Hooters — Restaurant in Little Rock

I would like to tell you about the service I received at the Little Rock Hooters this evening. My wife, I and our two year old arrived about 7:00pm this evening. The restaurant was starting to get busy, but we were seated immediately in a booth, at our request. Our waitress came over immediately and got our drink order and we ordered an appetizer of fried pickles. We weren’t ready to place our meal order yet, but she came back within 5 minutes and we placed our meal order. Order of 10 original wings (Parmesan garlic and General Tso sauces) Order of 10 original wings (Medium and Teriyaki sauces) Side order of Big Dipper fries with cheese Twisted Texas melt burger with fries Kids burger sliders with fruit cup side Nothing crazy or complicated. This was about 7:15pm. This is where the evening started going down hill. While waiting for our food, the waitress did a good job keeping our drinks filled, but after about 30 minutes or so, we were starting to wonder where our food was. It was about this time a manager, I didn’t get her name, so we’ll call her Manager 1, came over and told us that the waitress had accidentally pocketed our ticket instead of turning it in. She said the order was in now and was getting pushed to the front to expedite it. Okay, crappy, but okay. We eat out at restaurants all the time, this stuff happens. It’s crappy, but it happens. Fine, our food will be out shortly, right? This is about 7:45pm. Time goes by, other people’s food keeps coming out and being delivered....okay, there’s was probably already being made. About 8:00pm, they bring out the kids meal and tell us the rest of the food is on its way. We appreciate this, so at least our son can eat. The waitress apologized again for the mistake. We wait some more. About 8:10pm, our waitress comes over to check on us and we ask her to just put the rest of our food in boxes to go. We’re pretty much done at this point. We’re ready to just leave. After this, we wait longer. At 8:23pm, yes I started paying attention to exact times at this point, Manager 1 brings us some food in to-go boxes and says we’re waiting on a order of fries. She says they will come the meal for us because of the delay and went away. If it ended here, fine. A crappy experience, but I can live with that for a comped meal. After she left, we looked in the boxes and noticed we weren’t just missing fries. The following was in the boxes: Order of 10 original wings (Medium and Teriyaki sauces) Another kids meal of burger sliders .....that’s it. We were going to tell her when she came with the fries the whole order wasn’t there. Should only be a couple minutes, right, it’s just fries.... At 8:30pm, the waitress comes by again to say again how sorry she is for the mixup. We tell her the whole order isn’t there. She looks flustered and went to find her manager to let her know. We saw The waitress looking for the manager for a while, but then we didn’t see her anymore either. At 8:45pm, another manager brings out an order of fries in a to-go box, no cheese, I might add. At this point, we were done. We thanked Manager 2 for wasting our evening, and left. After 1 hour and 45 minutes, with only half of our order now cold, in to-go boxes. And that was our first, and maybe last, experience with the Little...

An old friend treated me to food and drinks at this fairly new location and the spread was nice. Plenty of big screens surrounding an ample bar, a clean, fresh environment with smiling faces dashing about (almost eerily TOO picture-perfect, think "Stepford Servers"). I admired the lady behind the bar; her attitude was perfect for her job even if her skills were still developing. I ordered a Long Island Tea, not an easy drink to make correctly for most, but I'd never been served one that was greenish-yellow with a blob of Dr. Pepper at its center (a couple quick stirs gave it its more uniform color, almost). A bit fruity, sweet, not much like a real Long Island Iced Tea, or any tea for that matter, but my good mood, her good cheer, and the company of a great friend not seen in ages wouldn't let that get in the way. All told, the elixir tasted great, though, and definitely carried the proofage of a real LIIT nonetheless. My buddy had a simple beer (he's never been really picky except about his meat, especially smoked or barbecued); so nondescript were both the beer and his attitude about it that I can't even recall the brand. I had walked in craving an extra spicy order of some great, loaded nachos (extra jalapenos!), and found a single, near-matching item on the menu, but instead of seasoned ground beef, it was "chili." This, dear diners, was the greatest let-down of this Hooters experience. You know that substance referred to as "chili" in some of those dive-type convenience stores, always paired next to a dispenser of another substance they call "nacho cheese" yet it resembles molten plastic more? Think that stuff and you're in the neighborhood. The rest of the dish, however, was spot-on and utter perfection. Fresh, crunchy tortillas, crisp, chilled lettuce and firm tomatoes. My mouth was begging for that awesome taste it's enjoyed many times before, and it was ALMOST granted its wish. But it was like seeing the most appetizing loaded baked potato only to get a big bite and taste absolutely no salt. But, being a brave and happy diner that evening, plus slightly buzzed from the neo-tea concoction, I truly enjoyed the meal, company, and the atmosphere. My buddy ordered the Mahi sandwich and highly recommends it. (Again, not much in the way of descriptive wordage, but if he likes it, it's good.) I almost let the whole experience slip by without remembering exactly where we were, so feeling foolish, I began looking in earnest for the scantily-clad beauties who give the restaurant its namesake. Strangely, I saw maybe 3 or 4 in total, and they stayed too busy to mingle or flirt. Sadness. But not overpowering the good time. Keep up the great...

My final review of this place. I will NOT EVER set foot in this place again. Allow me to explain. On April 8th, I figured I would visit this Hooters again since it's been several months since I've been there. But that experience on the 8th of April sealed the deal whether or not I would continue to eat at this place. It was just before shift change but the place was only 1/3rd full, if that. But anyway my server took my order as usual and then disappeared for a good stretch, sitting at a booth with 3 other workers, talking for the longest time and ignoring for the most part her patrons (me included). Part of my food came (I ordered chicken wings w/ fries) and she delivered that to my table. The wings took a bit longer and another server brought those to my table. My main server was nowhere to be found. And from that point, she only came around ONCE in an hour and that was that. So I sat there patiently waiting for her to come around so I could get a refill. Nope. So shift change occurred and the next server wasn't to be found either. I gave up and sat at the bar. BOTH of the bartenders would NOT even acknowledge my existence. No "may I help you" or "I'll be right there", or eye contact or ANYTHING. After sitting there around 15 to 20 minutes, I went up to the front of the restaurant to request a different server. None of the evening servers that were congregated around the front check-in also didn't want to serve me either. Where was the manager? He never made it over to my area to check to see how things were doing. I finally got a replacement server but how come did my first server just left me hanging like that? The service was APPALLINGLY BAD. 1 star is too generous. I eventually did get the evening shift server and she tried to salvage what she could the remaining time of my time spent there. Not only the service was terrible that evening but the wings barely had any seasoning on them at all. By far my WORST experience there and because of that, I will NOT EVER set foot in there again. Hooters makes you happy eh? I was actually beside myself the remainder of the day wondering how this could have took place? I'm not ugly, nor do I gawk/stare and make lewd gestures / comments or whatnot at the servers there. I was actually in a rather good mood when I walked in. Boy did that change!

Good job Hooters for running me off. You have done that very well. Good bye and...