Legends Steakhouse - Smyrna — Restaurant in Smyrna

My family and I attempted to eat at this establishment around 5 pm on Sunday, May 16th. The host attempted to sit us at a booth in the bar and a male manager came out and vulgarly told him we could not sit there so we were directed back out to the waiting area. My mom pointed out how the manager demeaned the young host in front of customers. We were the only ones waiting at this time. During the wait, multiple sets of people came in. The groups of two’s were seated immediately. Numerous groups of 4 – 6 like us came in and were told to wait. Some of these groups attempted to go to the bar and order a drink while they waited but they were told no directed out of the bar area by a very rude female bartender. All of those parties left at that point. They were smart. We mistakenly were trying to be patient. I used the restroom and noticed a party in the backroom going on so figured the place was short-staffed but the bar was empty. Then I noticed all of the wait staff were training new people, but each wait staff only had 2-3 tables and were moving incredibly slow-paced. Once other groups of two then a group of four were seated in front of us time after time, I went up to the host and asked why we weren’t getting seated and pointed out all of the other people that came in AFTER we were getting seated. We had waited 40 minutes at this point and the place was not even busy. I asked to speak to the manager and after 15 minutes she came out of the back. I explained the host who looked no more than 16 probably needs more training on seating customers because at this point more people had left the building during their waits than were being seated. She would have not ever known this since she’s not supervising (or helping) the front at all. Overall, that manager did not care enough to take anything seriously and I received the COVID shortage speech. As we were talking the “bartender” gal also stood there glaring at me. Fifteen minutes after that, we were sat at our table. Our male waiter and his trainee came up and took our drink order. We ordered immediately due to our hour wait time we already knew what we wanted to eat. Fifteen minutes later, no drinks at the table, and we could not even see our waiter even though we were his only customer. The trainee instead was bringing out the soup and salads though and there was no sign of our drinks or water. My daughter walked over to the bar and the drinks were not even made yet. This was 20 minutes after we were seated. Soup in front of waters and drinks? No sign of waiter? We got up and left. The host cynically told us to have a good day as we left. HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE. JUST HORRIBLE. I worked in the restaurant business for 15 years. I also understand there is a desperate staffing shortage right now; however, an establishment can be short-staffed and still have good customer service policies. Again, there were no urgency, no politeness, no proper supervising, no decent service, and no resolutions. The bar was empty, most tables were empty, and most of the customers were getting treated more like an inconvenience. just in the hour and a half that we were there we watched so many people leave. Bad...

Legends has a Choose Two option on their menu. I chose my first item from the first column and then my second item from the second column. Over to the right it says Sides. So, I went ahead and ordered the side item that I thought came with the two options that I chose. When I got the bill, it listed a $2 charge for the side item. I told my waiter-in-training about the mistake, and he went to tell our main waiter. He came back and told me that the sides are part of the Choose Two and I chose three items, so they charged me extra. He asked if that is okay, and I said no it is not okay. I said I'm not paying for that. When I was ordering the side item, he didn't inform me that the list of sides didn't come with the Choose Two and that there would be an extra charge. Our main waiter, who was training him, came over to talk with me about it. She apologized saying that this was the second day for the waiter-in-training. She also told me that the Choose Two part of the menu is confusing, needs to be reworded, and that other customers have had issues with it. I wasn't the first. She said she would need to let her manager know about the charge to remove it. The manager, Linda, is now the third person to come over. She was very rude and argumentative (hence this bad review). First, she goes to the wrong table to argue about my bill. When she realizes she went to the wrong table, she comes over and says what is wrong with the check. I explained and she says there are three columns and I need to pay for the side. I said I want to pay for my meal and drink, but I am not paying the $2 for the side. She left to rerun my check taking off the side. As she came back to my table, in her frustration she bumped into one of her waiters and put the check on my table. Basically saying here you go and then left. No apology. Nothing.

So, here's my take.

The menu needs to be written better and more clearer. My waiter said it happened to others, so I didn't feel like I was in the wrong. I felt bad for our waiter-in-training. He was really nice. But if there is going to be an extra charge, most restaurants will let the customer know up front. Our main waiter was awesome. She was very friendly and took care of us for. She was apologetic for the misunderstanding. Linda...needs to improve on being friendly and on her customer service skills. Why would she want to argue over $2 when I am a frequent customer dropping $10-15 for lunch ever so often? Any other restaurants would have been apologetic rather than argumentative. I was friendly. I didn't yell. But I stood firm and said I am not paying the $2 extra dollars.

It was such a hassle to get my check fixed. Waiters were great. Management needs...

My husband and I visited the Smyrna location on 10/19.

The hostess was friendly. Our waitress was really sweet. My husband got the cowboy burger and he enjoyed it. The trio appetizer had amazing buffalo chicken tenders and mozzarella sticks. The baked potato skins left a lot to be desired.

I ordered the sirloin orleans. It was a 9oz sirloin with grilled shrimp. I had the asparagus as a side. I asked for the steak to be cooked medium rare. When my food came out, the asparagus was almost inedible. The top half was mush and the bottom half was a stringy mess. The steak was way over cooked. The ends were well done. The middle was medium with only a strip of pink right in the middle. I am not one to complain and would normally just eat it. Since my entire meal was almost inedible, I decided to ask for it to be recooked. It took her about 10-15 minutes to come over. By that time, my food was already cold. She said she would bring out a fresh plate. Another 10 minutes goes by.

Another lady, I’m assuming a manager comes back with my same plate. She sets it down in front of me and tells me to cut it in the middle to check if it’s what I wanted. She does not apologize. I cut into it but it was still overcooked. I struggled to cut it because it was so overdone and cold. Because there was some pink, she basically said the edges were over cooked but the middle is fine. It was such a humiliating moment and handled so rudely and unprofessionally. I ended up not eating my meal and just took it home to toss.

This is not a place we will be visiting again. I did not expect a covered meal or free food. I took one bite and realized it was over cooked. So I wasn’t trying to get an extra portion for free. I was instead forced to accept a cold, overcooked steak. We paid full price for everything and did not even get an apology...