Village Inn — Restaurant in Colorado

Now I’ve always loved Village Inn since I was a kid. Loved the food, the atmosphere, the home feeling it gave. It was authentic and made a great impression every visit.

Not this time. My friend helped me move a couch into my place Saturday morning, so I offered to take them to eat. Asked them where they wanted to go and they said Village Inn. Yes! I love Village Inn .. this is the closest location to my new place, never been here. As soon as we pulled in the parking lot we both said “Eww!”. The sign out side was not the same sign, we hated it … but what we didn’t know was that was not the only thing changed. When we got inside, everything was different! White! Modern! Fancy! Why??! We both kept talking about how much we didn’t like the new look and how we prefer the old look. We were first in the waiting area, two other people walking in behind us. The host help them first since they were picking up delivery orders. But then disappeared for 7 minutes while we stood there at her podium. Then a couple walked in, then another, then a small family .. the line just kept growing. One of the staffed walked by and asked us where she went, we just looked at each other and shrugged so the worker just walked away. Finally the girl came back and asked us if we have a preference on where we sit, my friend wanted to sit in a booth, so I asked for a booth and she told us there were only tables with chairs left. Then why ask?? Now again, it’s just two of us. Me and my friend. Yet we get sat at a huge table .. why? It felt so weird for us. But whatever, we were finally seated and ordered food. We were both excited for the pancakes in our order, but no, why would that be good when everything else was not. The bottom of the pancakes were crunchy. Not crunchy like there were toasted bits, but crunchy like it was from something else left on the stove top and the pancake batter was poured on top. And they were so dry. My friend took maybe 3 bites and had to stop eating them. I forced myself to eat almost half the stack, but the dryness and mystery crunches were grossing me out. I had to stop.

I forgot, when we were half way through our meal, no where near done. Our waitress came to the table and asked if we wanted the check. Not if we wanted a refill, which my friend’s glass was empty and my half full. Not if we were interested in a piece of pie. Not during a middle of a bite asking how our meals were. But if we wanted the check. We both kind of stuttered our words not sure what to say cause it felt so rushed. Like they wanted us out of there. I finally said sure, then she handed me a handheld credit card reader and walked away. Ok? What if I was paying cash? I just paid and put it to the side of the table. My friend laughed and said how it was weird and what happened to just bringing over a tab slip and saying, “let me know when you’re ready to pay” or something of the sort. Gosh I even tipped her which I wish I didn’t cause she only came to the table three times. To get our drink order, to give us our drinks and get our food order and then the last one with paying. Oh my mistake, four times. She did a quick walk by and grabbed the machine off the table. Not saying anything to us.

Horrible experience! We felt very unwelcome. The worst experience I’ve ever had at a Village Inn, and I’ve been to some ghetto ones with drama late at night! So...

My daughter and I stopped for dinner at about 7:30 in the evening on Superbowl Sunday. We ended up walking out before even considering placing an order. The manager was at the back with his eyes glued to the TV when we walked in. Right in front of him, a table of 3 staff on their phones and chatting with one another. Two of them looked at us as we walked in. We weren't silent but may as well have been. Took at least 4 minutes for someone to get up and come offer to seat us. She was huffy and looked at the manager with disdain before finally getting up from the table. Before sitting I used a napkin to wipe what appeared to be a spill from the table only to discover it was sticky and couldn't be wiped. Leaving the now partial napkin we changed tables but we're disgusted again because the table was greasy. There other tables were seated. One table of 2 who looked like they been there a while and were talking over coffee. Another table of four had menus but no drinks yet and appeared to have been there for several minutes. After deciding what to eat, we finally saw a waitress bring a plate to a table with a single customer. She chatted with him for a few minutes, talked about the game they were watching and told him she'd check on him soon as she headed back into the kitchen. As she did so, she looked directly at us and said not one word. Meanwhile the table of four hadn't been acknowledged and still didn't even have water. A staff member from the kitchen had followed the waitress out to the dining area and was dressed sloppily and appeared dirty, even from out distance. He went to the other side of the restaurant to join the others who were lounging. After 3 or 4 more minutes we decided this was not the dining experience we wanted to have. I prefer to tip for good service than save a tip because io crappy service. But usually if the service is sub-par, the food is not. In this situation, I had no desire to eat anything prepared in the kitchen and no desire to be angry over my experience and dining choice. We'll not be...

First I would like to extend my appreciation to the supervisor on the clock (she has a tattoo of her daughters name on her forearm, Elicia) absolutely amazing.

The waiter (Katie) that sat us was completely unprofessional. From the point of seating us to taking our orders. We had to deal with rude and unnecessary commentary. Things like, "your ordering that wrong", "I don't know how many pancakes come with the side order of pancakes, I forget". She was not new and loved to cut customers off during their orders aggressively and demandingly.

We recieve our orders and she tossed plates to us, they were hot, but that didnt matter to Katie. She placed the dishes in the middle of the table for us to grab. We brush that off and just want to eat at this point. We get to our pancakes and instantly we look at one another. The pancakes are sour and taste old. I eat everything, but that was just not okay.

We then mention our concerns to our waiter Katie and ask for the chef. We just wanted someone else to taste the pancakes and witness their reaction. She tells us he's busy and won't taste the pancakes.

(The goal was not to get a free meal at all)

Long story short, Katie lied on multiple accounts to us. She was quick to tell me they do not honor military discount and that "you can find that discount at Dennys, but not here". We had to take out a phone and record the whole conversation, involving the true help, the supervisor. Come to find out, we have been served batter that was spoiled , (the cause for the funny taste).

We have be called problematic and the only compainers through the whole day, even though they have been using the same spoiled batter all day. I will not let this situation go unmentioned.

Katie, I can assure you that not all people of color are complainers, but please make sure you come correct with your approach and demeanor to any customer that walks through those doors! Have a...