Winston's Grille — Restaurant in Raleigh

I rarely leave reviews—good or bad—but my experience at Winston’s tonight was so disappointing that I feel compelled to share it.

I attended my aunt’s 60th birthday dinner this evening (Saturday) at 6 p.m. Our party had 17 guests. About 30 minutes after being seated, our server, Olivia, came to take our drink orders. She seemed disengaged and unenthusiastic, but we didn’t make much of it—after all, not every server is bubbly or outgoing, and that’s fine.

Roughly 20 minutes later, she returned with our drinks. We were ready to order our entrées, but she insisted on taking appetizer orders first since two people in our party wanted some. That meant the rest of us had to wait even longer before we could place our meal orders.

After another 30 minutes, the appetizers arrived, and Olivia finally took our entrée orders. I ordered a ribeye steak (extra well done) with broccoli and mashed potatoes. It took about an hour for our meals to arrive. When my plate finally came, everything looked good—until I cut into my steak and saw that it was dark pink inside.

Initially, I hesitated to send it back because I know how food complaints can sometimes be received. But considering the price, I decided it was reasonable to ask for it to be cooked longer. Unfortunately, it took another 30 minutes before my second steak came out, and even then, it was still pink inside (pictured below). At that point, I gave up and decided I’d just take it home and cook it myself.

When I asked for the bill, Olivia curtly told me “it’s coming.” By now, it was 9 p.m.—three hours since we were seated. A few minutes later, she began taking dessert orders, so I asked again for my check. She snapped that I would have to wait until after dessert. I told my family I planned to speak with a manager, but Olivia quickly rushed to speak with him before I could.

The manager, Tyler, was professional in tone, but his demeanor suggested indifference. I told him, “If I walked out without paying, the police would be called immediately, yet here I am practically begging to pay my bill.” I explained that my main frustration was not just with the undercooked steak, but with the dismissive and unprofessional attitude from his staff.

Tyler offered to remake the steak, but at that point—after being there for over three hours and dealing with so much attitude—I declined. I told him to remove the steak from my bill and that I would only pay for the sides and lemonade. He then asked why I had waited until 9:34 p.m. to say something, but I had already explained that my concern wasn’t the food itself—it was the service.

I returned to my table to wait for the check. Ten minutes passed. Then twenty. I went back to Tyler and said, “Hey Tyler, I just want to bring to your attention that I asked for my check 50 minutes ago and still haven’t received it.” He casually replied, “Oh, I took care of it for you. I told Olivia to let you know.”

So I wasted nearly an hour waiting on a bill that didn’t even exist—and no one thought to inform me.

The entire experience was disorganized, dismissive, and completely unprofessional. As someone who also works in restaurant management, I would never tolerate this type of behavior from my staff, especially not from a manager.

I will never dine at another Winston’s, and I’ll be sure to share this experience with others. Customers deserve to be treated with respect, not...

First of all, this review has nothing to do with the food or waitstaff at Winston's. I have always found the food to be delicious and the waitstaff excellent. This review pertains to the front desk employees. My husband and I decided, while driving to another restaurant, to call Winston's and check out the specials. They sounded phenomenal, so we decided to head that way. I asked about the wait time and the lady on the phone told me it was 30-45 minutes, I asked about reservations or call ahead seating and was told Winston's does neither. We felt underdressed, but went into the restaurant. The girl at the desk told me the wait for dining room was an hour to an hour and a half and patio was twenty minutes. I told her what was relayed to me on the phone call not ten minutes before, and the girl, rather rudely said, "Things change. I don't know who told you that!" We went onto the patio and with the heaters it was nice. When walking through the bar area, the space was packed and no one was wearing masks, in fact most of the patrons were maskless. This worried us, so we opted for a patio table. We informed the girl at the front and began our wait. We started in the car, but I thought it best to wait inside. We went in, all three people at the desk looked at us and we stood for a few minutes, then a seat opened up in the lobby. After 45 minutes of waiting, and watching people who arrived after us be seated, I went to the desk. The girl who took my name and phone number said, "I have ben texting you! Perhaps I have the wrong number." We were shown to a table on the other patio. The temperature had dropped and unless sitting directly under a heater, it was too cold to enjoy dining. We were then taken to another table, which was even worse. Went went back into the restaurant, and the hostess pointed at two stools at the bar - where people were packed in. We left and went to another place to dine. And then asked if we wanted to be put back on the list. I have enjoyed Winston's since they opened in 1986. At one point my best friend and I were regulars (like lunch once or twice a week, and Sunday brunch at least once a month). We became friendly with the owners and Winston's was one of my favorite places to eat. When i moved back to the area and got married, my husband and I enjoyed Winston's as a special occasion restaurant. Unfortunately, the experience tonight has soured us. Your front desk staff is the first impression of any business -- the girl who talked to us came across as severely lacking in customer service skills. Also, the restaurant's lack of regard for the health and safety of not only the customers, but the staff was appalling. The Winston's I knew...

I have been going here for years. I have to say that today was the absolute worst experience I have ever had here and at ANY restaurant for that matter. Upon checking in for our reservation time the hostess told us with a very snippy attitude that we had to leave within 1 1/2 hours, bc they were super booked. I told her that they should have told me this when I made my reservations that they would put a time limit on my dining experience. At which point, I would have chosen to dine somewhere else. Part of the entire reason I choose to dine out is to have a relaxing, non-rushed meal. From my recollection I don’t believe ANY fast food chains would even say that. I have gotten better service at McDonalds drive-thru. I asked to speak to the manager who said they will not rush us. However, they still rushed us through our meal. Within 10-15 mins of receiving our appetizers they brought out our main entrees and practically put them on top of the appetizers that looked full. Any half eaten appetizers were removed without asking if we were done with them. Also, the lady (not our server) who brought our food to us had such a bad attitude. It seemed like the majority of the establishment were very moody and rude. Our waitress was fairly nice. However, she took away our main entrees without asking if we were done. My son was in the middle of his meal and had some left and she just took it away. We ordered desserts and within 5 mins the waitress brought over our check and put it on the table. This place has definitely gone downhill. I would NOT recommend coming here for dinner unless you want to be rushed and have your evening ruined with rude staff and poor management. And the restaurant was about 30% empty when we left. We got there at 4:30PM and left by 6PM. So yes…they DID RUSH us. It was so uncomfortable being there and I can’t see myself ever enjoying a nice meal there again after this...