101 Kitchen — Restaurant in Knightdale

TL;DR: Beautiful menu, but shockingly poor service on our first visit. Our server ignored us, forgot drink refills, and we ended up serving ourselves coffee after multiple polite requests. Thankfully, another staff member helped us in the end, but it was a frustrating Mother’s Day experience we won’t soon forget.

Continued:

We were excited to try 101 Kitchen for a special Mother’s Day brunch with my mother-in-law and her mother. The menu looked beautiful and promising—but unfortunately, the service was deeply disappointing and left a sour taste on what should’ve been a warm celebration.

We were that table. The one that eventually walked over to the drink station and took the coffee pot ourselves after waiting far too long for refills. It sounds dramatic, but it truly came to that.

From the start, our server took over 20 minutes just to acknowledge us. When our food finally arrived, our drinks had already been empty for quite some time. After asking several times—politely—for refills, we were told “yes, sure,” but the server would then walk away and continue rolling silverware a few tables over. She mentioned making a fresh pot of coffee, but it never came to us. We watched other servers use that pot until it was nearly empty. After multiple polite requests, my husband finally stood up and brought it to our table himself.

This prompted other servers nearby to call out to our waitress—“Fiona! Look at your table! They are serving themselves!”—which seemed to catch her off guard. Perhaps it was her first day, and if so, I truly hope she gets the support and training she needs. But this level of service doesn’t reflect what I believe 101 Kitchen wants to represent.

Out of frustration and disappointment, we requested that the automatic gratuity be removed; a request I never imagined myself making. We’ve worked in food service. We understand bad days happen. But this felt like complete neglect.

Thankfully, another kind young woman stepped in at the end, apologized sincerely, and helped us with the gratuity request. We tipped and thanked her directly. Her empathy made a big difference in salvaging a tough experience.

It’s a shame, because the menu was captivating and the concept has great potential. But this first visit left us unsure we’d return. I truly hope someone checks in on Fiona—not to scold, but to ensure she’s OK and supported. Nobody wins when service breaks...

I went to this restaurant for the first time on Saturday 8/17/24. Not at all what I was expecting based on the photos. First off they were very understaffed on a Saturday morning for a place that serves breakfast/brunch. There were literally only 2 waitresses and one lady cleaning tables and seating. Only one of the waitresses could make drinks at the bar and the restaurant was full. When I first entered a family of 2 adults and 2 kids walked in at the same time with me. We waited 10 minutes before someone told us they would be with us. While waiting another family of 3 adults and a baby walked in. The woman who was cleaning the tables came up to them within 2 minutes asked them how many and sat them immediately while myself and the family that walked in with me before them continued to wait. Once I was finally sat 15 minutes later at the bar I had to go get my own menu because they left me sitting for 15 minutes with no service and no one came until the lady cleaning tables told them they forgot about me. I ordered and was not given a drink until another 15-20 minutes after my order was placed due to the waitress once again forgetting about me. Once my food arrived overall the food was good and I tried to be patient asking for things that I needed because I noticed other customers at the tables close to the bar were getting upset because they were being forgotten about as well. All in all based off of the reviews and photos I expected a much better experience and that’s just not what I received. You would think they would have taken a drink off or discounted me for constantly forgetting about me but no, $3.99 for sweet tea that tasted old so I asked for an orange juice, $5.99, $9.99 for a Caribbean sunset that didn’t get made until my food arrived. By myself I spent $47 and still tipped $10 so...

I hate to be the one to break the 5 star streak but it has to be done...

It is great to see some new restaurants in Knightdale and I was impressed with all the 5 star reviews so I wanted to give it a shot.

It is in the same location as the short lived Las Brasas and prior to that, it was a CiCi's Pizza. I understand it is owned by one of the people from Las Brasas and a couple of new partners.

The ambience was very lackluster with plain white walls, no pictures, a rickety table and very LOUD live music. Once the band was thankfully done, the restaurant shifted to blasting the radio through in-ceiling speakers. Again, way too loud for this place which was only about 30% full.

There was a very strong smell of cologne and bad breath in the air. I am not sure who to blame this on but it lingered.

I ordered the shrimp and grits "fusion" without peppers and asked for the Chipotle sauce on the side. The taste was actually pretty good and the portion was generous for the price of $16. It was presented in a skillet and chunks of onion and whatever else. Good looking and good tasting. The two flies at our table agreed.

My partner ordered the fried chicken sandwich. She did not care for the seasoning and left more than half of it. The potatoes tasted good but were kind of cold. This meal was also a generous portion.

Our server (I think her name is Hydra which was what I could understand through all the noise), was pleasant enough. She was fast until it came time for the check and then she disappeared for a bit.

The bathroom was reasonably clean.

Please hire someone to get the ambience in order. First impressions are everything regardless of how the food is plated.

Even though I liked my food I would not go back because of the other issues. ...