Green Light Diner — Restaurant in Poulsbo

I came here for dine-in before COVID shutdowns and it was great; food was good and we loved it.

Unfortunately my husband and I ordered breakfast and our order appeared to be wrong; it was pork, not salmon - we don't eat pork. My husband called to discuss, and we were told they were very sorry and they would have the owner call back; they did not tell us anything about the cut or style of fish vs pork, or to save the food or needing a picture or anything, so in our morning rush we threw the food away and didn't get to eat breakfast at all as a result. We live 20 min away and had been planning this for a week, and we hadn't eaten out in several months - this was exciting to us, and so very disappointing. But mistakes happen and that's life, we figured they might just replace the meal and that's that.

My husband got a call with the owner who argued with him, essentially saying since we threw it away, we can't prove it was incorrect or return it. My husband was very angry (understandably), he's normally VERY understanding and I was shocked to overhear the conversation going so badly.

I called again and spoke with him a bit more calmly, and he said the salmon is cubed now (I've never seen that, does fish pull apart exactly like pork too) and a glaze they use that smells like pork (WHY?? This doesn't make any sense). I don't believe him, but whatever. Why the first person didn't clarify that when we first called and described the smell/texture/cut is a mystery. He said "if I buy shoes and want to return them, I don't throw them away" -- no restaurant anywhere, and I've lived in several states and have worked for a multi-state sized bar & restaurant group for years now - has ever done that because it's food. You don't restock it. But ok. He essentially said he doesn't believe us and it's their word against ours, and about frustrating communication issues with his kitchen (I'm a customer, that isn't my fault/problem), with their conclusion being "blame the customer." Why so combative?? We used to love this place.

He insisted our order was "very large" (2 breakfasts and we tipped well) and too expensive to refund. He reluctantly offered to replace if we came in, which after all that no way because that's how you get your food spat on. So we are out $45 (it cost them materials & they made a profit). I'm on unemployment now as my company was shut down due to COVID, and all he could do was talk about how it's hard having a business right now with COVID.

I have empathy, but I expect better and he demonstrated no empathy for us, so here is my review. If he had just offered to replace it this wouldn't have escalated to this. But now we can't go here anymore and wish we had known the risk of coming here in advance. Google reviews = customer protection, and apparently we...

For those who are looking for a brief review: 3 stars for the food, -1 star for the worst service I have had in years.

My significant other and I looked up the location online, and the photos looked good! We decided to stop in for a bite, as we were hungry and looking for some simple diner food.

We stopped in, and were informed that the wait time would be 15-20 minutes. No problem! We waited for about ten and we were shown to our table.

We ordered within 5 minutes. I ordered a burger with some customizations, my partner ordered a BLT. We were polite with staff, and were looking forward to our meal. This is where the problems started.

After 20 minutes passed, we were understanding. It seemed relatively busy. After 35 minutes, we were frustrated. After 50 minutes of waiting, our food came to the table. It was fine. Nothing particularly remarkable, but we were fine. In the entire 50 minutes of waiting, we were not checked on ONCE after we were given water to drink.

Now, even after this, we were holding out. A bit frustrated, but not outright angry. I was, however, INFURIATED, when the server came back to our table after not checking on us once while eating, offered us the check, and tried to take my partner’s plate while she was STILL EATING. Food was still on her plate, they didn’t so much as offer a box.

They treated us like we were nothing more than an inconvenience, customers that came in after us got their food before we did. It was like we had committed some egregious sin without being told, or doing anything actively out of place.

I would leave one star, if it weren’t for the fact that one star reviews are often shrugged off as illegitimate. The most horrid service I’ve had in years. Never coming back to this location, and actively recommending against it to anyone I know.

As an addendum, the only thing I could think that we might have done wrong would be that we didn’t spend enough money. That is, however, no justification for how we were treated here. An absolute date ruiner.

An additional edit: my partner noted that our server was checking on multiple other tables, and then not stopping at ours. I did not have a view of the whole restaurant from where I was sitting, so I was...

We've always wanted to come here as we're big fans of locally owned dinners. Let's start with our arrival! Horrible! Two staff members saw us come in as they were chitchatting and ignored us and walked to the back kitchen area. One came out, stood around near the back forcing me to walk up to her and asked if we were ever going to be seated! Once seated, it took her almost ten minutes to bring us menus (don't know if she was "busy" in the back but she sure appeared she didn't want to serve us). When she finally came with the menus, she flipped mine with almost an attitude of "here you go!" NOT GOOD! Another server came and took our order - she was much more pleasant! My wife ordered the avocado toast w egg and I ordered the "make it yourself" burger. The avocado definitely looked old and brownish - she could only stomach two bites! I specifically asked for a single burger with onion, lettuce, tomato, mayo, mustard and ketchup. It was missing the onions, ketchup and mustard. I got up to see if I can get some ketchup and mustard and the attitude I got was BEYOND acceptable from our original server. I waited and it took her exactly 8 minutes to bring a small amount of mustard forgetting the ketchup! So, I got up again and retrieved a ketchup from a table from customers who left. By the time I ate my burger, the bread on the bottom patty was so soggy from all the grease it was impossible to hold together. Bottom line - watch out!!! We left extremely disappointed! We will NEVER go back! Better to eat breakfast/lunch at Dennys or drive to Silverdale for better dinner type options. We eat breakfast and lunch out every weekend and we will ensure to tell all we know never to go here if they're curious. The establishment will be just fine as it continues to operate mostly to tourist but if you look at yelp, you'll see a pattern of bad service - with some replies from the establishment with a smug remark of "you need to bring it up with management before you leave" thus deflecting! NO, you first need to train your staff properly and take reviews as lessons learned! Unless a safety or hygiene issue, this is what "reviews" are for! Maybe there's a reason for the many "bad...