Riverside Grill — Restaurant in Garden City

I had a miserable experience for brunch today. 12/17/23. We were a party of 11-16 in The Quite Bar room. Which was beautiful. I'm having difficulty finding positive things to say about our experience today, so I'll just go with the negatives. We had one server, who might have been a manager. Her name is Rebeca, at least that's what it said on the receipt as she never introduced herself, but she seemed to not be in a uniform as the other servers. The tables were uneven where they met together, but it was disguised under the table clothes. When I placed my full water glass down, it immediately fell over and soaked the table. It was quite obviously a large spill but Rebeca took no action until we asked for a new table cloth. She didn't answer but appeared to be walking away, so I repeated my request, and she said, "I heard you", then proceeded to get a small napkin which barely covered 1/3 of the spill, so I asked for 2 more. She asked if anyone wanted coffee several times, but never came to each person and asked what they wanted to drink. I did not want coffee, so I waited for her, but she left. I had to get her attention to request hot tea, after everyone else was served they meals. The tea carafe dribbles a lot, making more of a mess on the tablecloths. This is just a bad design. No lemon was brought, nor offered, just a sticky packet of honey. I ordered the fish and chips, but Rebeca came back to tell me that it was frozen. Okay, I said, "So, I can wait". She said "No, it was frozen". I asked, "Does that mean it's not available"? She said "Yes". How was I to know that frozen meant that I couldn't order it? So, I asked for the meatloaf sandwich, but without the bacon. She said that it wasn't possible. I said, yes, you can just remove the bacon. She had to check again with the chef, but it was indeed possible. Remember all this time others have received their meals. Why wasn't the fish 86'd at the start of service? It's not rocket science to come up with the solution to remove the bacon, but her answer to most questions was, "No". The meatloaf sandwich was barely edible. It was soaked and dripping with an overly sweet brown sauce. I had to use a knife and fork. It had one, thinnest possible slice of tomato and some wilted lettuce. When I removed the bread, it revealed that the meatloaf was burnt. I didn't complain as I had already waited so long to eat and everyone else was almost done. One person at the table got dessert, but I realized that no one else was offered. It would have been a good idea to ask the table and increase sales! We got individual bills, and mine said the Fish & Chips (which I originally ordered, but had to change to the Meatloaf) The bill was $2 higher than it should have been. I had to ask her to correct my check. By the end of the meal, most had paid, and we were ready to leave, when one person said that she still didn't get to pay as Rebeca never picked up her payment and just disappeared. I had to go to the host stand to find her and have her return. I guess that we could have walked out. I had worked as a server for over 20 years, and I truly understand that mistakes happen and people are human, but through every problem that we experienced, Rebeca never apologized. That really bugged me because it illustrated that she just didn't care at all. That was the last straw for me. If you guessed; you are correct. I. Did. Not. Tip.

Update 8/11/2024 I returned with a friend for lunch and had some similar problems. First off, Jessica, our server, was very pleasant and helpful. Service was great! The problem is with the kitchen. I had ordered a salmon burger, with some capers and dill on the side, but Jessica returned to tell us that the kitchen refused to do that, even though It was after 1pm and the restaurant was quite empty. I was willing to pay an upcharge if necessary, but instead, we suffered another bad experience. Even the salmon was overcooked. And don't get me started on the number of flies inside the restaurant. I tipped...

We were staying at the hotel for a marriage retreat and decided to go get dinner before the first seminar. We were told we'd have to wait 15 minutes. So we stood for 30 minutes,a couple of feet from the host. Finally I went and asked how much longer. The host told me they already called my name. When? Where? She said to wait another 10 minutes. We finally were seated and proceeded to wait another 15 minutes before anyone took our drink order. At this point we were extremely pressed for time so my wife gave her drink order as well as her dinner order. The waitress walked away without taking mine. After another 15 minutes I was able to flag the waitress and get my order in. She apologized and let us know we would receive a complimentary cake. We graciously accepted and 5 minutes later had our food and drinks. The food was par. We asked for our check and had to wait an additional 10 minutes for it to come. I handed our waitress my card and yet another 15 minutes later she came back to say thank you for coming. She still had our bill book with our credit card! I had to ask for my card back. Also we never received our complimentary dessert. Bad...

Worst dining experience ever. My dinner companion and I ordered our food at the same time. Thirty minutes later his meal came out, they dropped his plate off and scurried away. A good server would acknowledge that there were two of you and check with the kitchen on the other order. Thirty minutes later the waitress finally appeared again and I had to explain to her that my order never showed up. She explained she forgot to put in the order, but would do so right away. It took another 30 minutes for my food to come out and my companion was done with their meal by this time. So, not only was I eating alone after waiting an hour and a half, but the food was awful. We had the trout which was dried out, and the meatloaf which was also dry and flavorless. Both came with steamed broccoli, who does that anymore? Its not the 1970s Boise. Meatloaf should be a combination of beef, veal, and pork with herbs and seasonings, what came out instead was beef, breadcrumbs, and zero flavor. I should have known better because this same hotel has the Sandbar restaurant and their food...