Marie Callender's — Restaurant in Gardena

My rant for the day.

I had made a group reservation over the phone for 20-24 guests four weeks prior to dining there. Upon arrival, I find that our choices were very limited to a preset option menu. Are you frigging kidding me (was my PG response)? Noone told me this would have been my ONLY OPTION and THEY DON’T ALLOW SPLITTING THE BILL, also NOT SOMETHING TOLD TO ME AT THE TIME OF RESERVATION!!!!

Luckily, my husband and I are fortunate enough to be able and pay for everyone using our credit card. My friends knew they were getting a free slice of pie on us as it was our treat, but if they ordered any food, they would need to pay for it. My guests understood our situation and we worked out a plan of how to get reimbursed for food orders. We were happy to pay for the pie slices for our guests. What got me mad is that the assistant manager thought I lied about having made the actual reservation. That is, until he was told by his boss that I was telling the truth, and my reservation was logged in their books. I was also told that whoever took my reservation over the phone, should have also charged me a $100 deposit, ALSO SOMETHING I WASN’T AWARE OF!

Poor server was overwhelmed with NO HELP FROM HER FELLOW STAFF. Because of this, service was slow. To ease my stress, the onsite manager allowed a bunch of exceptions to their rule, so my guests were able to get soup and cornbread options, and other regular menu items, plus various pie selection options (the group menu ONLY ALLOWED CHOICE OF APPLE, CHOCOLATE CREAM, AND LEMON MERINGUE!!!! WT# (censored)!!!

Finally, after everyone calmed down (management staff AND me), the management realizes I was right all along! I DID make this reservation four weeks ago (at first they thought I was a “walk-in”), and NOONE told me about: 1) the slim menu options for large groups, 2) didn’t charge me a $100 deposit, 3) didn’t tell me no splitting of checks.

My guests were mostly college students and senior citizens. They were understanding about it, but I still felt bad about the whole situation.

Because it was not the server’s fault, we did tip a substantial additional amount to the automatic 20% gratuity they tack on for large groups. She (I wish I got the server’s name) deserved the additional tips since she worked her butt off.

What am I trying to say? It is a shame that this company has gone down hill in training their staff properly. I am not a “Karen” or a person who resorts to violence, because it could have been an even uglier situation if this happened to someone else.

DON’T BOOK LARGE EVENTS HERE! Save yourself the embarrassment and stress. Next time we will go elsewhere like a Denny’s or Norm’s where you get to choose your own meal off their full menu AND they WILL...

Finally got to Marie Callender's in Gardena after passing the place twice didn't see it even though they have a somewhat large sign in front of the restaurant on Western lit it's not bright enough to see it doesn't stand out because it's very dark in that one area. And unless you actually know where it's at and have been there before or during the day it's very hard to find at night. It doesn't look like the other Marie Callender's restaurants out front. The parking is atrocious. Marie Callender's is in an area where there's nothing but restaurants of all kinds . We went on a Saturday night everybody in Gardena was there. Finally we found a place to park. We went there to have probably the best deal on the menu the pot pie combo which is a pot pie the Caesar salad the cornbread and honey butter and a piece of pie comes with it. Great deal. And as usual at every Marie Callender's that we ever go to they were out. So after having a hard time finding the restaurant having a hard time to find a parking place everybody was fighting over one parking place like three cars deep in line going in both directions they didn't have what we wanted to eat. I also wanted to go there because they were having a pie sale $7.99. When we first walked in the door first thing we saw was the long line to get pies. I was going to wait until after dinner and we were on our way out the door to pick up the chocolate pie that I wanted to get to take home. Glad I didn't! I mentioned it to our waitress when she was taking our order and she went and reserved a chocolate pie for me and good thing she did and good thing I did because I got the last chocolate pie. Dinner was good even though we were both disappointed we didn't get what we were hungry for what we really wanted but what we ordered was good. The little waitress that we had was really good she was very nice and very accommodating and very friendly. I think she said she worked there for 10 years. Atmosphere is very pleasant. They closed down all the Marie Callender's in Torrance so that was why we went to the one in Gardena. Next time we'll be trying the one on Western in San Pedro I know it's lit up better you can see it down the block when you're coming to it and we'll see if they have...

THE HISPANIC MANGER RUEBEN HAS AN ATTITUDE SO REPUGNANT THAT IT'S ABSURD HE'D MANAGE ANYONE WITH RESPECT TO CUSTOMER SERVICE. I WAS COMPLETELY SHOCKED & APPAULED AT THE TONE & WAY THAT I WAS SPOKEN TO SMH. I SIMPLY CALLED TO 1ST ASSURE THAT THE ITEM I WAS LOOKING AT ONLINE WAS IN STOCK BEFORE I ORDER & VERIFY THE PRICE & PORTION SIZE. AS I PLACED THE ORDER WHILE IN THE PHONE WITH THE SERVICE PERSON, HE CONFIRMED THAT IT DID NOT READ AS I SELECTED AND THAT THERE WAS A PRICE DIFFERENCE. I EXPLAINED THAT ALL PRICES WERE REFLECTED THE SAME THE SITE & SHOULD BE HONORED IF THEY'RE THE SAME PORTION. HE WAS ILL EQUIPPED IT APPEARED TO MAKE ANY MODIFICATIONS THEREFORE I ASKED TO SPEAK TO THE MANGER TO MODIFY THE ORDER PLACED ONLINE WHICH HE MENTIONED REFLECTED A DIFFERENCE IN PRICE. I EXPLAINED THAT I CAN SCREEN SHOT & SEND HIM WHAT'S SHOWING ON MY PAID ORDER ON THE SITE & ASKED WHAT HE COULD DO TO HELP & "HE SAID HE AIN'T GONNA DO NOTHING!" HE WAS EXTREMELY RUDE & STARTED SPEAKING OVER ME TELLING ME THAT ITS BETWEEN ME & DOORDASH. I TOLD HIM THAT'S NOT WHAT I ORDERED. I ORDERED PECAN & THEY SAID PEACH. I TOLD HIM I DIDN'T ORDER IT. YET HE STILL PROCEEDS TO PROCESS & CONFIRM MY ORDER AFTER TELLING ME HE AIN'T GONNA DO NOTHIN,HV A NICE DAY & HUNG UP ON ME ...WOW! REALLY?🙄😑

IT'S SAD BECAUSE I WILL NEVER VISIT THIS LOCATION AGAIN. I HAVE OVER 1MIL VIEWS ON MY FOOD CONTENT & WORD OF MOUTH YELPING. I'M CANCELING THIS LOCATION 💯😞 I WILL SPEND MY MONEY ELSEWHERE AS LONG AS I HAVE TO DEAL WITH THIS RUDE BEHAVIOR. TORRANCE BAKERY IS RIGHT UP THR STREET. CARROWS & COCO'S AREN'T FAR. IT WAS PRETTY BAD TO MAKE ME NEVER WANT TO VISIT AGAIN. HE NEEDS RETRAINING ON PROPER ETIQUETTE IN DEALING WITH THE PUBLIC & CUSTOMERS THAT CHOOSE TO PATRONIZE THIS...