Cajun Boil & Bar - Oakbrook Terrace — Restaurant in Oakbrook Terrace

I must say this was the worst experience of my life. I have been to this location several times in the past and it had become one of my favorite seafood hangouts until May 4th. The manager Breshay forcefully pushed our table and the waitress Ashley verbally attached a patron that was with us and stated that we could take this outside. Breshay had to drag Ashely in the kitchen and Ashley kicked the door like she was coming out to fight and 3 people had to drag her back in the kitchen where she proceeded to scream for 40 minutes (we recorded this). Ashley was servicing 3 young ladies sitting behind us and begin to discuss the situation with them advising that she was grown and who the f--k did the person she had words with think she was. That was unprofessional and unacceptable. Ashley came back and continued to service our table without apologizing acting as if nothing happened. The manager still never came to apologize or address anything but after calling the Orland Park store the team had a meeting outside in the front of the restaurant. They came back in nothing was said to us. They gave two of us raw lobster that we ate then realized it was not cooked. My mother, a minister advised again we were here to celebrate 3 birthdays. Ebony said she would do what she can to assist and she did. One patron from our table got up to talk to the manager who finally came over to our table, still didn't apologize advised us she was not going to comp the bill because we ate the food and get this, because she heard our conversations after she was rude to us when we first got there. Mind you I am a manager in HR for a reputable company and I would never treat anyone like this nor allow my staff to do the same. One patron advised we should not have to pay and certainly not the demanded 17% gratuity that is automatically added to your bill because the service was garbage. YES I SAID GARBAGE!!!!! Breshay said that was all she would take off because we ate the food. I said my food is right here I didn't eat it because you gave me raw food. She would not budge. In the mean time the patron that was attacked called the police. I can't advise what was said because the police met her outside and spoke to her then came in to speak to the staff. We asked for a receipt showing we paid the bill and Breshay advised that she could not provide that. One patron said we paid you cash and we need the receipt for corporate and she asked someone at the bar to give us the receipt. As we left the officer came out and advised they have a humorous amount of complaints about this location and it should be shutdown. We are going to call corporate and show that we paid the $400+ dollars for the bill but this was unacceptable and these people need to be fired. This is never acceptable on any level. Especially when nothing was done to provoke this behavior. If they cannot rectify the situation this location should be closed. What Breshay and Ashely failed to take into consideration was who was sitting at that table. We will be contacting everyone we can including the BBB, news channels, corporate and more to get this resolved. Breshay and Ashley need anger management and customer service training. I will train for you that is my niche but it won't...

It sadden me to write this email to you guys, but I am dishearten by the service and professionalism and the food poising that my employees and I received dining here. I have visited the Oak Park location and it was amazing from the staff customer service and the food. I decided to bring my employees here for a night out and it was not good from the food to the customer service. Our waitress was first friendly ,but was not attentive to us at all. The food took some time , which we expected because it was busy , but we expected to food to be hot . We ran out of water and had to wait 20 minutes for the waitress to ask us if we needed anything. I had to ask another waiter that was very attentive to his tables to get us some water.; Which he did . Getting ready to leave I ask our waitress for a cup to go . We waited at least 20 minutes, then my employee decided to go find her and she literally told my employee that she has forgotten. The one and only thing that the waitress did on time was give me my bill.

I was going to leave a $20 tip ,but decided it was not worth it. I can say that the tall African American busser that came and prep our food was professional, funny and nice. Unfortunately one of my employees left her white and pink purse at the restaurant and she called about 18 times and there was no answer. We can in the next day and your team let us down...….. yet again  . The African American hostess was very unprofessional. I ask to speak to the manager and she actually told me" Sorry she is busy right now, short staff. " She proceeded to walk away, so I stopped her and I told her I will wait. I told the hostess that we tried calling and no answer. She told me that " the phones are dead and it take eight hour to charge up" . (WOW)  My employee decided to call the restaurant again and the young lady let the phone ring..... yet again , until she notice it was us. She walked off to go talk to her manager. The hostess could've offer us a seat and maybe some water or something while we wait ,nope it did not happen. What type of customer service is that. Also when you have employees not answering your phone, you will loose money.  Finally the manager came after 25 minutes of waiting, they seemed to be short staffed.  She was not giving us eye contact and was not giving us the attention we deserved. I introduced myself as a general manager so that she will not play that commercial apology script ,but oh course she did. That manager cared less what we were saying , she just wanted us to get out her face. She even suggested that I email them instead of listening to me. What a JOKE.  The manager made me feel that I was coming in for a refund under false pretenses ,we just wanted to be treated us with the respect we deserved .  We finally told her about the purse and she stated it was not in the safe and she was trying to contact the manager that was on shift and that she looked everywhere the purse could possibly be.  She walks off and circle back to the bar and bend over and grab the purse. What a waste of time, now I feel that she irritated under malicious intent that we requested her and now decided to...

I’ve visited this restaurant a few times before and had generally decent experiences, but this was my first time dining with a large group—and unfortunately, it didn’t go as smoothly. They are very inflexible and have many policies in place where most restaurants are able to accommodate their patrons.

The young lady who took the reservation seemed very inexperienced and lacked basic customer service skills. When I asked how billing would work for a large party, she vaguely said, “You just pay the bill with a credit card.” When I clarified I was referring to splitting the bill, she told me I’d need to ask the server, as she was “just the host.”

Upon arrival, the hostess was friendly, but many answers to questions were met with policy quotes. We were told that our group couldn’t be seated until everyone had arrived—even though they had clearly prepared space for a large party. (separate tables).This would have forced several guests to wait outside the building, with no covering or seating, on a hot day, again that was their policy, especially for a group with a reservation.

When I informed the host our group had decreased from 14 to 12 and asked to speak with a manager, hoping to get our tables connected , the manager also lacked a customer-friendly attitude. She acted as if we were asking for too much when we simply requested to have tables pushed together so we could sit comfortably as a group as we were celebrating my birthday. She stated it was against their policy—even though it was a quiet Wednesday evening and the restaurant was far from busy.

I also inquired about the party room, which had not been explained during the reservation call, and were told it wasn’t an option. I understand that the party room may have a minimum requirement—but true customer service considers context. On a slow weekday night, and with 12 guests ready to order drinks, appetizers, entrées, and more, it would have been reasonable to offer a bit of flexibility for a group clearly prepared to patronize and support the business. Because we were squeezed into a nook for 12, we only ordered entrees.

Our server Dre, was friendly, entertaining, and did his best to accommodate us. He seemed a bit overwhelmed at times, but maintained a positive attitude and was very personable. I would give him 4 stars.

The birthday drink and sign from staff was an appreciated gesture, but was overshadowed by the experience.

Overall, the experience was disappointing. Staff seemed inflexible and not particularly focused on customer service. There was very little autonomy due to “policy”. For a restaurant that automatically adds a 22% gratuity for large parties (which is understandable), the service should reflect a higher standard. A little more effort to accommodate and communicate clearly would make a big difference in the overall...