Denny's — Restaurant in Colonial Heights

Came in around 6:40 on a Sunday evening with a friend. Approaching the building I noted there were two tables already dining and that the waitress was in the kitchen. She peered at my friend and I as we entered and I headed to the restroom while my friend waited to be seated. There were only two parties in the restaurant, a total of three people dining in, so I figured this would be a nice quiet dinner for us.

I used the restroom and headed back about 2 minutes after parting with my friend. I was surprised to see she was still waiting to be seated, so I instead waited while she used the restroom. I inquired if anyone was there with a few "Hellos" and finally the waitress appeared. She was getting off the phone and seemed in an agitated state. Finally I came into her line of vision and I told her I needed a table for the two of us. The menus she placed on the table appeared as if they hadn't been cleaned in a week, littered with smeared fingerprints and what I'm hoping was jelly from a breakfast goer who placed too much on their biscuit.

My friend came out of the restroom and sat opposite me, facing the entrance. We looked over the menu and selected what we wanted and then began the wait. During the next fifteen minutes, we sat and observed two interactions with a direct to-your-door service who had no issues gaining attention from the waitress, as well as the cook. We gathered that there was an issue with the credit card processing machine and so the waitress was dealing with the company via her cell phone.

Finally I got to that point of agitation where my patience was too thin to finally have to speak to her and maintain a pleasant demeanor, so we stood up and walked out. As we approached the door, the waitress says that she was just about to come over us when we were leaving. I didn't take the opportunity to respond, but now that I've made my way over to a competitor's restaurant and have been served within less time than it took to write this review, allow me to reply:

We didn't leave because of the length of time it took to be seated, or even while sat. We left because you couldn't take a second of your time to explain why your phone call (and apparently pick-up orders) were more important than us. Even when your cook came to the front, you didn't so much as look our way. You didn't make any effort at all to speak with us, much less serve us dinner. A canned response claiming lack of service staff is wholly inadequate at explaining away a lack of interest in serving the customers you do have. Based on the state of your restaurant and remaining staff, it won't be long before there will be no customers left at all.

I will not be entertaining the idea of coming back to this restaurant without a complete overhaul of the staff, the cleanliness of the restaurant, and better...

I went to Denny's Restaurant at Southpark (801 South Ave. Colonial Heights, VA) last night with 9 more friends. We had an awful experience. We walked thru the door, the waitress, there was only one, looked at us and continued to clean a chair. No acknowledgement at all. So, I asked what time they closed, this was 7:45pm, she said they were open 24 hours. Then she walked over to us and asked how many, we told her, and she took us to the tables, which we had to put together ourselves so we could sit together. She got our drink order. By the way, we were the only customers in there at this time, that should have told us to run! One of the ladies at the table asked for hot tea and the waitress just looked at her strange. My friend said you know hot water and a tea bag and some honey. The waitress had no idea if they had any tea bags. Instead of checking she just stood there. She finally walked away after everyone ordered there drinks. She took our food order, and it was plain to see, she didn't know the items on menu, anyway, we finished ordering. Slow forward, 1 1/2 hours later our food still had not come out, so of course, we started asking questions. The cook started puting food in the window and wouldn't let the waitress deliver it to the table till he got all of it in the delivery window. This is what she told us, so needless to say we received our food cold. One of my friends didn't get her food. When she asked about it the waitress replied,"That is what you get when you have ten people!" Can you believe it!!!!!!!! They made her Burger and fries to go because the rest of us had finished eating. She opened the box at the table, the burger was cold, and the fries were shriveled up and hard as rocks, as if they had been sitting in the kitchen all day. There were no apologies for any of the service or terrible food, just attitudes, as if we were bothering them. One of the people in the group paid the whole bill. They didn't offer to give us a discount or apologize for anything. Have you ever left a restaurant saying to yourself what just happened! Well, this was the worst experience by far! Just giving you fair warning! I usually don't post negative things or rant on FB, but this was so bad it is...

The first time I was at this restaurant was in late October, 2022. Myself, my 75 year old mom, my boyfriend, and my 16-year-old daughter drove from Minnesota to North Carolina for my son’s graduation from basic training at Fort Jackson. Afterwards, we were able to drive him up to Fort Lee where he was going to begin his advanced individual training. It had been a long day and we were all tired but needed to eat. We stopped at this Denny’s. There were maybe seven or eight tables full, but only one server on. We settled in for what we thought was going to be a less than stellar experience, but boy where we were wrong!

AK had everything completely under control. She gave us excellent service, including plenty of refills on drinks and checking in to be sure we were doing OK. The food was also absolutely delicious. Everything was fresh, hot, and really hit the spot. Despite being the only server on, she was also seating people and busing tables. I don’t know how she did at all, but she did! We were so impressed with her that we left her a generous tip. As we were heading out to our car, she came outside to give us a very warm thank you. It made our day!

Today I flew in to Richmond to come back to Fort Lee to attend my son’s graduation from AIT. I made a conscious decision to go back to this Denny’s because of our excellent experience the last time. Today was different… It was very quiet in the restaurant and there were plenty of employees. I was happy to see AK working and she again provided excellent service with a smile. And again the food was great (today was a club sandwich that looked even better than the picture on the menu!)

I asked to speak to the manager before I left just to let her know that I came back here today specifically because of our last experience. Her response was lovely… She wanted to make sure that AK got the recognition that she deserved. Not herself as the manager, not the restaurant in general, but the specific employee who made our experience excellent.

I know that Denny’s is usually not the place where you expect a stellar experience, but this little gem tucked in between retail shops and some warehouse type properties...