Flanigan's Seafood Bar and Grill — Restaurant in Pinecrest

I have been in the restaurant business off and on since the age of 13. Currently I help manage a very well known fast food chain. My family and I have been to Flanigans many times in the past. Including this location. We have never had any serious issues. However, this time was much different. We decided to visit on a Friday night. We were told that our wait time would be 45-60 minutes. Reluctantly, we decided to wait. While waiting, roughly an hour had gone by and several parties that had arrived after us, they were seated before us. I asked the young lady at the hosting area why this was occurring. She told me that we were third in line and mentioned something about people signing up on “the app”. Not sure what she was actuating referring to, as I had witnessed myself, two of the parties placing their names with her, after I had already given her my parties name.

We waited another 24 minutes, and witnessed 3 more parties ushered into the restaurant. My wife and I noticed a large roach scamper across the floor. So at this point it made no sense for us to continue to wait. We had already waited an hour and a half, due to either clear favoritism or poor decision making, but now the cleanliness was in question. With great annoyance and slight anger, I told the young lady to take our name off the list. She asked me what my name was. I told her, and she said “ I was just about to call your name”. Strangely enough, she said we were third in line 24 minutes prior, but they had ushered in 5 parties ahead of us. So at this point her words meant very little, because my wife and son were already starving and annoyed.

I get it’s Friday night and busy. What I don’t understand is how you expect us to believe that you are seating people fairly. We can clearly see people that showed up after us, placing their names with you at the hostess stand, get seated before us. Then you blame it on an “app”? As someone who has dealt with mobs of hungry people, within high volume restaurants, please don’t insult peoples intelligence by saying it may have something to do with an app, when we can clearly see that you are improperly seating people, based on whatever system you have chosen to follow. As an industry compadre, it’s with a heavy heart that I write this. I hate doing this. However, waiting at your establishment, hungry, for almost an hour and a half, and being bypassed for whatever reason, it’s completely unacceptable.

In this industry, we are already seen as “less than” and treated very poorly by the very people whom we rely on to pay our bills….why go and add fuel to the fire and discriminate against any people and perpetuate the lie that we in the industry are incompetent and incapable of carrying out simple steps. Why give people reason to complain? We already work very hard to try and achieve the unachievable, to please those that can’t always be pleased. Please do better, because I am in the same industry and work very hard in my respective restaurant to make sure all people are taken care of and treated with respect. I humbly request you...

While Lewis our server was excellent, the hostesses Brianna and Ainsley were BOTH extremely rude, from the get go! Upon arrival she yelled at my Friend Tere"DON'T touch my door"(in from of lots of other clients, whom saw and heard it)! When I told Ainsley, that there were different ways of saying things/then she very rudely screamed at me "how do you want me to say that?", with a tremendous attitude(negative), while Brianna chimed in by saying: "what's her problem?" Then later my Friend Tere and I were talking and Brianna asked with a tremendous attitude as well," are you talking to me,?" when I replied NO, I'm talking to my Friend she very rudely replied well you were looking at me, when I really wasn't! She was looking for trouble and an argument with me! Also, when I walked in the door, Ainsley made me throw my water bottle away, saying that NO drinks were allowed again with an attitude! If it weren't for my NOT being in my own car, I would've left and taken my business elsewhere, because my money is worth the same everywhere! Whatever happened to "the customer is always right?" It's just NOT good business to have such rude hostesses, also another lady was waiting to be called and Ainsley let another man in before her, even though She was before Him, and Ainsley told her that he had told her that his wife was inside waiting for him, so the lady replied that it was b.s. and she shared how upset she was about it, as well as how she heard and saw how rude Ainsley was when we arrived(as mentioned above)! Lewis made the difference, and made my Friend Gloria's birthday special, very attentive and personable! We spoke to a male manager to let Him know how great Lewis was, and we showed our appreciation towards Him with our tips! The food was delicious, as well as our drinks (margaritas and piña coladas)! Even on the way out, Ainsley very sarcastically answered back herself:, "thank You, you too",before I even got to reply thank you same to you, when she said "have a nice day"(or something to that effect)! These two are definitely NOT the hostesses with the mostesses and could definitely use some training on hospitality and dealing with the public! They're the first people that the clients face upon arrival to your location which as you know, have lots of other ones where one could go( for example Bird Rd, coconut...

Good food, terrible service. Went for lunch today and waitress was a hot mess from the start. My party ordered 2 appetizers, salads all the way around and a to go order, nothing complicated. I ordered a grilled chicken salad and the waitress asked me how I wanted it cooked...uh...all the way cooked! I then said "well it's grilled chicken." She then said "oh yes nevermind, I mean did you want it mild, medium or hot?" I was totally confused but reminded her again that it was just grilled chicken not buffalo chicken. She finally got the salad orders down which we recieved but we never recieved our appetizers. We asked about our appetizers and she then said she forgot to put in the order. She finally put in the order and I asked for bread with our salads. She said it didn't come with it but we could order garlic rolls 3, 6 or 12. I said ok and ordered 3 rolls (although at this point she should have offered to comp them). Well we never got the rolls either. When we finished our salads and appetizer, a buser came out and said "you asked for rolls." I said well you can leave the rolls but I don't think we should have to pay for them since we're already done with our salads and our entire order was messed up from the start. The buser leaves and 1 roll was consumed. Then our waitress comes to the table and says "my buser says you're not going to pay for the rolls so I'm going to take them back" and picked up the plate. I said "no you're not. Leave the rolls right there please and get your manager." Long story short ... the manager came out, he was very nice. He apologized for everything, comped our bread and appetizer (although we didn't ask) and asked for any refills on our drinks (yep, something else our waitress missed). She was a terrible waitress with a bad attitude and could have made for a better experience by just apologizing for her mistake and saying you know what...don't worry about the rolls! It's called...