Dubuque Mining Co — Restaurant in Dubuque

We are people who don’t have a lot of extra money and in order to go out, we have to have some sort of special to justify being able to go out. We had looked forward to going to happy hour at the Mining Company and getting their cheese curds and an amazing Long Island Iced Tea for four weeks. My wife had worked every Friday night for weeks. We finally had a Friday night off and she wasn’t feeling very well so we delayed going out.. Happy hour goes until 530 and we arrived at 5:25 so we thought we were fine, however there was no place to sit so we stood by the front door for several minutes until a very nice waitress came over and said it’ll be just a few minutes. We asked if we could order right away and get he happy hour price? Now let me say this. I enjoy Mining Company very much. Its locally owned, and we are regulars though we hadn’t been there for 4 weeks. We meet people there and bring in business. It’s one of my favorite places in the whole city, the staff is excellent very kind very fun, but I do take offense to this one manager who was on tonight. We asked the waitress who came to talk to us very politely if we could still get the happy hour price since we were there well before 5:30? This should not have been a problem...now She said she would have to go ask a manager. I’m not quite sure why it seems pretty obvious that we were there before 5:30 so she went and talked to the manager and she came back and she says this manager says no. (He could've said IF they're seated by 5:30 which was his rule but he said No) She said “it’s not up to me would you like to talk to him?” and I said sure so right about then a table opened up and my wife went over to it and it was just 530. I went and talked to him And he looked at his watch said, “It’s 5:31. (The waitress had asked for us several minutes earlier) No, you have to be seated by 5:30. I said my wife is sitting at a table at 5:30 and he still said no! (My wife corrected me later that the table was open, but she didn’t sit bc she felt she didn’t have permission) He said, “You had to be here earlier, no!” I ask you now… Why this rule? This is not a mandate from corporate. This is a local business allowed to make local decisions. The register didn’t lock out the prices when the clock ticked past 5:30. I work in the service and hospitality industry and our goal is to have satisfied customers/give em what they want. Why no grace from someone in the hospitality industry? It’s not like there’d be chaos if he allowed us to get our happy hour price, but he chose to be officious, cold, rule following… for no reason except to justify his own idea of what was supposed to be correct. It was very sad. I had some choice words with him and we left and it basically ruined our night. You know, he could’ve had a couple of very happy customers who would’ve continued to say great things about his place. Why, why, why would he personally choose this? It was up to him! He could’ve said yes and it wouldn’t have made any difference to him except it would’ve meant a lot to us! He was in a position of authority and chose to follow a rule instead of making a personal decision to please a guest/customer. Instead of being humane and gracious and hospitable he became an enforcer… the bouncer… it was his choice… I leave it up to you to decide what was right… by my money we were there on time and he chose to say no anyway… and really disappoint and lose customers… when it wasn’t necessary at all. The ‘funny’/sick thing is that if we hadn’t asked the manager at all we...

I will never go here again nor do I ever recommend this place to anybody. The problem was with the jerk manager (owner?). But, from the beginning, when we ordered, the waitress asked how I wanted my burger cooked. I said medium well. It took a while for our meals to come out since it was Mother’s Day. My burger was well done instead of medium well. Since we had a time crunch, I decided to eat it instead of sending it back because I might not have time to eat a replacement burger or even wait on it to be brought out. Instead, I would ask for an adjustment to my bill. The waitress had been busy but I asked her to come over. I showed her my burger and she agreed that it was well done. I said that I didn’t have time to send it back but would just eat it and ask for an adjustment to my bill. She seemed to think this was reasonable and said she’d tell her manager. In a few minutes, a guy comes over and begins arguing with me. He told me I had eaten about 90% of the burger, that I should have told the waitress as soon as I noticed it was well done. Oh, he also said that it would keep on cooking after they had brought it out. I told him they were busy and I didn’t have time to wait for another burger. I also said I noticed it was well done as soon as I bit into it. The tone he took was scolding and argumentative. He did not display exemplary customer service in the slightest bit. He said he would discount my meal. I said to go and discount and leave my table. I didn’t want to see him anymore. There was no reason for his stupid position that he took. He hadn’t even talked to me but he treated me like I was somebody who was serially ripping him off. So, our family...

If your diet requires bland food, then this place is perfect for you. My daughter and I came in for a late lunch. We ordered fried pickles to start because we were very hungry. They were unseasoned and just ok and came with a packet of Kraft ranch. She ordered a chicken sandwich that she had a few bites of and then was done. Wasn't the worst she had but it was just ok. I ordered a burger because they dominated the menu and I figured they would be good. I got the Wisconsin burger. It had no seasoning at all. I only ate half because I was so hungry. Even the fries had no seasoning. It was so disappointing. The place itself was ok but not particularly clean. The bathroom smelled rotten and was not clean at all. The service, however, was pretty decent, hence the extra star and I tipped my waitress well since she did her...