Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen — Restaurant in Richardson

This is our local Pappadeaux and we have frequented this location for many years, but last night was one of worst experiences we’ve ever had at a restaurant. We arrived 25 minutes early for a 9:15p reservation on Saturday night; they closed at 10. We were seated almost immediately and thought the evening was off to a great start! We ordered a swamp thing and espresso martini immediately on sitting down as well as the crab and spinach dip. My partner asked about beers on draft, the server had to go check on those, and about 15 minutes later came back with the list. We would find out later that our initial drink and appetizer order were not put in until the beer order was also entered. He ordered a beer and we added the shrimp and crawfish fondue as a second appetizer. After we “officially” ordered our drinks and appetizers, we waited. Our server came out at one point to let us know that they were out of bread for the night, this was about 15 minutes after order was placed. Ok fine, we were now within an hour of closing cool. We still were not given the opportunity to order, we kept waiting. A different server brought some food to a table across from us, placed the tray on a rack next to us, looked directly at us and says this isn’t for you - he wasn’t joking lol not even in the delivery just straight up not yours. We already knew it wasn’t because it wasn’t we ordered but it was a weird way to interact with customers who had no drinks no bread and were just sitting there looking around. When our drinks came out, it was clear they had been ready for a minute as my frozen drink was melted and had a layer of ice on the outside of the glass, fine, at least we had drinks. We asked to order our main meals at this point, still no appetizers. We ordered the red snapper, the swordfish and the pasta. Sometime while we were waiting we got some surprise bread - yay! I guess they weren’t out after all. Our appetizers finally came around 9:35 about 45 minutes after we arrived. The food was delicious as expected. While we were finishing our appetizers, and about 40 minutes after we placed our food order, our server came out with a menu, they were out of the swordfish, they told us they would try to get us a rain check so we could get it the next time we came. This was frustrating as we had wanted to order two of these as it is a seasonal chef selection, but only ordered one, so quickly chose another entree, the filet oscar because I figured this should be easy and consistent, and it was now after 9:30 so quickly approaching closing and our entrees had not been started. I did sub the carrots and pistachios for the spinach - the server asked if I wanted the baked potato that came with it or another side I figured the potato would be easiest so just got the potato. Then we waited again. For 25 minutes. Our drinks were gone, appetizers were gone, we had empty glasses, finished plates, dirty dishes, and no place to even put our food when it eventually came out. We kept looking for our server - nothing. Wanted more drinks, couldn’t order. Saw the manager rushing around delivering food, so couldn’t speak with him, because he would then disappear. Tables around us who arrived after us were getting their food and drinks. The restaurant was basically empty by the time our entrees arrived after the restaurant officially closed at 10p. My daughter ordered one more martini since we had someone to order from. Pictures are posted. My partners red snapper was supposed to have almonds, there were no almonds. My daughter’s pasta had gelatinized after sitting under a heat lamp to the point she didn’t take a single bite but instead brought it home to “make it better”. My carrots had no pistachios and I was informed when my food arrived that they were out of baked potatoes lol The server asked if I wanted another side, I was like at this point no, how long would that have taken and they probably would’ve ran out of it while preparing it somehow. Server made comment they were embarrassed about everything that had gone wrong with the meal.But...

