Ted's Montana Grill — Restaurant in Durham

We have eaten at Ted's several times and our experiences have been good. Tonight was so unbelievably bad, I cannot believe it. Our server may have been new and if that is the case, she needs some training. We had a reservation at 630, had to wait few minutes for table to be ready and that was fine. We were seated by 640, but did not leave it until 807 and that was not because we were chatting, it took that long to get food and bills.

My son-in-law (SIL) ordered an appetizer of onion rings. When they arrived, they did not have the horseradish sauce with them. When we saw our server a few minutes later, we asked for the sauce and the pickles that she had never brought or offered. It took a long time for our server to return to take our dinner order, not sure where she went. People seated well after us had their food, ate and left probably half hour before us. Finally we ordered and things went downhill.

She never offered to refill our drinks. My daughter had to ask for water and she brought a new glass and did not take the empty one. The rest of us did not get additional water despite having empty glasses. We saw the other server in our area bringing the water pitcher around regularly.

Food arrived and she brought a salad with my husband's sandwich that he thought came with fries (she did not ask what side) so my husband handed it to my SIL thinking she had given him the wrong side. They then brought my food and my daughter's food. When we asked where my SIL burger was, she said that was what they had given her? Ummm, perhaps ask where the other meal was? So she disappeared and came back and said they gave his burger to another table, but she had put a stat order in for a replacement burger. My SIL said he did not want a burger at this point (we had already been here an hour plus at this time and had a 2 YO plus the rest of us had already been eating for a bit) so she said she would cancel the order. My husband never got a side and his sandwich had the wrong cheese on it (he ordered cheddar and it came with American).

After watching for her to ask for the bills, we finally saw her and called her over. She brought the bills. My bill should have had a bison burger and my husband's meatloaf sandwich (he did not get a side so should not have been charged full price), but it also included a $2 side salad charge. I told her I was not paying for a salad that we did not order and went to my SIL when his food did not come and he had ordered a side salad with his burger. She took the bill away for a long time and finally came back and said she could not find a way to take the $2 off, but took off $1.90. A dime doesn't really matter, but what in the world? She did not charge my SIL for his burger, but I also do not think he should have been charged for the appetizer after totally not getting his meal to him.

Every other time we have been to this location, a manager has stopped by to check on our experience. We did not once see a manager stop by at tables, but the apparent manager did appear busy at the food counter, helping to deliver food.

This was my SIL's first time at Ted's and it was awful. And to not have an apology from a manager and any sort of compensation for poor service will likely make us not return.

I emailed them the day of our visit and as of tonight (Tues), no response which finalizes our decision to not return

UPDATE: I did get a call from Don on Thursday, the proprietor, who was very nice and offered his apologies so we will give them...

Where on earth are the managers at this establishment?? Our service last night was inexcusable. While we were waiting for a table we noticed a large party of 16 (already seated and seemed to have ordered although more people did come in while we were waiting). After about 10-15 minutes we were seated next to the large party. Same waitress not only had us on top of her 16 top, but apparently the whole section of the restaurant we were in. Absolutely ridiculous for any mildly experienced manager to allow this as she did not appear to have any help whatsoever, other than the occasional food runner. We had to ask for refills after waiting at least 10 minutes with empty glasses, and then came the wait for the food. We ordered at 7:15 and got our food around 45 minutes later! I had a burger and fries, husband had a salad and we had a kids meatloaf. Not a very difficult order. Fries tasted like they were old and the burger really was nothing special. We had our two year old with us but luckily he was doing well with the long waits. It would have been bad enough to wait 45 minutes for the food, but now that we were finished eating, plates set aside napkins on the table, and we had to wait ANOTHER 25 (probably longer) for our bill!!! No one even approached us for that period of time and she was entirely too busy with the 16 top as they were allowed to SPLIT EVERYTHING for each person!! We had to wait there (now 2 year old is starting to lose it and so were we) while she 1. went around their table to ask everyone what they had 2. Went to separate it all on the pos 3. Deliver bills (which these people were disputing who had the $2 sweet tea that was on their bill) 4. Pay and ask for change!! Finally I was able to get her attention and ask for the bill which another server brought and took care of. WHY didn’t someone ask us earlier?? We were there from 6:50 til 9:00. Other tables came and went. Also, The table itself was rather dirty. The mirror at the table you could tell hadn’t been cleaned in a while and there were crumbs, pepper/spices and such on the table. The paper you put on the tables should not replace cleaning them. There should have been a manager assisting her section and tables or at least delegating other servers to assist. We have eaten here before but after this experience we will not...

It's not that good. I came with a group of three people including me. I didn't order anything..bjt my two friends ordered two steaks. One got the bison meat and the other a beef and asked for medium rare. For both of them it was undercooked. My friends don't like to cause a scene, anxiety and all with conflict, so they just ate it anyway. They said they both enjoyed it despite it being undercooked and they wished it was cooked properly . They also both offered me a slice. And for both of the bites it was seasoned well and fell apart in my mouth in a tender but watery way? It was not good. Not how I like my steak. I have made better myself on a pan. The tenderness they got is from the dry age they do, but is obvious a new person to steaks was on the grill tonight. A shame. And then there was the extra chewy part in the middle. I don't eat that but my freinds did.

My friends payed around 40- 50$ dollars a piece for thier meal as I told them not to trust this steak house. They did it anyway and after all that money they got bad steak.

I have to say the onion rings are really good. They are handmade unlike many places.

For me, this place is a pass. Bison meat taste the same as the beef. They sell this big thing about bison meat but it's not that good.. You come here you will be disappointed. You can't really tell the difference between the two.

Almost slipped on something wet as I was being seated..

When I went to the bathroom they had softsoap in the $1 Walmart soap dispenser that was empty. You think after paying $50 dollars for a meal they could atleast put soap in the men's room.

You all can check this yourself. There are two booths that aren't nailed down. My friend lost his seating and slipped down lower cause his booth seat was loose.

Here comes names... "Storm" and "Drew" were serving here. They doing best they can. Can't blame the servers for this terrible place at all.

I have no recommendations in the area cause I'm not around that part of the town, but the servers were fine, the food was bad apart from the lovely free vinegar cucumbers and onion rings. The steaks were bad and cooked wrong. The bathroom was bad.

All in all I don't...