Lews Restaurant SW Roanoke — Restaurant in Roanoke

Tonight was a first. We usually have a really good experience at Lews, but tonight it was just awful. My husband, daughter and myself arrived about 8pm and there were several tables filled with people(good sign) We ordered quickly and had our drinks quickly(good sign) We ordered an appetizer of loaded fries and wings for each of us. 1 order boneless and 2 traditional. At 840 we still had no fries and our server had not come to check on us at all. She left the menus at the table, so after a while I put them back on the bar myself. At about 850 or so we got our wings, the boneless ones were cold, some not even at room temperature. And we never received our fries, even when we asked about them there was not an attempt by our server to rectify the situation or find out why we hadnt gotten them. Nor did she offer a refill on drinks. As someone who has waited tables before I get that times get super busy, but this was not a busy night for Lews. Despite these missteps by our server, my frustration is not really with her, it is with the kitchen staff. There is a difference in slow service and NO service. Cold food is not acceptable, not receiving food is unacceptable..and we weren't the only ones. There was a single gentleman at the bar who ordered a beer and a single order of fries. He got the beer, but no fries. I watched several plates return to the kitchen. My daughter observed 1 young man in the kitchen just standing around and he would be the first one to close the curtain so that no one could see what was happening back there. After eating what we could, bc we were hungry, i got up and got to-go boxes myself. When the other server asked if we needed anything else, I explained that we never got our fries. She apologized and took off the fries and half of our bill, which was very nice of her. The manager, I assume, he was also left or was not around for part of this fiasco. We saw him again as we were leaving. After all this, my concern is the kitchen staff and the lack of communication on the part of management and servers. If there is a problem in the kitchen you have a couple of choices.

1. be open with customers about your capabilities.
2. if you see customers not receiving food, be proactive in finding out the problem in the kitchen and fixing it for the customer.
3. fire/send home kitchen staff and close down for the night, because there is no excuse for what...

We were regular customers at this location for years up until COVID. We started going back, occasionally, after the restaurants opened back up. We always had really great service until last weekend. My boyfriend went one evening by himself for a meal and was seated outdoors since it was a really nice evening. He noticed that there were two servers in the outdoor area but neither spoke to him or came to take his order. After a while of being ignored, another server came from inside the restaurant and approached the table. This server (a male with many tattoos all over his arms) aggressively leaned on the table in front of my boyfriend and told him he did not pay for his service the last time he was in the restaurant. My boyfriend was astonished and totally embarrassed and said he has never walked out of a restaurant without paying. This server said, "No you did not leave a tip so you did not pay for your SERVICE so you will not be receiving any service this evening". He also said he had the permission of the owner of Lew's to do this. My boyfriend left the restaurant totally embarrassed by this person's behavior and accusation. This was ridiculous! We have always tipped our servers VERY well since we have always been satisfied by the service and food at this Lew's location. Since when is it okay for a customer to get denied service because he is accused of not leaving a tip after his last visit?? And the OWNER told him that is OKAY?? We will NEVER visit this location again or perhaps, any Lew's location because of this...

Sit outside this evening. Wife went inside told the greeter we was still outside waiting for a menu (waited 15 minutes). A waitress came out with only one menu after telling her 2 people total. No prob. My wife and I shared the menu. Wife said give me a few minutes as I got the all you can get spaghetti but wife stated you can go get our beverages and I will be ready when you return where the waitress said I will wait for your order before I get the beverages basically rushing my wife to order. Waited 25 minutes and wife went inside and had to ask person at the bar where our beverages was. Got them 5 minutes later.....30 minutes for beverages....REALLY. Then brought out my salad 5 minutes later so 35 minutes in and only have my salad then had to go back inside and ask for silver ware cause I am not eating salad with my hands. Food comes out 20 minutes later. At this point 55 minutes in now my wife doesn't have silver ware so I had to go back in and get that for her. SMH. Mind you I got all you can get spaghetti. Never saw a waitress again which was not all you can eat never got refills on beverages and wife went to the bar and asked for check and paid for it there which wasn't even our waitress. Then we walked across street got in our car and our waitress came out and cleaned our table........REALLY you can come to our table when we leave but couldn't the entire time we was there......moral of the story is DO NOT GO HERE UNLESS YOU LIKE TO NOT GET...