The Fly Trap a Finer Diner — Restaurant in Ferndale

Let me start this out with I've been going to flytrap for the last 5 years. It holds a special place in my heart as it's the first place my partner and I went to brunch together. The vibe and menu were mind blowing. Whenever we don't have the kids with us, that's our go to date spot. I always get the Howie's Noodles and he gets the Cowboy Curtis. Extra sourdough toast for both of us because the housemade jam is out of this world. We were so sad to hear of the temporary closing and overjoyed to hear of the reopening and that Matt would be the new owner. He pours so much love and energy into Bonnies, I was sure he'd do the same for flytrap.

That love and energy is not visible in the current staff. I had the absolute displeasure of dining there Monday 10/31/22 at around 1:30. There was one party ahead of us and the busser (ponytail, glasses and wearing a "mukdonalds" shirt) told me to sign in on the list on the wall, no problem. We're waiting 20 minutes, again no problem I genuinely don't mind waiting, the food is worth it. Another party of 2 comes in and without looking at the list the bartender (short black hair wearing a nasa sweatshirt) seats them before us. I had to wait 10 more minutes before i saw the busser again. So now we're at 30 minutes waiting. I would wait an hour to eat at flytrap if I had to wait that long, no problem but the bartender completely disregarded the list on the wall. So I say "excuse me, we've been waiting for awhile, and the bartender just sat them before us. That's not cool and I'm a little annoyed." He immediately gets snarky with me and goes "give me a minute and I'll fix your annoyance." He could have easily just apologized but instead he chose to be disrespectful and rude. I should have left then but again, i love flytrap and i was treating my partner to a date since we've been so busy with work and kids.

Anna was our server and she apologized for our wait and was so sweet.

I did have to send my noodles back which says a lot because I NEVER send back food. But it was awful. It was watery, bland and flavorless. The shrimp were overcooked and looked like they had been cooked on a dirty flat top. They had black specks all over them and it definitely was not seasoning. I know it was promised that the menu wouldnt change with the change in ownership but this was not Howie's Noodles, this is barely passable as an applebees quality dish. The remake wasn't any better. They just added cream to the pasta and made the shrimp even more overcooked. This tells me that whoever was working saute most likely was not trained thoroughly on the menu.

I'm a restaurant manager, i understand being short staffed an I understand supply chain issues. I do have suggestions; clearly having a host is difficult as the resturants not really set up to accommodate having a host stand. maybe consider having your guests write their name, party size and time of arrival on the paper on the wall. As for your busser there's no excuse for him to ever speak to a guest the way he spoke to me. If he were my employee, he wouldn't be any longer.

I can elaborate further...

Absolutely the rudest service I've ever experienced in my life. They would not seat our group of nine that were here for a college reunion because of an arbitrary policy of not seating more than seven people - even on two separate checks in two adjacent tables of five and four. We could sit across the room from each other but not at adjoining tables because the waitress would be in a different zone ? Excuse me ? The fact is if we had walked in as two separate groups of five and four who didn't know each other, there would have been no issue. But they just didn't want our business. Their insanely hostile attitude made us go somewhere else and made our entire party feel extremely uncomfortable including two young children. When asked why they were so rigid, the apparent manager of this godforsaken establishment said : "it's rigid because I say it's rigid" - I almost had to laugh at the self importance of such a statement. In any other more competitive city you would be shamed out of business talking to customers like that. I wish I had secretly filmed this for Tiktok. They seemed determined to be as rude and mean as possible. There is no reason on Earth y'all should still be in business in this economy. Do yourself a favor and go up the street to Toast, the prices are only slightly higher and the experience will be so much more pleasant. Seriously, if the manager who spoke to us like that isn't the owner, then someone needs to get her fired. You have absolutely no business working in a restaurant. Find yourself some professional help for your horribly...

My partner and I were here for a late lunch on memorial day. Service, drinks and food were amazing and prompt as always.

As we were finishing our meal, a group of 3, one of them being the preceding reviewer Christos Gryparis, walked in at 2:52 and the staff politely told them that due to the unforeseen circumstance of the restaurant being sold out of almost everything, they would not be seating any more tables. The group became verbally combative and tried to argue with the staff. One of those guests shoved their phone in the face of an employee with the post containing Fly Traps hours for the day. The staff kept their cool and continued to politely and professionally tell them that they would not be sat, now due to their verbal abuse as well as the restaurant being sold out. There was absolutely NO physical assault on behalf of the staff or any guest, as Christos (falsely) claimed. As a Fly Trap regular and fellow restaurant industry worker, I couldn’t stand by while hearing the staff be unfairly berated, and stood up to Christos on behalf of the staff. I witnessed the entire interaction first hand; Christos and his group should be embarrassed by their entitled and ungrateful behavior towards the staff, and their completely false review and claim.

Fly Trap is a wonderful establishment with many well earned regulars, myself included, and their reputation should not be tarnished by unsubstantiated and petty claims from...