Real Seafood Company Grand Rapids — Restaurant in Grand Rapids

Title: Inexperienced server/manager + poor communication + poor customer service = AWFUL experience

This was my first time here & I wish it wasn't the WORST experience I've ever had in a restaurant. My wife & I met while working at a restaurant and we pride ourselves/know how to identify good service & quality food. We scoped out the restaurant's menu a week ahead of time so we knew what to expect.

We arrived with our group of 11 with reservations at 7:30pm & were immediately sat to a clean table, ready with digital menus at each seat. I was impressed but hadn't yet known that was going to be the height of the experience. We were greated by someone filling water who said our server will be right with us. Our server showed up 15 minutes later to gather our drink orders. We were prepared to order Apps but the server ignored that, seemed annoyed/overwhelmed & wanted to do one thing at a time. Think "uninterested in even being there" vibes.

Drinks took 20 minutes to arive which gave us more than enough time to read everything on the menu & plan out our next drinks, even deserts. Prepared to order everything, our server only wanted our apps at the moment. We ordered the Cajun oysters, which looked nothing like the photo. Shriveled, comically smaller & served on top the most ridiculous amount of pink sea salt. The taste matched exactly how horrible they appeared. Appetizers came out relativly quickly compared to the drinks and main dish (I'll get to that in a minute).

While a runner arrived with our apps, our server began taking our main dish orders. My wife ordered the sea food Alfredo with a crab cake and I ordered the parmesan crusted flownder.

After the appetizers came, our first signs of concern began. 30 minutes of no interaction with our server or any of the staff. Empty appetizer plates/drink cups fill the table.

An hour & 20 minutes into being seated, we received another highlight of the night. The bread was the most delicious thing I've had all week. It was freshly baked, still warm, seasoned with a side of butter. This might have been the hunger talking but it was amazing. While our server was around we utilized this time to order our 2nd round of drinks & asked for more water.

After the bread was devoured at our table, came a long stretch of waiting for our main dishes to arive almost another hour in & no sign of dinner!

Food finally arrived almost 2 & a half hours after first being seated. The food look appealing, but lacked any true flavors. My broccoli was burned & the potatoes had a "I've been sitting under the warmer too long" film.

Our friends ordered the king crab and requested it be cracked, the server forgot/the crab didn't come with a tool. After dissapearing for a few minutes, she came back with gloves on, said nothing, grabbed the crab from my friends plate & began aggressively cracking it on a server tray. Note, there were several sharp shell pieces found.

One couple in our party told the server they needed to leave in 20 mins, asking for their bill & the beer they ordered 45 mins ago. The server un-sympatheticly "apologies" for the wait claiming they are busier than normal.

As our server was finally delivering our 2nd round of drinks, there was no beer in sight. The husband asked about the beer and the server replied with "I didn't know if you still wanted it if youre in a hurry & need to leave in 20 minutes." I belive this is where things turned from inconvenient to very bad customer service. This was the last time we saw her.

After eating most our food the manager had arrived. She made excuses for the service and attempted to hand out the bills. There were so many mistakes on each bill that the manager fumbled for 20 more mins trying to resolve. No discount offered & a 20% gratuity was enforced.

We were also there for a birthday & dessert was never offered!

After 3 hrs, the lack of communication, caring & remorse for our terrible experience are just a few reasons we will...

Yesterday I took my father & family to dinner for father’s day. We came here because my parents had been here prior to & really enjoyed it. So when I came to town I told them We’d eat here for father’s day, I could tell immediately the waitress was a bit uncomfortable with serving us but I didn’t think it would be as big of an issue as it became (enough for me to write a review). After bringing my drink to the table, she asked me how it was & I told her it was good but I couldn’t taste any liquor even after stirring it around & asked what type of liquor they used, she advised me they used a brown tequila & walked away after that. Which wasn’t a big deal as I’ve had weak drinks before & it is what it is, its a part of adulting but how she handled it was just like hmm.

But thats not why I’m writing this review, I’m writing this review because my husbands meal came out extremely salty (it was some type of noodle dish) and I felt so bad after tasting it because everyone else was enjoying their meal but he was just sitting there.

After tasting it, it was so salty I told him don’t eat another bite it will make you sick send it back. So when we made our waiter aware that it was way too salty she said oh I’m sorry. Then proceeded to ask who needed boxes. No options were given to take the plate at that time, no options were given to order something else. So When she returned with the boxes I asked to speak to a manager and she turns around whispers to another waitress in disgust & then gets the manager.

THE MANAGER COMES: Doesn’t even ask whats going on, but instead says let me take the plate, I’ve removed the dish from your bill and walks away, which in my opinion was very unprofessional. I don’t mean to throw my or my family’s degrees around because it didn’t take a rocket scientist to realize she debriefed the manager & told her side of the story & he never asked. What he should have done was come to the table and say “Hi folks, whats going on.” We are a very educated family just amongst my husband and I were 4 degrees sitting at the table not even including my aunt and parents. I say all of this to say its a nice restaurant but we’ve had better & definitely more expensive and have been treated customer service wise MUCH better.

It was honestly sad when we placed her tip in her hand of combined 20s &. 10s how her mood changed for the best. But at that point it was too late the damage was already done. My husband left with no dinner & we had to get Panera & for the record, she probably wasn’t even aware but because of how uncomfortable they (her & the manager) made us feel (almost as if we didn’t belong) trust when I am in town I WILL...

I chose Real Seafood Company in downtown Grand Rapids to celebrate my husband’s birthday, expecting a memorable evening with great food. While the space itself was nice, especially the outdoor patio seating, the food and service left us disappointed.

Food: • The Adobo Rubbed Fish Tacos were the highlight of the meal: creamy, flavorful, and well-balanced. • The Point Judith Calamari was greasy and consisted only of rings, no variety, no octopus, which felt underwhelming for a restaurant of this scale. • The New England Clam Chowder arrived looking bland, with no garnish or presentation. It was broth-based and thin, not the creamy, hearty chowder one expects. • The Fish and Chips tasted greasy and flavorless. Everything, including the fries, seemed to have come out of the fryer without much care. • The Seafood Alfredo Fettuccine was misnamed, the sauce did not resemble an Alfredo and lacked richness. It should be called seafood fettuccine at best. • Even the soft drinks tasted watered down, more like fountain syrup gone wrong than a Pepsi or Coke product.

Service was equally disappointing. Our server had little personality and offered no small talk, even though we were celebrating a special occasion. We were given bread and butter but no utensils. I had to wait for a spoon after my soup was served. Waters were never refilled, and to top it off, we weren’t even offered dessert.

The patio was pleasant with red umbrellas and plenty of shade, and the interior of the restaurant was attractive and well-designed. Unfortunately, the food and service didn’t match the setting.

Bottom line: This restaurant has the potential to be a great dining spot, but either the chef or the recipes are seriously missing the mark. The dishes lacked flavor and presentation; not what you’d expect from a restaurant with these prices and reputation. For us, the evening was more of a letdown than the celebration...