Running Rooster — Restaurant in Hollister

We have had good experiences in the past here however our recent visit will be our last. I understand having a child with an allergy is a risk when eating out, and at times cannot be accommodated however Running Rooster took negligence to a whole new level.

We started our experience stating my 5 year old daughter “has a severe Gluten allergy “,the waitress acknowledged and assured it would be noted to the staff. We also asked if they could heat up our own food which they declined. Their menu states they have gluten free options which gave us confidence in the staff. As the evening progressed we reiterated the importance of the allergy at least four times.

We decided on a gluten free hamburger for my daughter as they offered a gluten free bun. When it arrived the as my wife was cutting the burger in half for my daughter we noticed the bun looked identical to the other (non gluten free)buns served at the table. We asked a waiter if this was gluten free and he said let me triple check” as if he had already checked twice before. Sure enough it was not and they took the plate back to the kitchen.

When they brought the new plate back the bun looked drastically different, and we checked the burger inside the bun remembering my wife had cut the old burger in half and sure enough they had taken the old sliced burger and slapped it in the middle of a new bun with no regard for cross contamination.

I now had absolutely zero trust in the staff and my daughter did not get a meal at all. Meanwhile my wife’s meal was getting cold as she had to deliberately go to the back and address the chef and manager personally. She was greeted with eye rolls from the manager as if to say their negligence was our fault. The Chef was sympathetic and professional but the rest of staff was not.

To attempt to poison a child twice after being thoroughly warned multiple times is outrageous and to have the audacity make light of it and give us attitude back is even worse. This can be life threatening for my daughter and thankfully my wife and I had the instincts not to trust the staff.

To top it off the only compensation we received from a ruined meal (as the only conversation at the table was how terrible the staff was, my child not getting a meal at all and my wife’s meal being cold) was non being charged for my daughters meal.

The staff is ill equip to accommodate allergy’s and that being the case shouldn’t offer such things, simple as that. When you have these offerings on a menu an amount of basic trining should be put in place and it most...

My daughter treated me to a birthday dinner at Running Rooster. It is located in downtown Hollister. The restaurant has ample seating and a nice bar. Parking is somewhat limited, but there is generally street parking available.

I started off with a glass of DeRose Parróne Blend. We ordered two appetizers: Chips & Dips from the standard menu and Lobster Mac from their special menu. The Chips and Dips came with salsa roja, salsa verde, and your choice of queso dip or guacamole. We opted for the queso dip. The appetizer was good, especially the queso. The salsa roja had a thick, somewhat creamy texture. It wasn't bad, just not the kind of salsa I was expecting. The Lobster Mac was pretty good as well. It consisted of the usual cheesy macaroni noodles, but had plenty of lobster chunks and small, stemmed mushrooms (maybe beech mushrooms?). The whole dish was topped with baked, crusted cheese and piping hot.

For my meal, I ordered the Cowboy Burger and upgraded to Garlic Fries. The burger had a great flavor, but the patty wasn't as juicy as I would have liked. It may have been slightly overcooked. The burger toppings included the usual lettuce, tomato and pickles, but also pepper jack cheese, bacon, one large onion ring, and "yeehaw" sauce. All in all, a flavorful burger. My daughter ordered the Mushroom Burger with the onion rings upgrade. She too had the same experience as I did with my burger because her patty was also a bit too dry/overcooked.

We ordered a shared dessert, the cheesecake, and opted for a lemon topping. The cheesecake was very good and the topping was the right amount of sweet and tangy.

Our server was attentive but not intrusive and she was very pleasant. I like the ambiance of Running Rooster. I do feel the burgers could have been a bit more juicy, but really, the food was good and we'll be going back....

I am not one to put bad reviews out nor tattle tale on people but this definitely did it for me. I come to running rooster about once a month and have never once had a problem, but yesterday, I unfortunately did. It was my boyfriend’s birthday and I wanted to take him out for some lunch. It was 1:30pm so it was pretty dead. We had a waitress, she had curly hair probably in her mid to late thirties. She took our drink order and had asked us if we wanted any starters, we got chips and salsa. Once she gave us our starter, she didn’t come back to our table nor did she check in on us for another 40 minutes. We saw her outside talking to a customer for a good chunk of time probably a good thirty minutes. It was almost as if she was avoiding us. She then proceeded to talk to the chefs or whoever she was talking to for another ten minutes. When my boyfriend used the restroom, she finally came up to the table and asked me if I wanted the check….girl what? I wanted food but okay! I was so upset. My boyfriend was upset as well. When my boyfriend came back he literally had to flag her down to ask her for fries and when she gave them to us, she placed them on the table with attitude. Like what are you mad about? SMH. My boyfriend and I definitely we look young and we are young, but that doesn’t give her an excuse to completely ignore us. I was so upset. It was his birthday and I wanted him to have a good day. He had to literally walk over to her to ask for the check simply because she kept talking to the cooks. Not doing her job not checking in on us whatsoever, chatting with her cowerkers. I can’t believe it. We wasted over an hour and a half at this place. Mind you it was dead. Probably like three people that were seated in there. Happened on...