Clark's American Bistro — Restaurant in Durham

Response #2: every time a customer has an issue, you follow up on and give an excuse about being short-staffed or someone in the kitchen having a family emergency. If that was the case it could have been communicated from the start, but I doubt that’s the truth. Your server was very visible throughout our entire dinner service, he just literally ignored our table. Please don’t bother replying. It’s ridiculous at this point. The 2/3 empty restaurant during dinner service on a Saturday speaks for itself regardless of what you say about your business. Your staff serve food (at least a few of them do), they don’t go to war. Take care.

In response to the owner: I completely own my error with the bill, which is why I was transparent in mentioning it because it was an honest mistake. The person who brought our food was another server with his own tables, not a runner. The same gentleman asked our own server for the bill on my behalf because he never came back after taking the initial order. Our server was not around to express anything to because again, he never returned to our table. He was visible, he just literally never came back. Had he checked on us even once, I would have been able to ask for my daughter’s side. It seems like you have no issue with this server’s behavior so I’m not quite sure why you bothered to reply. Just kind of reinforces why your business is down and why we won’t be back. Take care.

We tried dinner tonight and it was pretty poor from start to finish. Not very busy but our server literally couldn’t be bothered with us. Someone else brought our food and then our own server never checked on us. My daughter didn’t get her side of fries. My dinner was bland but hers was decent. The portions were robust. The server took our food and tossed it without asking if we wanted to take it home. Never came back to ask about dessert or anything else. I then waited almost 30 minutes for the check while our server cleaned up tables and did anything possible to not come back to our table for some weird reason. I had to ask someone else for it. Another 10 minutes of waiting I stood up to just estimate the bill and leave because he was clearly playing a bizarre game at this point, and then he walked over and literally shoved the bill at me and walked away without a word. I have no idea what I or my 8 year old daughter could have possibly done to be so offensive to this dude. I misread the amount ($2 under) and he chased after me outside to tell me I was short. I apologized and gave the remainder and he muttered a sarcastic retort for not tipping. I’ve never ever not left gratuity but he honestly acted like such a jerk there was nothing to be grateful for. I sarcastically thanked him for the great service right back. As an aside, the floor under our table was super dirty and filled with French fries. I definitely would not...

Incredibly limited menu of OK enough food taste-wise, but nothing special really.

What was most off-putting about this place was the owner of Clark's: He hovers around every table peppering off pretty personal questions (e.g.where do you live in town, what grade are your kids in, how long have you been here, etc.) all the while as he drinks his beverage while standing over a table of strangers eating their meals as he kept complaining to patrons about his staffing shortages (note - the wait staff was actually really good and plentiful in numbers); it's not like we didn't just sort of exit out of a 2+ year long pandemic to have learned how to observe personal space especially while eating.

We definitely will not be going back especially between that and the really awkward, multiple unsolicited statements the owner directed at our child requesting him to get us to bring him back to the restaurant; jokingly-ish of course, but it was already so uncomfortable at that point it seems this guys knows nothing about running a restaurant or creating a comfortable guest experience.

No. Way. Will. We. Return.

Owner of Clarks pay attention now: No need to respond to this message and in fact ask you to not so the experience doesn't become more uncomfortable and awkward; just focus on improving the flaws that...

They get two stars. The food was as expected. Not wow but not awful. Better ingredients than Applebee’s, I’m sure but about the same level of quality in the end.

We Ordered takeout through the online app to be prepared for 1:30 PM. We had to wait until 145 for the order to be ready. Don’t give an option for pick up times if you can’t follow through. We ordered well over an hour in advance.

I got the cheese steak Sandwich it was okay but not a good substitute for a true cheesesteak. The kids order burgers and fries. Pretty basic order.

I think our family has been here three times since it’s opened and I can honestly say I don’t have any urge to visit again.

Dining experience might be different and restaurant, but honestly who wants to pay an extra percentage for service and those drink prices. Yikes no thanks. To be fair that last statement is a pretty general statement for most restaurants in our current year of 2023..

No more tips pay your employees a...