Pea Ridge — Restaurant in Georgia

I have dined in at Pea Ridge twice, and although the food was exceptional, the service was a little underwhelming both times. In all fairness, I always believe in a second chance, so I stopped in 30 minutes before closing tonight to order something to go. I was very tired and hungry, and even apologized for ordering a half hour before closing, but didn't figure it was that big of a deal.

Instead, I was met by two very young women who made grumpy faces and shook their heads when I asked to order. I can understand a similar response if I showed up ten minutes before closing, but a half hour seems like ample time to throw a pork chop on the grill top and slap some mashed potatoes into a to-go box. Guess not, huh?

Pea Ridge must be packing them in if they can turn good customers out a half hour before closing. I won't be showing up again, however. When you don't get it on the second chance, I'm pretty much done with your act.

As for the twenty-something "kids" who seemed inconvenienced by my presence, I am routinely a ridiculously generous tipper, so sorry young ladies...your loss!

As for the owners, might I suggest that you leave your establishment in the hands of older, more responsible and dedicated employees, as opposed to Gen Xer's who just want to get home to their video games. It might not be the best approach to enhancing your bottom line. It doesn't matter how good your food is if no one is willing...

Upon arrival, we noticed a vacant table just inside the door. However, we were seated at a table farthest from the front door even though we had a senior member of our party walking with a cane. Our table was the worst in the restaurant being against the corner wall of the kitchen and restroom area. Our waitress was preoccupied with a two-year-old at another table rather than focusing on service to waiting customers. The food was attractive, but marginal at best with the lamb sandwich being very fatty and stringy. The pork loin sandwich was supposedly char-grilled but was tasteless except for the dab of horseradish sauce on one end. When our bill arrived it was someone else's bill and was twice the amount of what we ordered. There were no apologies from our waitress for terrible service, for seating us at the furthest away table, or for the big mistake with our bill. The atmosphere was awful with no acoustic considerations and the place was extremely loud. We could hear disturbing conversations perfectly well from customers seated 4 or 5 tables from us. The A/C seemed to fail midway through our meal, and the air flow was non-existent after that. It was a terrible experience with bland, fatty/stringy food and a screaming two-year-old next to us in our tight corner, and no air flow to make the atmosphere unbearable. Could not wait to get out...

Pea Ridge has great food and has been a regular stop for me over the past year or so. I stopped in after the lunch rush and was shown a table. Shortly thereafter a waiter approached me with water and told me the specials of the day. I asked his opinion of the special dish of the day and he informed me that he hasn’t eaten meat in a month or so and when he tried it this morning it wasn’t for him. So given this information I told him I would look at the menu and he said he would check back with me. Place wasn’t busy so I realized after 15 minutes or so that I had not seen him. Then I saw him he was busing some tables and then delivered some food to a table near me. I am thinking for sure he would then approach me and take my order but unfortunately he went to bus another table and then disappeared into the kitchen. I waited a few more minutes and then decided that it wasn’t in the stars for me today to get waited on so I got up and left and went down the road to Melton’s App and Tap and had a nice lunch. Not sure if he thought he had taken my order but this is the first time this happened to me. Again food is great, experience on this trip was disappointing. On the way out I noticed a Help Wanted sign on the entrance door so maybe they are just short staffed. I’ll be back at some point and hopefully the experience...