The Gathering Diner — Restaurant in Manchester

Went to check out this place, have lived in the area 15 years and never stopped in. Today was the day, finally! I had $22 cash on me, so I ordered a coffee ($3), 1 poached egg ($2), a bagel with cream cheese (approx $2) and chorizo ($4)... So I figure, I've got enough to pay the bill, tip 20%, and have some cash leftover. After taking my order, waitress apologizes and says I'm so sorry, we're out of chorizo... would you like hash instead (approx $6)... I said okay. So when the food came, I received everything I ordered but my 1 poached egg was served with home fries (which I didn't order). The waitress made a comment about it and I just assumed it was a peace offering for not having chorizo, no problem, I ordered hash, so I don't need home fries too, but oh well. Then I get the bill... and I see they charged me $8 for the 1 poached egg. I questioned the waitress about that, telling her it should have been $2, but she said the owner has it set up that the "sides" orders (which also the bagel & cream cheese, and hash and chorizo for that matter, were all ordered off of) aren't ordered with a meal, it comes with home fries and there's an upcharge... None of this was explained to me upon ordering nor is it stated on the menu (and there was no upcharge for the other items I ordered from the "sides" list). So needless to say, my order came to $21.96 and I had $22 on me, and the poor waitress got a .04 tip and I was so embarrassed and ashamed, I've worked in restaurants before and know how hard people work, but $8 for an egg (ONE poached egg) is extremely expensive... I had enough money for everything including fair tip had the prices been clear, but the whole thing was very embarrassing and I will not be returning for this reason. The service and the food were great. I just can't understand why "sides" can't be ordered alone like every other restaurant out there... and if they can't, then they really need to be clear about this up front. I'm so sorry for the waitress, she did nothing wrong. I hope the owner can "fix" the bill so that she gets a fair...

I am loyal to local businesses and The Gathering operates in a way that a hillbilly diner once operated like in the 1950s. I so badly want to give a 5 star review because the sandwich I got was the best. My first visit was great. I walked in and placed an order as I was already in town and wanted to bring some breakfast home. That whole experience was sloppy as the one overworked mouthy waitress was making it clear to the entire restaurant of how busy she was. I normally let the food speak for itself, so no worries. Busy must mean the food is good.

I called last week to put in an order and a frantic old man answered and quickly shot me down saying the internet was down and the wires were not connecting and he was clearly going through some internal business struggles that quite frankly, could have been reiterated in 3 seconds rather than a minute of ranting. I understood, if the internet was down, you cant operate business, no problem. I called again this past Sunday, 3 times with no answer. I figured, maybe I would just drive down like I did the first time and order? So I called one last time and the frantic old man answered again. He yelled, and I quote, "We arent taking phone orders, its Sunday (like im some sort of an idiot), were busy and you can order on DoorDash" and hung up in my face. Completely appalled, and starving, I go on the DoorDash app and the app says they are closed and I couldn't put an order in. The Gathering doesn't know their a*s from their elbow and you better believe I am telling everyone in town about your rotten customer service. Hey, The Gathering, its 2021, get with...

Recently moved to the area, my fiance and I were excited to try a new breakfast spot. We went in we were seated pretty quickly and put in our drink order and then our food order. We sat and waited over 40 minutes for our food and still did not get it. Other people that came in after us were served there food before us. All we could hear is the staff arguing about our order out loud that the order was messed up and even when they were talking about getting our order ready they were saying the wrong food items we didn't order. I am 8 and a half months pregnant on top of that so I was definitely hungry. We could not wait anymore it should not have taken that long for French toast and eggs! My fiance finally said let's go we paid for our drinks. They tried to say oh you were next just 5 more minutes we had a big group before you guys came in. But no we heard the whole argument the staff was having with each other and again people who came in after us were served there food and were almost done and we didn't get ours. It's sad because the whole experience left a bad taste in my mouth and I will never try them again. It was just not handled right. Maybe if they apologized to us and tried to redeem themselves but there was no apology just an excuse of oh you were next. I bet if we didn't say anything we would have still been waiting...