Sam Sylk's Chicken and Fish — Restaurant in Shaker Heights

Dear Mr. Samuel Brassfield,

Today I placed an order to the Shaker Heights location via telephone. I was put on hold without a person asking me if I minded holding. When the young lady did pick up I told her I wanted to place an order for 2 fish dinners, asking her what the choices of fish were. (You see, my 89 year old mother had previously ordered from the Shaker Heights location in May and the South Euclid location in June)

We ordered 2 Perch dinners. I asked her what came with the dinners. She said fries and coleslaw. I asked were there any other options. She listed them. I requested spaghetti and slaw for one of the dinners. I asked her the price of the dinners. She said (all in one breath) "I can't give you a total yet, it will be 9.49 each and said the total would be 18.98". she quickly ended the order asking me is there anything else?", then "what's your name and number?". She asked me what time I would be picking up. I answered "15 minutes". She said "it would take longer than that, make it 20 minutes".

We arrived 30 minutes later and the order was not ready. So we waited. And waited. She finally began to take my payment quoting a price that was $2.00 more than I expected. She said, "Yeah, when you do any substitutions you're charged $2.00 more". I asked her how was I supposed to know this, especially when I asked you for the cost of the dinners?" She answered, "I was trying to tell you but I was busy with other customers."

I told her that "I was not willing to pay the additional price for a substitution upcharge and to just give me fries". She informed me that it was too late because the spaghetti was already in the container. I told her again, that I was not willing to pay the additional upcharge because I was not told about the substitution policy when I asked the price of the dinners. She repeated her statement also, saying it was too late because it was already in the container. I said, "I have not paid yet." She asked me what she should do. I asked her to "just get a new container, take my fish out of it and add the fries". She walked away obviously annoyed.

She told the person (I assume the cook) in the back. They talked loud enough for me to hear them complain about me and fuss about what to do about the spaghetti in the container. After several minutes, I heard the cook say, "take it out and put it in a bowl".

There was a very long time before she appeared at the counter. She had the dinners in her hand, placed them in a plastic bag, and began to reeinter the corrected amount. Her frustration was palpable.

There was a long line forming behind me, nearly from the moment we came to pick up our order. One woman stated that she had waited so long just to put in her order, that she was now going to be late for work. It was 4:00pm.

I found myself actually trying to soothe the young lady behind the counter and actually apologized for not knowing about a policy because it was the first time I had ever been there. The previous 2 times, my cousin picked up the order and the other time I ordered via the telephone and she went in to pick it up.

I say all this to say, that on top of all of this needless ordeal, and long wait time, it turns out the fish was greasy, battered instead of breaded (it certainly did not occur to me to ask if it was breaded because the pictures appeared to be breaded, not battered), and had a strong "fishy" taste as though it was not quite fresh.

I forced down a piece because I could not fathom having to return it and face the annoyed young lady or especially the cook who instructed her to "put the spaghetti in a bowl". I had visions of health department infractions or at least their frustration being taken out on me and/or a new order.

So, this leaves me with food that was far from enjoyable, wasted time and energy (I am disabled), and very disappointed.

Mr. Brassfied, I thought you should know what transpired today. I am sure you do not want your name or reputation attached to...

Horrible experience, slow service, and subpar customer service at the LEE Rd location!! I placed an order online for pickup yesterday at 7:44 pm. It stated my order would be ready between 8:25-8:35. I got there at 8:20 and waited until 8:36 to walk in and the young lady at the register told me it would be ready in a few minutes. 15 minutes go by, still no food, another 15 minutes go by, STILL NO FOOD. The last straw was when a woman came in 45 minutes after me and placed an order at the register and got her large order BEFORE ME! I asked the lady where is my order, it’s now almost 9:30 and I’m still waiting for my food, she says, it will be ready in 45 seconds! 5 more minutes go by and I walk out!! As I’m walking out to call my bank and get my money back, she tells me my order is ready. I get to the register just for her to tell me some of the items I ordered are sold out!!! At this point I’m LIVID, not because of the sold out desserts, but because I waited almost 2 hours for food and you didn’t once communicate with me about the sold out items! I do not recommend this place. I didn’t get home until after 10:30 and my food was cold by that time. I spent almost $50 here due to recommendation and I wouldn’t spend a dime there again. Save your money and...

Unfortunately there’s no rating lower than a ⭐️!! This was the worst customer service, food, food experience EVER! After waiting 20 mins PLUS!! I was told that, they didn’t have the catfish bites and asked if i wanted to order something else. I declined, the young man went to the back, informed the cook.. it’s a story that I’m not interested in repeating. My coworker already has. My fish was salty, the fries were beyond crunchy and the staff was VERY RUDE. From the guy that place my late order on the counter, without addressing me to the cook, that informed him. She didn’t care that i was on my break, I’d still have to wait (I’d already been there waiting 20 plus mins and told AFTER that 20 mins they didn’t have what i ordered available!) for her to cook the nuggets. The same nuggets that he said weren’t available!!! Little dude put the plate on the counter and walked away. I had to ask him, if it was my order? He mumbled, yes and continued walking to the back. I then asked, is everything. I paid for, in my bag? To which, he mumbled yes and stormed to the front and threw a handful of hot sauce and tarter sauce! Da fuqq!?! Thanks for the experience, black man!! NEVER AGAIN! IT WAS NOT WORTH THE TIME NOR THE MONEY!...