Denny's — Restaurant in El Paso

The worst experience I ever had in a restaurant. I went there for breakfast this last Monday May 10th to celebrate mother's day with my mom and daughter. We didn't even get to eat there because the hostess Hilda who was writing the names down for the waiting list was very rude. She had a mad face the whole time she was talking to all the customers including us. I don't know if she hates her job or was just mad because any personal situation but definitely she was not providing an appropriate customer service. After she wrote down my name and phone we waited outside as well as a second family who got there right before us. After waiting several minutes the family that was waiting before us left saying that they were very hungry so they were going to go look for a different place. Right after they left I saw 2 families leaving the place so I thought that we were next. Following that 2 cars parked and 2 families entered the restaurant. After a few minutes those two families never got out to wait as they were supposed to so I went to check what was going on because my mom and I were waiting there for a very long time already. When I entered the hostess Hilda was in the registered with some customers and the other two families that came several.minutes after we were waiting outside were already looking at the menu sitting in a table. The hostess Hilda saw me made a face as if she suddenly remember that she had us waiting for a loooong time outside and then took the phone looked at the waiting list and pretended she was dialing. As she was doing that the customers that she was with left so I approached her and asked her about the customers that got there way after us and were already looking at the menu. With her same angry face and in a very impolite way she told me that she called me but I never answered so I told her that that was not true because I was eating right outside (you could even see us from the inside waiting)and my phone never rang. I was even going to show her my phone but she refused. Instead she just told me that she had two tables and that if I wanted to eat I can just go and sit down but she never apologized and her rudeness was hard to believe. At that moment my 3 year old daughter was already crying because she was hungry and my mom was very upset as well so I asked to speak to a manager and she said that there was no manager so I told her foe her name and that I was going to make some calls and she responded "whenever you want" and left to the back even though more customer were there already waiting to take their names down. After that I called another Dennys location and they informed that there was not manager available because he had an emergency and had to leave but that I can just call back a few hours later to see if there was a manager available by that time. That's what I'm trying to do right now but nobody is picking up the phone. But I'll keep trying because the hostess Hilda made our Mother's day celebration a nightmare and if she is not capable of performing a good customer service because she is mad or frustrated she shouldn't take it against the customers and she should...

We were there for dinner earlier this evening (Tuesday.) The waitress didn't write down our order, had to come back and ask questions, and my husband's burger was still wrong. The flies kept pestering us and I finally asked for a fly swatter but they said the only one they had was broken. We left in a bit of a hurry to make it to our daughter's practice so we didn't notice that they charged for her kid's meal which is supposed to be free on Tuesdays. I was busy all evening and called at 9:05 when we arrived home to tell them and spoke to our server on the phone. I didn't tell her she'd been our server but she said, "It's because the server is new and didn't know about the promotion, so you have to tell her." I said, "You mean Denny's doesn't train them?" She said, "No, that not it but she just didn't know." I waited and paused a few seconds because normally they would say something like offer some sort of compensation or at least apologize but she said nothing. I finally said, "Okay so now what do we do?" She said, "hold on a second." And put me on hold. When she came back she said, "Call back in 10 minutes because the manager is busy." I said it's after 9 and we have to get up at 4am. We can't stay up. I guess I'll just call the manager tomorrow. She said in a very chipper voice, "That's fine, you can ask for Rachel, thank you!* ...... I just said, "Thank you, bye." I probably won't bother, we just won't...

This has been a recurring issue at every Denny's location I go to. They are frequently understaffed, especially at night. This time, there was only 1 waitress and 1 cook to serve about 5-6 tables of customers. After ordering, out food took over an hour to arrive after several reassurances from the waitress that it would be out "in a few minutes". We eventually noticed other tables who had arrived after us getting served first. When we finally complained (politely) the waitress threw her cook under the bus and said it was because he's slow. This may or may not have been the case, but the kitchen was still understaffed which would have delayed things regardless. Our food finally came and a few things were missing, incorrect, or hastily thrown together. When brought to our waitress' attention, she inststed that "that's how it comes". (The order was a build your own Slam, but she brought out one of the regular Grand Slam meals which had items that were unwanted). After we inaisted this was incorrect, she got a bit of an attitude. Finally, an off-duty manager came to our table and offered a 25% discount.

This is largely a case of poor service by our waitress, but the larger problem is systemic and one of Denny's restaurants as a whole. It's a shame because the food remains very good, and it's one of the few places one can go late at night for a decent meal, but the service has taken a...