This location is not like any other location I’ve ever visited. My visit today has really led me to believe this location must be the problem child. First of all, I visit pappadeaux all the time. It’s one of my favorite restaurants to visit. My friend and myself have now made it our business to meet for lunch on a monthly cadence to catch up. Our first two meetings have been at pappadeaux. So we automatically assumed our level of customer service would be the same as any other location ESPECIALLY at the price point. Anyway, Hossanna B., was the bartender today. I didn’t get that info from her. Got it from my receipt. She didn’t tell us her name. Nor did she ask ours. I’m used to the bartender asking and writing it down to remember us. Not a big deal, but she didn’t even introduce herself. Secondly, she seemed pressed for time or as if she didn’t want to be at work. She had zero patience and zero follow up to check on the customer. She didn’t make our drinks at the end of the bar we sat on, she went all the way down to the other end. It was so odd that the couple next to us questioned her. She said they are making her make our drinks on the other end. Literally makes no sense. My friend and I discussed it amongst ourselves but didn’t ask her directly as the other couple did. Most people sit at the bar to experience seeing our drinks being made. But she walked away every time. When placing my order, she didn’t write anything down. Important to note because she is trying to remember multiple orders, she didn’t have the time to answer questions. I had a dressing at a previous location for a salad. I tried to explain it to her but she wasn’t having it. She didn’t try to help me figure it out. She yelled out what dressings are available and had me choose. I settled for two options because I wasn’t sure what I was looking for as it was recommended by another location. When the salad came out, one dressing came out. I had to ask for the other one. It was not what I had previously. So I showed a pic from my last visit and then she took the time to tell me what it was but I literally tried to explain it to her from the beginning but she didn’t wanna listen. I would also like to note that every time an order came out to the bar area, the servers were at the wrong customer. Every time. Which makes me believe as a prior food industry worker, that she was NOT entering the food order at the correct seat. I shouldn’t have to get the servers attention at another customer who is rejecting my food to let them know it’s mine. I had to reject someone’s food when I was already eating mine at this point. This experience was not it while sitting at the bar. My experience is always great. I’m not sure if she was having a bad day or what, but her energy, enthusiasm and customer service were way off. Not to mention, my fish was a filet, full of bones. Come on now. I had so many bones in the fish. I couldn’t believe it. Never had that happen before. Also, spinach was not fully sautéed. I will not be back to this location. I didn’t even feel like she deserved a tip, but I gave her one anyway. I feel robbed. She did nothing today but assured me that I should travel to the location I frequent more often. Do...

I would actually rate our time there between a 2 1/2 to a 3.

My husband and I went there last week after going to a funeral. We live about three hours away from a Pappadeaux and my husband wanted to take me someplace nice since the funeral was somewhat hard on me and so he took me there. Although they were busy (it was about 5:30 on a Saturday,) the wait was not long. We did like the seating section they put us in and were pleased with that. I was somewhat emotionally tapped at this point and just needed a nice experience at the restaurant. The waiter came and my husband went to order something extra for me and I tried to tell him to wait and told the waiter he was just trying to be nice to me, but never really got a chance to explain. The waiter said “I just met you” and I was kind-of embarrassed because the words kept fumbling. What I wanted to say is that “My husband is trying to be nice to me because I just came from a funeral that was pretty hard on me,” but I didn’t feel like I ever really got the chance. I then ordered the “Naked Grouper” which to me meant I ordered it without the spicy 🌶️ sauce that came with it. I take prescription medicine and have to be careful in that area. He then brought out the fish with none of the toppers on it which were crab and shrimp 🍤 for this particular dish and that was one of the main highlights of the meal I was looking forward to. When he brought it I was very disappointed, but my husband wanted me to have the right thing. I then tried to explain to the waiter that I wanted the grouper with the crab and shrimp, but not the spicy 🌶️ sauce, but as you can see from the picture I was given the grouper 🐠 in the spicy 🌶️ sauce and I just gave most of it to my husband. Not only did I not like the spicy sauce, but we were about three hours from our home (the whole trip for the funeral was about 11 hours) and we did not want to take any chances physically. I tried explaining to the waiter that I took stomach medicine, but I’m guessing he didn’t understand or listen. I understand that most people are not coming in from a funeral, but the whole plan to take me somewhere nice with the day we’d had was did not result in a positive experience. I did enjoy the little bit of crab I had on my fish, but everything else was disappointing. My husband got the redfish and described it as slightly dry and not a lot of flavor.

Overall, we had an expensive meal that we didn’t really enjoy. I don’t know that we’ll ever go back to a...