Red Bone Alley — Restaurant in Florence

After driving an hour and a half to eat here, my friend and I went in and had probably one of the worst experiences either of us have ever had. We got to the restaurant at 8:00, we knew they closed at 9, but knew we would be in and out after driving that far and would take very good care of our server with the tip. We sat and immediately gave our app order with our drink order. A few minutes later we went ahead and gave our entree order. After over 20 minutes we still had not received our app and we could see our salads sitting on top on the salad station. There were about 5 servers along with what looked like a manager in the expo area so someone could have ran our appetizer if it was up. During this time a guest from another table approached his server and asked her to get off her phone and come to them because they were ready. About 5-8 more minutes go by and our server finally comes over with our app and salads at the same time. We ask for extra dressing and he tells us he doesn’t know if they still have it out, but he will go see. He then brings over the extra dressing WITH our entrees. Now we have our appetizer, salads and entrees all on the table at the exact same time. We ordered fried green tomatoes and two ribeyes with Caesar salads. This really annoyed us both bc it could have been avoided if the server or anyone else in the building would have cared enough to run our food when it came up. There is no way fried tomatoes ands ribeyes are finished cooking that close together especially when we put our app order in immediately. Throughout our dinner our server never did a check back and never even gave us a single refill. At this point we were just ready to leave and asked for the bill, which shocker he was surprisingly fast to bring. When checking out I asked him if we could have two sides of A1 steak sauce to go and again he said the same thing as the dressings, he would have to see, but he was sure they were already put up for the night. When he brought our bill back, I asked for the sauce and he said oh it’s already put up, so I asked could he go get us some and he said well it’s kept in the freezer (I’m sure he meant walk in) and that he would have to make a special trip to go get it, and I literally laughed and said wow ok, he then says well if you really want it I can go out of my way and make the trip to get it for you. At this point we were in complete disbelief that this was even really coming out of this person’s mouth. I have been a bartender for 14 years and my friend with me is a bartender as well. I would never no matter how close to closing time it was treat guests in that way. We both left 10% for a tip where we would have both 100% given him at least a 50% tip. This experience was completely ruined by this server and someone needs to know about this. I never go out of my way to leave a bad review, but I am making an exception for this bc this experience was mind blowingly awful. The server was a young man with black curly hair, glasses, tattoos and black painted nails. I hope that if nothing else you teach him how to do better. Thankfully the kitchen staff did their job and our food was good, if not for that it would have been a complete disaster. Also, we were out of the door at 9:02, it’s not like we were sitting there camping out and taking up time after close. If a customer is in the building they should receive the same quality of service no matter what time they are in there. Do better...

My experience at Red Bone Alley was totally horrendous. My husband and I arrived at 3:28pm. By 3:35 pm, we were seated. This was commendable because this was not a long, exasperating wait. Unfortunately, several waitresses around us consistently rudely gawked at both my husband and me. Oddly, no one came to greet or serve us until 3:57 pm. When our waiter finally arrived to take our order, I pragmatically informed him that I needed to both see and speak to the manager on duty after my husband and I completed our order and received our food. Upon receiving our food, Haven, a new waitress, came to satisfy my husband’s request for an additional container of Alfredo sauce. Being familiar with this establishment and its dining practices, I flummoxed when I did not receive any bread to accompany my order of pasta; therefore, I sought clarification from Haven. I asked, “Did you all make any changes with bread coming with order of pasta.” To my utter dismay, my question was greeted unfiltered disrespect. Rudely, Haven retorted, “You have to ask for bread if you want it, Sweetie.” Maintaining my composure, I politely responded, “I would like bread with the pasta.” Sharply, Haven boorishly demanded, “Ask for it then.” When she returned with my bread, she sly affirmed, “Here’s the bread you asked for, Sweetie.” I conveyed to Raven that I was displeased with the way she was speaking to me by simply asserting to her that she needed to refrain from using such a cynical tone when she addressed me. Immediately afterwards, our initial waiter brought a cup of Alfredo sauce to our table. He was totally unaware that Haven had brought us the Alfredo sauce. Soon, the manager approached our table. During our discussion, I expressed my discontent and frustration. Instead of apologizing for the employee’s unprofessional and inappropriate behavior, he attempted to dismiss her behavior by explaining that the restaurant was in the middle of a shift change. In addition, he made me aware that Haven is Southerner, and she always says “sweetie”. I explained to him that she was very rude and I am Southerner as well who understands how to be dignified, polite, and professional. To add insult to injury, the manager tried to smooth things over by offering my husband and me a dessert to share. Feeling more insulted, dismissed, and disrespected, my husband and I asked for our bill, paid, and left this establishment. As my husband and I were heading towards the exit, Haven scolded me with her eyes, for she glared at me like her eyes were daggers. When she realized that our eyes met, she allowed her eyes to roll at the top of her eye sockets. Needless to say, Haven was extremely tactless or insolent. More troubling was the manager who supported her and her unprofessionalism. In addition, my husband fraternity often patronizes this establishment, but he spoken with his President about our services today. The service received today...

We ate at Red Bone Alley this evening and the service, food, and overall experience was terrible.

To start with, we had a 7pm reservation and were not seated until 7:40pm.

Once seated, we ordered 2 appetizers, Lemon Pepper Shrimp and the Pizza Dip. Both items were not hot and at room temperature. The shrimp had a funky smell to them. The cheese on the top of the pizza dip was cold and hard as if it had sat out in the kitchen for a long time. The cheese on top was dried out, hard, and crusty old.

What made things worse is that the restaurant did not bring any silverware and napkins to the table for about 20 minutes after the appetizers were served. We asked several times for silverware but were told nothing. Finally, I got up to personally seek out a manager and was told that the restaurant had run out of silverware. This was an incredible thing to hear. How could a restaurant run our of silverware?

Things with dinner did not go much better. I ordered wings and they were room temperature at best and bordered on cold. I am not sure how many hours in advance that the wings were made but they were left out for a long time. I asked a manager to touch the wings and he agreed that they were unacceptable.

Two of the people that were in our group ordered dinner salads. You would think that this is not a hard item to make on time. The salads were finally brought out to our table bout 20 minutes after everyone else at our table was served their entrees.

We talked with one of the people on staff with the restaurant and were told that the kitchen was equipped with equipment from the 80's, was old, and could not keep up with the demand from the restaurant. This may explain some of the problems.

I was also told that several tables were experiencing some of the same problems that we were experiencing.

When leaving the restaurant, I was left with a feeling that management did not care about the problems and was satisfied with the poor quality of food and poor quality of service that they provided. I would suspect that the kinds of problems outlined in this post will continue.

Update Unfortunately, I had to eat a Red Bone Alley again. I had to meet some poeple at the restaurant. Knowing that much of the food was bad, I decided to order just an appetizer, Chicken Wings. Seems like a save choice but not a Red Bone Alley. The chicken wings were not fresh. Fresh Chicken wings are deep fried and served hot. At Red Bone Alley, the chicken wings tasted as if they were defrosted and warmed up. The chicken itself was tough, over cooked, and not very warm. If you are someone who appreciates quality food, this is not the...