Homegrown Public House — Restaurant in Florence

So my boyfriend and I came here a year ago... loved it so much, we came back a year later (mostly for the garlic fries). The last time we were here the service was great, the food was good (although they give WAY too much salad as a side), but it was enjoyable. This past weekend we visited again. Honestly, the food wasn't at good, but the management made the experience HORRIBLE. Lets start with the food. The garlic fries were very overcooked, so hard we could hardly chew them. My BLT was dry and burnt and the salad was overwhelming and very overdressed. My boyfriends burger was burnt on the outside and very dry on the inside (he asked for medium). But, our drinks were pretty good. Lets move onto the staff, which is what made our experience the worst. While sitting waiting for our drinks, we had the pleasure of listening to the "manager" (we know she was the manager because she kept referring to herself as such) was scolding one of her employees about how to tender orders right on the floor. "I am the manager and Im telling you how to do your job". Awesome. She was so loud, rude, and disrespectful to her employee and we all got the pleasure of listening to it, since it was right in the middle of the restaurant. Shortly after that, another customer came in and asked for a beer list, the "manager" very rudely told her it was on the wall outside and rolled her eyes. Then after those two wonderful events, she proceeded to loudly laugh and joke, with the members of the staff she did like, so much so that I could hardly hear my own conversation. This large women was so loud, so rude, so disrespectful to her employees and customers... I honesntly dont know how shes the manager, or how customers don't complain more. My waitress was a nice girl (when she remembered us) but i feel so bad for anyone who has to work for that woman. If we decide to go back (which is doubtful)... we will be going for drinks and fries only... and wont be sitting inside. This """manager""" seriously needs to learn how to keep business in the back, and put on her customer face... I learned way too much about the wrong doings of her employees while trying to...

I really wanted to like this place, but the service was the slowest I’ve ever experienced at any restaurant. We wanted to grab a quick bite and a beer before driving back home from the coast, and I considered just getting up and leaving several times because of how slow everything was.

I completely understand that the restaurant was busy and that staff were doing the best they could, but we opted to sit at the bar so we could at least get some drinks, and were ignored for 20+ minutes after sitting down. We finally received water, and the server quite literally ran away to do something before we could ask to order drinks. Over 15 minutes later, we finally ordered a drink and put in our food order. We must have waited at least another 30 minutes before we got our food. Literally 1.5 hours after we arrived, did we finally get our food!

Again, I completely understand being busy, but if your staff can’t provide adequate service because of how many customers are seated, please seat fewer people at once/hire more servers! No one wins if your staff is frazzled and customers are not given a positive experience. I felt bad for our server as it seemed she had way too many tables to manage than she could handle.

It was frankly unacceptable to not even be acknowledged despite being right in front of staff working the bar. People who came in after us were served before us and given much better treatment, which was really frustrating.

The food was fine, nothing to write home about, especially for the price. I’ve never had such a bad experience with service at a restaurant. I’m sure this place is better when it isn’t busy, but reconsider coming here during a weekend/holiday meal time unless you have 1.5 hours to spend waiting. If I had known I should have carved out that much time before I got food, I would have gone elsewhere. At least warn customers that the service will be this slow, so they can make an informed decision about...

I'll start with - the food was good. The service and atmosphere however was anxiety inducing. The servers did not seem to work well as a team and treated every customer that came in like an absolute inconvenience. First, we were scolded for going to the back room to find a table where a server told us to go. Other patrons were scolded for trying to sit outside, or reservation seating requests. One server to a couple said "I dont know anything about the reservations so I can't help you" instead of saying something like "I'm sorry for the mixup, let me find and ask the server who booked the reservation tonight to sort it out".

The kicker was that just as our food was delivered, another couple comes in and the server tells looks right at us and says to the couple "you'll have a table in 15 minutes" (referring to our table). Now we feel like we're in a mad rush to eat our meals and finish our cocktails. A few minutes later we weren't even HALFWAY done with our food and as I had my sandwich in my mouth another server comes up and asks "do you need a box?". I don't know if I need a box because I have barely started to eat! I wasn't even halfway done the first half of my sandwich, which she could see, because she asked as I was mid-bite. Again pushing us out of there, she returns with a box AND our check that we didn't ask for, as my boyfriend wanted another drink but wasn't given the opportunity.

I understand that they're busy and busier than normal, however should not be blatantly taking it out on customers. This place has potential, I really hope they get their service under control, especially during the...