Famous Dave's Bar-B-Que — Restaurant in Portland

I waited a couple days to review because I come here often. I gave the District Manager time to respond in a private email. I wasn't worth Blair's time. So, we post it here.

I come here often for the happy hour menu. I get the same thing almost every single time. The waitresses Savanah and Trish are absolutely great. Super friendly, excellent service. Another reason I was reluctant to leave a poor review.

My Wife and I get served the Macaroni pictured below. Both of us must have made a weird face. Because the waitress comes over right away asking "what did they bring you?". I replied "looks like we got the bottom of the bucket this time." She immediately offered to get us two new bowls. I replied it was ok, we did not want to waste the food. Mayne just give us a couple dollars off or something. No big deal.

A couple minutes later. The Manager "Freddy" comes walking to my table in an aggressive manner and tone. Chest out, acting angry. (Weighs about 140lbs, so not that threatening) Never asked if there was a problem. Simply looks at the macaroni and says "I can make you another bowl, but it is going to look just like that!" I recently was on a trip and lost my voice. So said the best I could. That I never asked for a Manager and the waitress had already handled the situation. And his presence and posture was not needed. He storms off like a child that did not get the toy he wanted.

Little Freddy then goes to berate the waitress over the incident. I could not hear anything but his loud voice and his posture while speaking to her. She returns to my table, looks super embarrassed and apologizes for his behavior. Which was absolutely not her fault. She was simply delivering the best service she could. And let Freddy know there was a quality issue. (On her own)

I am not a fan of someone put in some form of power and abusing it. While also not doing THEIR job. Blair and the Owner of this establishment should be utterly embarrassed at the way YOUR Manager behaves towards customers and employees. I have owned my business for 8 years. Freddy would be scrubbing toilets for a month if he acted that way at my establishment. Furthermore, he got off very lucky this time. The next time I encounter Freddy and he behaves like a bully with Napoleon syndrome. My voice will be back, And I will make sure the whole store is brought to the attention of...

Update: 8/25/2023

I'm happy to report I returned to Famous Dave's Bar-B-Que and had a much better experience this time. The friendly bartender was busy and helpful, even waiting tables and greeting new guests. Service was prompt, even though it's usually very busy here. The top quality food was delicious as always and, provided they stay on top of service, you can pretty much always expect a good experience here. My sources tell me the restaurant has taken concrete steps to beef up the service personnel and I'm glad that they will listen to feedback from their customers. For tasty BBQ style foods and great daily/happy-hour specials you should find Dave's Famous BBQ a great option for lunch or dinner.

Great food but terrible bartender. She forgot my food order for 45 minutes until I had to remind her! I still tipped her 9% ($5 tip on $60 bill), but she picked up my payment, held it 1 inch from her nose and frowned to show that she didn't like the tip! I've seen more mature 4 year olds. I went back a couple times and got different bartenders, then this week this same woman bartender was there with only 1 other customer at the entire bar who was actually leaving right then. The bartender kept her back to me at the empty bar talking to the customer who was leaving for at least 5 minutes. No menu, no water even. Finally she turned around just to say "I'll be with you in a minute.", then turned her back again and kept talking to the one other customer at the bar. After 4 more minutes I got up and walked out. I crossed the street to Buffalo Wild Wings where the bartender put a menu in front of me as soon as I sat down. I told him the beer I wanted and in less than 1 minute I had a frosty beer on the bar top. So that's 1 minute and 1 second for service at Buffalo Wild Wings, or 9 minutes for nothing at Famous Dave's BBQ. Dave's has tasty and unique food items, but if they can't hire competent bartenders then they might as well be serving dog food, since the customers will never enjoy the experience. Better to put up a sign that says "Sorry, Bar is closed due to staffing issues, please order drinks...

The food seems to have the potential to be delicious, but I've been 3 times now and each time I'm parked at curbside service pickup spot and calling at the time they say to arrive for my curbside service, andthen m then wait no less than 15 minutes for them to bring out cold food. Clearly it was ready but nobody could be bothered to bring it out. Two of those three times, I had to call again after waiting 15 minutes to remind them I was still waiting. What really sent me over the edge was the late time I went. I showed up and called exactly at the time they said it'd be ready [I have a schedule too], a gal answered and said she'd find someone to bring out my order. Roughly 10 minutes later an employee opens the door, not with my food, but with her cigarettes. After watching her take her sweet time for 5 more minutes, I call again. Wait, what's happening, the gal pulls the cigarette out of he mouth and thenanswers a wireless phone that was in her apron pocket. It was the same voice from when I called 15 minutes earlier. We hang up, she then finished her smoke and finally goes inside, maybe 3 minutes later. Within 5 more minutes I had my lovely COLD FOODl handed to me. My blood sugar was far too low at that point and my frustration was through the roof, but in about 5 more minutes, I had crossed the street to Wendy's ordered and paid for a replacement meal [opposite of bogo deal, 1 for the price of 2], threw away the cold meal from Dave's and started getting my grub on. This all happened less than a month ago in December and I refuse to pay for anything else from there [I'm typically a 3-strikes type of guy and this last strike was the worst especially with where my...