Max's Trumbull Kitchen — Restaurant in Hartford

We came to MTK after the Disney in ice show, treating our oldest daughter to a fun solo day with her parents. We arrived to our reservation early and were seated with no problem and the staff was extremely kind welcoming and seating us. We were not in a rush but I think maybe the female manager must have seen my husband looking at the TV and assuming we were looking for someone to take our order. We were grateful that she joined us right away, though, to take drinks and apps. She seemed very attentive at first. We ordered 2 drinks, a kid’s hamburger meal, and the curry noodles to share. Drinks and curry noodles came out promptly and the noodles were split in two bowls for two people to share, which was lovely! The manager mentioned that our daughter’s burger came out with cheese at first so that’s why it was taking a while for hers. (Presumably to make a regular hamburger instead). 5 mins later our server brought over a cheeseburger on a larger plate (the kids’ meals had been coming out on a bento type plate with sections for the different types of foods) so I said didn’t think that was ours bc we ordered a kid’s hamburger. (Btw, the manager, when she initially took our order, confirmed “no cheese.”) He took it back and then a couple mins later brought the same plate back with the same burger with the cheese peeled off. There was a blob of melted cheese still on the plate and the corners of the burger had melted cheese on it where they had very obviously peeled the cheese off. How F’ing dumb do you think we are?!?! Our server seemed overwhelmed and stretched thin. The manager was all of a sudden nowhere to be found. I would have tried to flag her down and explain that it wasn’t the right move for a kitchen to just peel off melted cheese from a burger originally ordered with no cheese at all. This may not seem like a big deal to some but (coming from a family some of whose members are chefs and have owned restaurants) 1) severe allergies exist and if this was husband’s meal he would have gotten really sick. (To be fair if it was his burger we would have demanded a new burger). And 2) even though my daughter is not allergic to cheese, she’s a picky toddler and won’t touch anything with cheese on it…thus we spent $13 on a hamburger ordered medium well for a medium cooked cheeseburger with the cheese peeled off just for her not to even touch it. I get it—shame on me for not being more assertive with the staff (couldn’t find the manager until she quickly “checked on us” mid bite so I couldn’t wave her down and speak). And shame on me for even trying to order a picky toddler a hamburger from a kids menu and expect it to live up the the standards of a picky toddler. Needless to say, the beginning of a perfectly lovely and fine meal turned out to be an uncomfortable and problematic experience. Won’t be returning to MTK. Figured that, being a Max establishment, they had their “ish” more together. At the very least, it’s offensive to think that your clientele is so dumb that they wouldn’t even notice being served the same burger with...

This was our first time here in a birthday celebration and the experience was awful. We chose this restaurant because of the star rating and also because it was recommended. As soon as we walked in there was no one on the front desk . We waited a few minutes and then we were greeted. We made a reservation and were taken into our table. The waiter came over to our table and didn't even introduce herself or made any greetings. She starting pouring water on the glasses and as she was doing that she poured water all over the table and on the floor and walked away!!! She then came back after 10 minutes and asked we were ready to order the food. Without going over any specials or the menu. She didn't even care to ask if we had been there before. We asked some questions about the menu but she could careless she just wanted for us to place the order in. After my husband acknowledge her to make her aware she poured water on the floor right next to him. Her answer was "Is not much, and wiped it off with her feet". What a poor service. We decided to walk away and she didn't even made an effort to ask why. Her answer was "OK". We asked to speak to the manager and he just heard what we said, and he apologize but before he apologized he asked that before we gave them a review to try the food and stay at least for 5 minutes. I told him we had been in there for 15 minutes and this was the treatment we received. To be a 4.5 star rating restaurant you expect that kind of service when you walk in from everyone in the restaurant. We are uses to eating in restaurants with high star ratings because we avoid dealing with any unpleasant experience specially when you are out to spend a good time and eat good meal. But the experience here was very unpleasant. I told the manager 15 minutes was more than enough to provide a rating to this restaurant. When you have good ratings you except that kind of service. I feel that every restaurant, especially with these ratings should be very mindful of who they hire to serve the customers. An exceptional customer service talks very highly of the restaurant. I'm disappointed to say this restaurant will not get these ratings from me. I will...

Just don't understand how this place has the max brand on it. All of there other restaurants are great and I used to think Trumbull was a great spot to, until this evening. This is a bit of a bizarre review here but I must leave it, The head manager essentially made us leave and gave us no option other than mentioning to us to put our daughter on the floor because she couldn't fit in the high chair. We had a car seat one which locks into the high chair once you flip it upside down. We've been doing this for years and every other restaurant I have seen doing the same thing. I suppose if it's a hazard or libality to the restaurant then I completely get it. But we eat at other Max restaurants locally in Glastonbury and never have this issue.

Our family does not have an opportunity to go out often, especially to Hartford as we have two kids so we tend to stay local. I guess I'm just more shocked at the fact they mentioned to put our daughter on the floor, otherwise after sitting down and reviewing the menu along with getting drinks for 20 minutes, I feel that it's a bit awkward he came over and mentioned to put her on the floor or in the chair (and made no other accommodations prior to walking over) or leave the restaurant. Could have said that in the first minute of being there but instead waited 20 minutes of us sitting down to say something.

needless to say the wait staff was the one that brought the high chair over and flipped it over for us to begin with.

I think everyone that has kids has use their car seat and flip the high chair upside down.

Just didn't expect such a rude thing to happen at what I thought used to be a 5 star place.

Staff treating customers like that is exactly what will continue holding Hartford back.

My apologies for the long review, other than their restaurant also looking like it needs major updating, I'm sure the food is still good. It's unfortunate someone in head management doesn't know how to run the business.

I personally know a multiple owners of the max group and I don't know any of them that would treat...