Chop's — Restaurant in Fort Wayne

Too many petty details to list, but over all a disappointing experience. I added a star for their generous wine pour! ..... Had to update from 3 stars to 1 after finally getting response from company. (NOTE, I would have happily changed this to more stars had this company taken any measures to validate my concerns, but they did opposite). They asked for details of my experience. I didn't share them online to preserve their reputation. So I took the time to write them a detailed email about what happened. I never heard from them. I followed up several weeks later with an email to see if they got it. They responded to my follow up. Their email was sent at about 2:30am. I was told that since Stacie had already talked to me he saw no reason to bother me any further about it (again, I never heard from anyone, certainly didn't speak to anyone). He admonished me for "taking to the internet" and referred to my comments (having to do with people I know including myself being concerned about establishments following social distancing guidelines) threatening. Never acknowledge nor validated ANY of my concerns and certainly did not apologize. The tone was very defensive and DISMISSIVE. So this is the original feedback I gave them in a personal email. I will post after all.

"Stacie, sorry for the bad review. When I made the reservation I told them it was our anniversary so I was hoping to get a booth or something more private than sitting in the middle of the floor at a table if possible. I was told your booths are wide, and for more people but there was a small booth in a back corner they would save for us. That turned out to not be a booth but the long bench seat with a chair on the other side. By the window. It seemed good. But then a man squeezed in the seat on the bench next to us. It felt very close. He apparently didn't like it either because him and his friend moved to a booth. Just the two of them. The booth the two gentlemen had looked quite private and lovely. I asked the waitress if anyone further would be sitting in that seat next to me, because if so, there was a table open right next to us (it wasn't busy at this point, there were several tables open) and I told her we could just sit there. She said it was totally up to us, if we wanted to sit there, they just wouldn't sit anyone next to us. So I said ok, that's fine. During our time there after that, people were in and out of that seat. A couple people finally settled there and stayed. Obviously your restaurant is not observing social distancing guidelines. They were definitely not 6 feet away, not to mention us not having the privacy we hoped for. More than anything tho, the disregard for following safety guidelines at your restaurant really disappointed me and made me feel uncomfortable. That's the main thing.

On the petty side, in addition to that, I asked the server how much lobster was actually on the filet and lobster special entrée and she told me "like a lobster tail". So that was a super bummer because I think you know that is not the case...i was going to get the surf n turf. Dang. Petty detail that was no biggie but just an addition was my husband's side didn't come out. He had to ask for it. Also, we ordered the plain cheesecake to go and honestly it was the worse cheesecake we've ever had. Super dry. Idk, was it old?

Sorry, but that's just our super honest feedback. It was our first dinner out together since the shut down and our meal was like $200. I tend to feel like a 2nd class citizen when I come there.

Thank you...

If I could give zero stars, I would.

Backstory: My parents and their friends have been coming to Chops for 10 years and we had my mom's 65th birthday in the wine bar 5 years ago. We've always loved Chops because Chuck and Kara Pastor did an amazing job and truly cared about their customers. Unfortunately, Chops has declined A LOT since the new owners have taken over.

I contacted Stacy, the event coordinator/one of the "owners", on March 28th to make plans for my mom's surprise 70th birthday. We spoke a few times over the next week and she gave me a few options for spaces. Once I got into town, I stopped into the bar on Thursday to speak directly to one of the owners because I hadn't heard from Stacy. At that point, the party was 5 days away.

I sat at the bar and spoke to Dave, who showed me we were on their calendar but wasn't aware of the plans. I let him know again how much we've enjoyed coming here over the years and I explained what we were wanting for my moms party. He assured me he would talk to Stacy and the other owner to confirm the details.

From the beginning, Stacy seemed hesitant about the party because we did not want to do a plated dinner. We just wanted heavy appetizers and cocktails/wine. We were planning on spending $300-400+ on appetizers alone. The private room was going to be approximately $900 and was only available if we have a sit down dinner. The party was planned for a Tuesday, which we knew would not interfere with their normal weekend rush, so we hoped we could use the space in the wine bar or regular bar area for the 30 guests without making it a private event.

I called AGAIN on Friday afternoon because I hadn't heard anything. Eventually Dave called me and informed me that they are unwilling to accommodate our party because we weren't having dinner and they wouldn't make any money off of us. I explained again that we would be ordering a good amount of appetizers and of course 2-3+ drinks a person, but he just keep saying they are UWILLING to accommodate us. He was extremely rude and unprofessional. I asked if we could just make a reservation for a few tables in the dining room and he said yes we could do that but we would have to order dinner because we would be taking up space for guests who want to eat dinner?? I've been to chops many times and just ordered drinks alone.

Eventually Dave said we can't make a reservation and that if we came in, he would refuse service. I asked him if he was willing to lose 30 customers over this and he said "are you threatening me!?" I said "no, I am asking you a question because we have had my mom's party here in the past and we've been coming here for 10 years." He said "well my staff has no memory of your party 5 years ago!" (Probably because they can't keep staff).

Anyways, we will never be coming back to Chops and I can assure you, they have lost 30 customers. It's sad to see a local business like this go downhill because of horrible owners.

We did have the party at Summit Grill, who was extremely accommodating AND gave us a private room for free because again, it was a Tuesday night. We had an amazing party for my mom and I am so glad it worked out that way and we didn't give our money to those unprofessional people.

Avoid Chops...

Goodbye Chops!! You won't be missed,Bakers Street is where you'll find us! We have been here many times over the last 16 years. I made reservations at Chops for this evening for us and our kids..15,18,23,23. A Great Night to Celebrate the Christmas Season, no cooking at home and no dishes to wash. A variety of their steaks is what we ordered...filets,prime rib,ribeye... The girls,salmon and risotto, chicken alfredo. 3 out of the 4 steaks were perfect...all medium except for 1..well done steak, politely let our server know and she took it away to bring back a new one 5 minutes later. Our server comments I will be right back to check on how your steak was prepared...I go to cut into the filet and by feel with just the knife I know it is under cooked this time...can barely cut thru the filet and sure enough...raw! She stopped at the table and said would you like me to have them cook it some more....NO Thank U I said politely.... The 2nd Word in your establishment is Steaks...and you can not prepare a medium 6 oz filet...salads were not good either, under dressed and basically a whole block of cheese was shaved over the small amount of lettuce..My Husband ordered the crab and tomato soup,that was delicious. Last April when we came it was not good either...frozen broccoli with Salmon I would never buy let alone prepare and serve to anyone. The 2 bites of my son's Ribeye and the carrots certainly filled me up... Not to mention the server had said the manager would be over to talk to us...they never came by....and neither will we!!!! Good luck Chops...You were once Great....sad you couldn't continue to be!! I am Greatful now that we could not get a reservation when friends were here from out of state 2 weeks ago,I would have been mortified to have...