anymore. The Manager sounded scared that we would run out without pay. She said You have to pay the bill and we will pack your food and let you bring home. She ran into the kitchen for another 10 mins. I said if she doesn't come out in 5 mins we're leaving. I said we just want to pay the bill. We don't care about the food. Finally she brought out the food along with our waiter. They threw the food to me with the boxes leaking. I asked the waiter to give me one more bag. He said you already have a bag you don't need one more. We paid the bill with out seeing the detailed bill. We ran out of the restaurant to get some fresh air because we all smelled like the kitchen.

We opened the food when we arrived at the hotel room. We tasted the food a little bit before we threw it away. We don't understand what makes so many people go there. I have to say Wild Goose is definitely over rated from every aspect. BTW, On one dish it seems like they used cooking...