Little Griddle — Restaurant in Portland

Date of Visit: 12/03/23 - 12:56 PM

Incident Summary: During my recent visit to "The Little Griddle", I encountered a serious food safety issue followed by an extremely distressing interaction with the staff. Unfortunately, this experience has compelled me to share my concerns publicly.

Issue with Food Quality: I ordered a chicken wrap, and upon consuming part of it, I discovered that a piece of chicken was almost completely raw. As someone who recently suffered from food poisoning leading to bacterial meningitis, this was not just a minor oversight but a significant health hazard.

Response to the Complaint: Upon bringing this to the attention of the server, my concerns were dismissed. I had hoped for a professional response, considering the severity of serving undercooked chicken. Instead, the situation escalated in an unexpected and unsettling manner.

Staff Interaction: The staff member reacted defensively and unprofessionally to my complaint. When I documented with my cellphone (quietly and privately) the undercooked food for reporting purposes, the server escalated the situation by threatening to call the police. This response was not only inappropriate but also antagonistic, creating an environment where I felt unfairly targeted and unsafe.

Health Consequences: This incident resulted in another hospitalization for food poisoning, as confirmed by medical reports. The direct link between the meal and my illness highlights a grave lapse in food safety standards at this establishment.

Conclusion: While I understand that working in the service industry can be challenging, the lack of professionalism and concern for customer well-being I experienced at "The Little Griddle" is unacceptable. Food safety should be a paramount concern for any restaurant, and the staff's inability to handle such a serious issue responsibly is deeply concerning.

Recommendation: I urge potential patrons to consider the seriousness of these issues. For the management of "The Little Griddle," I recommend immediate and thorough training in food safety and customer service protocols to prevent such incidents...

The food was good but the experience wasn't, so I wanted to provide some constructive criticism and information for others, particularly people with little kids. We chose Little Griddle because they had an online wait-list you could join in advance and our toddler was having a rough day, so we wanted to minimize wait time (we were traveling, so cooking at home wasn't an option). The first disappointment was that our position on the wait-list wasn't honored. Once we arrived at the restaurant, there was a sign saying to check in if you were on the wait-list. It took quite a while to get anyone's attention to do that, and even when we did, a party the same size as us was seated before us. I know for sure they weren't on the list because the host took their name and added them to it right next to me and they only waited about 5 minutes. We waited about 20 minutes beyond the longest estimate from the online wait-list. So we were left wondering why the online wait-list even exists since it's not honored. (Just as a clarification, we were also not late or anything like that)

When we were finally seated at a booth, they let us know that they couldn't do high chairs for the booths and didn't have booster seats. Since a lot of their seating is booths, it feels like the restaurant could have put some thought into that. I hope they get a booster seat for future customers. So now we have to wrangle a loose toddler who's like 30 minutes past the time she should have been eating. The service was also not very quick and not very friendly. We're respectful when eating out with our toddler (cleaning up after ourselves, not allowing her to be loud, etc.), so I don't think we did anything to warrant unkindness.

I'm still giving three stars because the food was generally really good, but I didn't feel welcome and...

Two of us ordered the chicken eggs Benedict. The chicken was burnt, no seasoning, the poached eggs were over cooked to a pont that they were hard, and a whisper of hollandaise sauce. Terrible. The floors looked like they hadn't been mopped in a week and were disgusting. The service was abysmal. No one checked on us or offered a coffee refill. We had to beg f9r the check. I do not understand why people wait an hour to eat over priced boring bland food. Yet another example of overpriced hyped food with sheeple lining up to eat it. Dont waste your hard earned money. I am unable to respond to the owners response, so I am editing my original post. To clarify, I was not there on the 18th, but dined there on Sunday, father's day. Although I appreciate your response, it is clear that the line cooks have no commitment to quality food. I am not exaggerating when I say that there was no more than a few drops of hollandaise on my Benedict. The spinach? I counted no more than 3 leaves of spinach. You are still gouging us with your Covid pricing, and charging 3 dollars for breakfast potatoes instead of a salad???? Who serves a salad with eggs??? Take a look at your 1 and 2 star reviews. They are growing. Wake up. Stop gouging. And serve quality food at a reasonable price. Go have breakfast at 'City and State' to see excellent food at a quality price. Just get better, as consumers, we are done with this kind...