Denny's — Restaurant in Rock Springs

So, I usually write reviews for new restaurants I try or when the service/facility is dire need of help. Never before in my time doing reviews have I gone to a Denny’s and asked “how do I write a review for y’all?”. Whoever is in charge of this location knows what they are doing. The staff here, especially the shift tonight (12/3 at 6pm) is what will keep me coming back throughout my driving career. After a long 600 miles on the road I was looking forward to a burger. Being that I drive a CMV I can’t just stop at a mom and pop place and walk in. I saw there was a Denny’s at the Flying J in Rocky Springs, WY and decided this would be where I end my day and eat. Boy was that a good decision. I sat at the bar of a newly renovated Denny’s and looked around at just how clean it was. This was the cleanest Denny’s I had ever seen. I was greeted promptly with a smile, seated, then offered a beverage (I can’t remember the name of this young lady). Soon after my drink arrived the wonderful Tanya came up to my seat at the bar. From the get go I could tell Tanya knew what she was doing. I was so hungry so I started off with a side salad, within seconds it was in front of me. After a few bites of my salad I was ready to order my entree and Tanya was there to write it down. I decided on a double cheeseburger, with cheddar cheese, and a cheddar bun. She punched it right into the computer and within two seconds I heard the kitchen call it out and get to work. As I finished my salad and waited for my meal I began to watch how Tanya interacted with not only her customers but the co-workers as well. “Yes sir, yes ma’am, right away, she gets the next table, I’ll get right on that for you, I’ll stay later tonight to help with that!” She was waltzing around the dining room like a machine and never missed a step. This was the attitude of someone who thoroughly enjoys what she does. I even heard her say that she loves her job. That’s a rarity these days. When my burger was served and I didn’t have enough ketchup. Tanya grabbed one next to me and replaced the one she took like it was a magic trick. During the meal she was tentative and grabbed me a few extra napkins, a refill, and another side of ranch for my fries. I heard her talking to her customers like she had known them for years. As a driver I can tell you that this is what is needed after a long day in the cab with just music and your thoughts. A clean facility, service with a welxoming smile, and a delicious meal. I made mention to her “you have this down to a science”. Y’all... this was hands down the best experience I’ve ever had at any Denny’s, and quite possibly any restaurant I have been to. Kudos Tanya, you knocked it out of the park tonight! I am sure you’ll have your bad days Tanya but please don’t ever change. The world needs more people like you in it! I can’t wait to stop...

This review is not about the food (the food was alright not great but not bad what you'd expect from a dennys) in fact this review was about the terrible service from the wait staff.

If I could rate this particular dennys lower than a star I would, but Google won't allow it.

The girl who took sat us down took our drink orders and walked away and took about 15 minutes to return, I wouldn't have been upset if I hadn't seen her standing by the cash register chatting with another waitress.

Then she finally made it back with our drinks and took our order for the all you can eat spaghetti special.

About ten minutes go by and we saw her coming back expecting her to ask for refills? Nope. She forgot what we ordered, so she decided to go ahead and write it down this time, awesome more time sitting here.

Right about this time is when a person I'm assuming to be the manager shows up at the restaurant, I'm only assuming so because she was the only person not wearing a uniform shirt with her name tag, with a different waitress accompanying her. OK fantastic more wait staff should ease some of the issues.

Ha, I was wrong the new waitress started chatting away right after she got behind the counter while she's eating her burger King on the staff side of the counter in plain sight. Between snacking on her burger King fries and having to take two people to carry a cardboard box around the corner I'm just sitting here wondering why she even bothered to clock in if she wasn't ready to work.

Ah but back to our waitress, we see that our spaghetti specials are ready in the pass through and can hear the cook yell order out, after a couple of minutes he yells out again that the order is ready, and on the third time just a minute later was finally able to get her attention. We're 35 minutes into the service and hadn't even had a refill for a coffee when our spaghetti finally arrived.

We figured that would be the end of our ordeal, we'd eat pay and leave, nope can't be that simple we stood up and went to the register expecting to pay for the food and had the money laid out on the counter a twenty, a five, two ones, and 85 cents in change. The waitress that was serving us said she wasn't able to do cash transactions took the 20 and our receipt across the servers area and had another woman come over to cash us out just to find out she says we never had a 20 to begin with.

Well , now here I am out an additional 20 dollars on top of the original meal price thanks to some waitress that might never leave that truck stop.

I hope corporate can handle the hot mess that is the Rock Springs dennys since they obviously can't...

The food is 3 stars and sometimes overpriced (Note: this review is being written at seemingly the height of inflation, in mid-2022), basically, but the staff is usually friendly and attentive at this location, so I can't justify giving this location 3 stars.

Also, if you go there for breakfast, they of course have everything you'd expect. They'll Their even warm up your syrup gor you since IHOP and Denny's no longer bring it out warm like you'd expect.

The lunch/dinner menu changes often enough that by the time I find something I really like, it's replaced with something I don't. I feel like a lot of "staple" American food is missing with their "progressive" menu, just depending on what's on the menu at the time.

It's frustrating and disappointing, especially when hungry, to look at a menu and have to make a decision between things that don't look appetizing.

On this occasion, I had chicken fried chicken (pictured), which was pretty decent. I'd have preferred a regular chicken breast, but that wasn't an option at this time.

So basically, it's 4 stars because the staff is consistently great, but if you want better food, obviously go somewhere that cost a bit more. They are Denny's, not The Olive Garden. Always expect it to be the lower range of sit-down...