Ted's Montana Grill — Restaurant in Georgia

Sad to have to write this review. I usually love the food and service at this location, but today, they ruined it for me. Average sized order, 3 burgers and a salad. Ordered online. Tried curbside pick up due to the COVID-19 measures. Sat in my car, for 28 minutes after my order was supposed to be ready. I was literally parked on the curb less than 30 feet from the front door.

When someone did finally come out to greet me, he (Jay) begins by telling me that I'm parked in the wrong location. Then he attempts to direct me to move to a parking spot in front the jewelry store next to the restaurant. However, he quickly realizes that there are no available parking spaces there (which is why I'm parked where I am in the first place) and says that I'm good where I am. I mention that the website says to park as close to the door as possible and that where I am parked is actually closer to the door than the parking spaces he attempted to direct me to park in. Rather than just acknowledge that fact and move on, Jay then states that they are coming out of the patio door and that's why no one came to greet me. I just let that one go but it did occur to me that perhaps Jay should consider that I don't work there, I do not know their workflow, or which doors they're using, since I've only ever used the two doors on the main entryway. This speaks to a complete disregard to the customer experience. BUT, I'm not a total jerk and I assume that they are stressed, working outside their normal, and probably just accustomed to doing it a certain way. Jay promptly brought out my order and bid me farewell. Minor inconvenience, but no harm no foul.

So, I depart with my order and go home. Once I open the bag it's obvious that my order was sitting on the counter for quite some time. Each of the clear lids on the plastic take out containers has so much condensation collected on them that when I tilt the container, water drops just roll to the edge and land on the food. Each of the hamburger buns is pretty soaked through at this point. But, I recognize that they were busy and take out is never as good as in restaurant dining.

Then, I opened my burger. It was the Ted's Beef Bacon Burger. It was ordered well-done. I've had this burger at this Ted's location several times before and I know what well-done should look like. My first bite was a huge disappointment. This burger was so rare that is was literally a wet, mushy, pink mess that was falling apart due to it being so under-cooked. I simply could not continue eating it. I figured, hey, whatever, I'll eat the Salt and Pepper Onion rings! Those are awesome! Nope. Completely soaked due to the condensation collected in the container.

Again, I get it that things are going to be a bit different these days and that we will all need some time to adjust to the new normal in both our work and our leisure. SO, I could have accepted either of these issues and just shrugged it off. However, the combination of these issues has made me seriously consider never returning to this Ted's location.

Shannon, I would hope that you address these issues with your staff and re-focus them on the great food and exceptional service that we've enjoyed so many times before. I can't imagine how difficult it is to run a service business in the current environment and I am grateful that you and your staff are there and providing us options. I only wish that today could have been a better experience. While I am likely to return to see if things improve, it will be quite some time...

Let me start out by saying that I used to work in the service industry. I understand that things happen, but nothing has been done to rectify my situation and I feel the need to share our experience.

My brother and I wanted to treat our mom to dinner on Mother's Day. I made a reservation and the restaurant wasn't nearly as busy as I thought it would be on a holiday. Our reservation was at 6:15 pm and we were sat early, but didn't get to order until 6:30 pm even though we were ready and waiting. We all ordered food without any substitutions. 3 people ordered burgers/sandwiches, and the other 3 ordered entrees. After almost an hour, the food arrives, but all of the entrees are cold. My brother ordered a steak that was cooked correctly, but everything on the plate was lukewarm. My boyfriend's plate arrived more than 5 minutes after everyone else's and his food was lukewarm. My sister-in-law's chicken sandwich was overcooked and dry. Like hockey puck overcooked. My salmon arrived and had beef gravy on the plate and potatoes which was not on the menu nor was I asked if I wanted that addition. Also, all of my food was cold, and the potatoes were officially solidified into some sort of pasty mound. When I brought it up to the server and asked for potatoes without beef gravy I was told "it will take a while because the kitchen is backed up." Please note that I did not ask for a whole new plate of food. None of us did. After we received our food the server didn't ask if everything was ok, didn't come back unless we flagged her down. A manager didn't ask how the meal was, and we ended up waiting almost 15 minutes after we finished for the server to come back and we had to ask her for the bill.

My brother and I split the bill, and mine came out to over $100. $100 is a lot of money to spend on food that is not only wrong but no effort was made to rectify any of the wrong/cold food and we were basically ignored. So we filled out the survey on the receipt.

I was notified on Wednesday that someone called and offered my dad gift cards for our experience. My brother was called and has tried to call back several times with no response. My boyfriend was called but was unable to answer and has not called back. I have not been called at all.

We continue to be disappointed in corporate franchises, and Ted's was one of the restaurants we preferred until our recent experiences have shown us they care more about making money than giving customers a dining experience that warrants...

I cringe at the length of this review but pls read on… We have been regular weekly customers for a number of years. We sit and eat at the bar. We enjoy the conversation with the bartenders and other regulars sitting there. Normally, all is well and good. And we will be back. However, we had a terrible experience with management and I feel it is important to send this message. We went for dinner Xmas week. It was a little understaffed we knew food would be slow but we were patient. Our food came and instantly I noticed a green powdery spot(mold)on my bun. The bartender snatched it from me and took it to the kitchen. After 10 mins she came back empty handed angry and embarrassed with a message from Challen(the mgr)that it was avocado or lettuce and he wasn’t going to remake my crusty overcooked veggie burger or give me a new bun. I sat there bewildered for prob another 5 mins and she finally came back with a new cold top bun embarrassed and apologetic. She made the decision to remove the dinner from the check which was fine. So these are my thoughts for Challen since he didn’t have the decency to speak to me privately. And not as nice as I would have been that night…The customer is ALWAYS right pal. Even if it was avocado (it was def mold)I didn’t have avocado on my sandwich and didn’t want it. It didn’t belong there! It was a bun!! Even though the veggie burger was burned to a literal crisp on one side I didn’t ask for a replacement. I ate what I could. You sir, are insulting and arrogant and have no business running a restaurant with your attitude. You need to realize it’s your patrons that make your establishment especially those that continue to patronize weekly even after something like this. I don’t want a discount, a free meal or a generic generated message from corporate. My purpose is to send a reminder to management that in this sparse restaurant community of West Cobb it is your patrons that make or break you. Look across the plaza. We want to make you. Be a reflection of the best you can be. Greet your patrons and thank them for coming. Make sure they have a pleasant meal and are excited to come back. Make it right...