Cricket's Restaurant and Oyster Bar — Restaurant in Coeur d'Alene

I'll start this by saying that I have been going to Crickets for the better part of a decade on a near monthly basis and I have never had a bad experience. Today was the polar opposite of any other visit to Crickets I've ever had. We were met right off the bat with a hostess that had a horrible attitude, I can take that in stride, we all have bad days. Then our waitress.. I don't even know where to begin. The young woman with blonde braids was an absolute nightmare. Apart from not even coming to the table for around 20 minutes, she was expressly warned of a shellfish allergy, I recognize this is an oyster bar but also recognize (As a former culinary professional for many well known and even Michelin Star restaurants) that cross contamination control is a vital part of any kitchen etiquette. Now even before I had come to the unfortunate realization that I had been effectively poisoned, the fish tacos themselves were literally burned to a crisp. After the first bite (And only bite) I was picking what I can only describe as carbon out of my teeth. Fish was black as pitch, and didn't taste much different. Now if I hadn't realized so quickly that I had injested shellfish I would have simply asked for a remake, but this is only where the problems begin. My brother ordered truffle fries and I ordered a side of regular, they came out mixed up which again was not a big deal, just bring me my regular fries, right? 35 minutes after the food was delivered and those of us at the table that had something edible in front of them had eaten, my fries show up with an attitude. Rudely dropped in front of me before the waitress again turned around and walked off not even acknowledging a single member of my party. About 20 mins before this my wife had asked this woman for some ketchup for my young daughters chicken basket, the ketchup never came, it's good that she also adores ranch dressing. My wife kindly asked for a chair and the hostess snapped back with "I'll be with you when ill be with you". She said this sentence twice. It was 12:30PM and the restaurant was nearly empty. Maybe 10 tables total. No reason at all to be so snappy. After I had to go seek out silverware from another table so my wife could eat her salad (Which was warm by the way, she hardly touched it) the waitress did return asking if we needed togo boxes. Upon seeing that I had only taken one bite she asked in a snarky tone what the problem with my food was, I told her that on top of the fish being in the late stages of cremation I have a shellfish allergy and am actively fighting a allergy attack. She said "So you don't want it then". So through watering eyes and with a closing throat i told her I don't want it and wouldnt want to pay for it either. Before I had finished my sentence she scooped up my plate as well as my brothers stuff which he had not yet finished and walked them back to the kitchen. My wife at this time had already began to seek out a manager to talk to about the issues we were having. Before my wife found a manager the waitress had found her and began an inquisition about why we were unhappy with our visit. The culmination of this interaction was the waitress saying to my wife "If you're husband is allergic to shellfish, why would he order fish tacos?" Like what? And you work in food? I facepalmed at this comment. As i stated at the beginning of this i have been coming to Crickets for a long time. I look forward to it every time I'm in the area. I simply cannot fathom the gravity of the changes that must have been made to this once fine spot in order for the quality of both the food and service to have dipped so low. So, long story short, I paid 90 dollars for an allergy attack and a generally horrible lunch experience. Until today in all my years I have NEVER not left a tip. I believe those in the service industry should be respected and acknowledged for their hard work. It just doesn't make any sense. Do better Crickets, you...

I have heard nothing but great things about this restaurant and wanted to see for myself. I had family in town visiting and since our original plans didn’t work out, I suggested we go to Crickets. Obviously with it being a Friday night it was very busy, but they also were only seating people at every other table so it wasn’t nearly as busy as they have been before. We were seated around 7:45, finally got a waiter to our table to even take our drink order after 15 minutes of being there, then it all went downhill from there. Our waiter, while polite, seemed like he had literally no clue what he was doing and seemed unbelievably overwhelmed. He wasn’t even supposed to be our waiter but took over since no one else was coming to our table. After ordering food and an appetizer, we waited well over an hour for our food. Our appetizer was “almost done” but never came out. Two of the 5 meals finally were served and were both cold. When we finally decided we were going to just cancel the two kids meals we ordered, our waiter misunderstood and canceled all of our food. He finally came over with our bill saying he wasn’t charging us for any of the food, and wouldn’t directly answer when we asked him if the other food was coming out at all. He finally told us he told the cooks to cancel our food, but he hadn’t taken the two cold meals off the bill. He disappeared for another 10 minutes to fix the bill. Overall, the cold food was good, but obviously cold. We weren’t even going to say anything about it until the two meals came out after obviously sitting for 15 minutes, with literally no sign of the other 3 meals and an appetizer. We know good and well other people would not have been nearly as understanding as we were, and regardless there is no reason to stretch your staff that thin if you know you are going to be busy. We ended up having to go to fast food because the two kids needed something to eat, and at least Wendy’s serves hot food. No hate on our waiter because he definitely tried his best, but we are all super disappointed in the entire situation and I doubt I...

Edited to respond to the owner.

I'm not sure what has happened to Crickets over the past few years, or why we even decided to give it another chance after a terrible experience before, but unfortunately, this visit was just as disappointing for us and everyone around us. We chose to go on the 4th of July because it's conveniently close to the park where we watch fireworks, and we heard they had a new menu, so we thought it was worth another try. We opted to sit on the back patio, which was bustling with customers – understandable for a holiday, though...What followed, however, was inexcusable. It took nearly an hour to get our appetizers, which we didn't mind initially since we were enjoying drinks and conversation. However, our main courses never arrived, even after almost two hours. Hungry and frustrated, we had no choice but to leave and find food elsewhere, ending up at Pita Pit. This wasn't just our experience; those around us faced similar issues. The table next to ours complained about the poor quality of their food, a sentiment we could also see reflected in its appearance.Despite the chaos, our server did an admirable job, though she seemed to be constantly apologizing for something beyond her control. Even the manager, whom we spoke with, was sympathetic and made several attempts to expedite our order to no avail. After speaking with local friends we came to find out that they also had a terrible experience today. It's sad to see that place going so downhill. I am surprised the doors are open still.

Response to the owner.... We have visited on numerous occasions beyond holidays. Have you had the opportunity to review the feedback I provided? I clearly stated that. Our experiences there have consistently fallen short. Additionally, there appears to be a significant number of negative reviews. Your responses to some of these reviews were particularly surprising. As prominent business owners within the community, we will certainly be sharing...