Village Garden Family Restaurant — Restaurant in Salem

I have taken people to this restaurant many times. The food was good and the prices have been fair. However, my visit this evening was less than impressive. My family came here for an Easter dinner. There were more than a dozen of us. We did make reservations, and were seated together in the banquet room. The food was reasonable, but the service left something to be desired. Our waitress was flippant, and, while she got our basic orders right, she didn't seem to be too concerned with getting the right food to the right person. She got refills for the men at our table, but ignored my daughter and I when our water was low. She also left bread baskets on one end of the table, but not our end.

At the end of the meal, I asked to order an entree for my husband, as he was unable to come with us. Her condescension in taking my order was blatant enough that several of us noticed. I asked the waitress for a steak dinner from the restaurant's everyday entree specials menu. She assumed that I was ordering from their Easter specials menu on the front door, and smugly replied that special was not available I didn't correct her, but I found her response to be very rude. I agreed to order the more expensive steak dinner from the regular menu, and asked that she omit the mushrooms. I am not a fan of editing menu items, but my husband hates mushrooms, and there wasn't a steak dinner that did not include them. The meal we came home with was way overcooked and covered in mushrooms. We live more than an hour away -- otherwise, I would have taken the dinner back and asked for one that was properly made.

The money we spent there was on par with a family-style restaurant. It is just unfortunate that the service is more along the lines of a greasy spoon. I probably...

Well, it's definitely not as good as the old owner, who checked on every customer to make sure that they are satisfied. My ribeye was over cooked, I ordered medium rare and got well done. The steak used to be 3/4 inch cut but now it's 1/4 inch cut yet the same price as before. My wife sent hers back as soon as it came out. She too ordered ribeye steak. Even though we ordered the same thing and they were supposed to be the same size hers was a 1/4 of the size as mine and even thinner then mine, and were the same price. The dressings on the salad bar were watered down and our baked potatoes were cold, (They wouldn't even melt the butter). Yet I'm most disappointed in the owner who said he was sorry but that there was nothing he could do to correct it. The food being sent back and never eaten )not a bite) and we still got stuck paying. Think twice about what you order and if you attempt to send it back it's still going...

Was there for breakfast and found hair in my French toast, sent it back and did NOT want it replaced. I was rang up for full price. Told the gentleman did not expect the meal to be comped but I did expect a discount. So he took $1.63 off. Didn't even cover the almost $5 for my small glass of milk. I will NOT be back.

Had to edit my review in response to the restaurants reply. They say they watched video and audio of my time there. They say I didn't complain until I paid out. Guess they missed the part where I'm holding my fork looking at the long blonde hair dangling from it. Guess they missed the part where I immediately called a waiter and showed him the hair. They also missed the part where I sent the plate back and asked for another fork. I think it's funny they admitted to having a lot of complaints. Looks like they do nothing but watch video instead of fixing problems. Think I saw an episode of Bar Rescue...