Amy's — Restaurant in Providence

This is a great place, but there are some simple things being done wrong, or not being addressed, which, if fixed, could turn a mediocre experience into a superb one!

The signature item is Amy’s Burger…. The burger meat is good, but has been salted and then overcooked. There is no reason to add salt to burgers and this truly ruins the flavor. Because the kitchen gets slammed when busy, the grill temperature has been turned up too high.

Regarding the wait time, the grill man is the major bottleneck, slowing down the entire process. Either replace that guy, go around him or give him some help. There were 6 or 7 people working here during a busy lunch yesterday. One of those people should be trained to jump in before the busy period hits; don’t wait to do this until you’re in the weeds. A whiteboard and the person taking orders announce the wait time, when I was there, 30-35 minutes. This must cost business. i was there just as the busy time ended, but no one changed or erased the whiteboard. Telling customers upfront they have to wait so long is just an advertisement of operational problems and could be eliminated if the kitchen issues were corrected.

The service staff is very dedicated and hard working, but when the busy period hits, they lose focus on simple but important things like emptying trash cans, cleaning the tables and seating areas, etc. They are forced to turn all their attention to the frenetic order fulfillment process generated by the faulty kitchen process. The staff must yell out names when orders are ready… this is annoying and undermines the desired “low key cool vibe” that attracts people of all ages to what really is a great place.

Why not gather phone numbers and send texts when orders are ready, then add this info to your marketing efforts? Or just find another way to accomplish order delivery without adding to chaos, maybe a simple digital board with order numbers to let customers to know their order is ready? This would eliminate the need for the staff to run around trying to deliver the orders.

Think about inexpensive housekeeping issues which would cost next to nothing to address, but would elevate the overall image. Paint the tabletops, entry way door/trim and high wear points. The interior is tired and needs to be freshened… simple to do.

Periodic intensive cleaning of the wooden floor would make sense too, once a month. At present, the daily mopping after a busy day just pushes most of the soil around into the corners.

Ventilation: make sure to clean the AC split unit filters in the space frequently and get some advice on introducing controlled make up air into the kitchen to balance the amount of air withdrawn by the grill hood. This will help reduce the cooking odors which currently saturate anyone who comes into the space. I doubt the one AC split unit can keep up during summer, and the kitchen is probably roasting then, which forces the staff to open the rear door, which it was yesterday on a 70 sunny spring day. Units like this are not meant for commercial applications, and their filters get clogged quickly, because they don’t take in outside air. Fixing these issues would really improve working conditions and the overall customer experience.

No aluminum cans are being recycled. This sends the wrong message.

Orders being consumed on site should be served on paper plates, not in bulky take out boxes, which are hard to eat from, cost a lot, and increase the trash volume in the already overflowing trash cans…. A vicious circle!

That’s It! This is a good place whose owner/manager needs to just take a small step back, take a breath and smooth out these simple issues which are hobbling operations.

I don’t think the customers who come here would care if prices were increased a little in order to offset the cost needed to fix these things…. They have plenty of money and would still see Amy’s as relatively “cheap eats” in a...

I have been coming to Amy's Place for a long time, and have been very loyal to the restaurant. I really like their food, and for the price, it is great quality.

However, this is the second time I have had a problem with their customer service. The first time, we received a bowl of fruit with an order and a strawberry had a very big chunk (almost the size of a kiwi) of dirt and mud attached to it. It was very clear that they didn't wash their fruit. Even more than that, how could a staff member ignore the dirt and serve it? It was very visibly dirty and needed to be washed. When we took the bowl of fruit back and pointed out the dirt, the staff member just stared at my face and gave us a different bowl of fruit. No apologies, no remorse, nothing!

Most recently, I placed an online order for a breakfast sandwich. If you have ever used their online ordering portal, it is very easy to make selections and substitutions clearly without confusion. I opted to sub hashbrown for bacon due to my dietary restrictions. It is not that I left a comment about the substitution. I clearly selected the option for "No Bacon, Sub Hashbrown." When I picked up the order, the receipt attached to the bag even indicated "No Bacon, Sub Hashbrown." The sandwich had bacon in it. I am not usually upset about mistakes to food orders, I understand that in a rush, things can go awry. I very respectfully took the sandwich back and asked if it can be made again. They were able to replace it with the correct order, however, there was absolutely 0 apologies made. Furthermore, the cook making the sandwich even had a sour look on their face.

Amy's is a great place, I like their food. However, their customer service really needs improvement. If its hard being nice to customers, then maybe you should consider a career change... just a suggestion.

I will not...

Their food is good. Nothing crazy. Certain menu teams are really good. Certain food items are okay, but not really worth it. Dining area is okay, but it is too small and cramped. Not much space between other diners. But the worse part is that this place’s service is slower than a snail. If this was the last place on earth that you had to rely on for food, you would be dead. Each time my partner and I came to eat, it was at minimum a 30 minute-1hour wait each time for literally two items. As someone who has worked in food service (as a line cook,) the line cooks/ kitchen staff need to be taught a sense of urgency. When viewing them from the dining area, there is none whatsoever and it shows in the service times. I would see people cancel their orders and leave without food because it took too long. My partner and I had to do the same sometimes and he would end up being late a few times for work because of it. On top of the wait times, our food would be cold. If you’re charge people all that money and make them wait a century, you should at-least be serving them hot food. Stopped going because it just wasn’t worth the ridiculous wait anymore. Go to caspian (wait times a decent) or cook your own brunch/breakfast. It’s cheaper and will be a hell of a lot faster...