Gunter's Restaurant — Restaurant in South San Francisco

Unbelievably racist and rude elderly waitress. ( With blonde hair, and blue eyeliner.) *Date 10/11/2013, time of checking in was during 2~3pm.

This is my second time visiting this restaurant with the same friend, and make this the last time ever. ( I am Asian and my friend African American.) We had a pleasant dining experience in Gunter's for the first time, decided to go back to have pancakes for brunch this afternoon. Both time food was average to great, pricey but good portion. However, our experience in there this afternoon has completely changed our opinions for this restaurant, and refuse to ever dine in there again and strongly discourage people to until this unpleasant and uncivilized issue has been resolved. This is a honest review, and first hand experience on what we've encountered this afternoon. We arrived and were seated by a younger waitress who was polite and nice, immediately we were served water and tea. Thought we were going to have the same pleasant experience we had, but WRONG, things went completely downhill when the elderly waitress served our table. Firstly, my friend felt uncomfortable how she glared at him while taking our orders. We let that go because everyone has their bad days. Fine. Process to food finally arrived, good portion, pancakes were great among other dishes we ordered. My friend then requested a side of salsa which she had noted but never did deliver; the restaurant was NOT busy at all at around 3pm, and the waitress had checked up at every other table routinely for their orders EXCEPT ours. Immediately set off alarm and felt we were unwelcome there. Even worse, when we asked for take out boxes, she did get them for us this time but placed it DIRECTLY on the plate with syrup, thus smearing the box with syrup all over the bottom. Luckily, there was one more box stacked on the spoiled box, so we used that. Finally, here's the WORST service experience that I have personally witnessed so far in my life, when we went to the front desk to checkout with credit card, that elderly lady put on an angry face and slammed the desk with a pen and the receipt. Unnecessary and outrageous. She then processed to glare at the receipt while we wrote down how much we were going to tip which was 15%. It was an extremely uncomfortable experience, and I couldn't believe how we were treated.

We are normal, college educated people, and were well mannered during the whole time in the restaurant, we even politely said thank you after she took our order and delivered our food despite the rude services and being targeted of racism. *I am not being overly sensitive and mistook this as a racial issue, she acted completely different with other customers that were White. She intentionally NOT check on our table but did so for ALL OTHERS.

TL;DR, (Bulletins for we had to deal with that rude racist waitress.)

1. Elderly waitress acknowledged but refused to bring us side item that we've requested.
2. Provided no service at all for our table, but routinely checked up on all other tables.
3. When we asked for take out boxes, she then placed them directly right on top of a plate with remaining SYRUP. UNBELIEVABLE.
4. Beyond rude and slammed our credit card, receipt, and a pen on the table when we pay, processed to glare at how much we were going to tip.
5. We still tipped 15% for a brunch despite the unbelievably rude service we received. And that's when that waitress finally and literally barked thank you while still having an angry face...

Wrong place, wrong time.

I will do my best to be positive. The staff is polite and treated me well.

The food (a dinner meal) had a couple highlights, but brought more serious detractors that make me wonder if they even consider the food they put out. The decor and restaurant condition are terrible, and it looks like they are barely covering costs with the prices they charge.

Specifics: +The fried chicken dinner brought some very good chicken (4.5 out of 5 for flavor and quality. & 5 / 5 for portion size.) +The baked potato was perfectly done at my early 5 p.m. visit, with plenty of butter and sour cream on the side. The garlic butter toast was very good, and definitely not corporate pre-made frozen. 4.5/5. The mixed veggies were so bland and overcooked that they were ignored after the first bite. It seemed like a frozen blend, boiled in muscle relaxers until last call at the convalescence hospital. Darn it, I wanted good veggies and these were epically bad. -The salad was an anemic blend of lettuce and leaf spinach topped with a 3 inch wide cross section of a tomato with a still-green core, three white raw onion slices, and two full beet slices on very small plate with a dressing cup. (To eat it, you must do surgery on top of the lettuce mound to core and dice the tomato, then slice the raw onion and beets, then mix --- not attempting a toss...) on this small plate... mission impossible. Then you top it off with packaged saltines that would come with soup. The dressing was good, but this entire salad is a flop. 1.5 / 5. -The decor is straight out of 1987, with silk plants, worn-through tabletops, a destroyed dirty carpet, and wood trim that looked like a vintage diner in the middle of Iowa. Not common in a city with many restaurant options. I saw black smog/dirt/Mold!?! on part of the popcorn ceiling, and they need some serious cleaning and repair to the building.

I do feel bad to write a hard review of the place. I see people rave about the breakfasts, so I might reconsider a to-go meal. The staff was pleasant. Some of the food was great.

If they put some thought into actually eating the meals they serve, they might do a lot...

There's so much to be said about Gunter's. I've eaten there since I was a little kid, when the inside was still brown and orange in color and when the Gunter's owned the restaurant. It was our home away from home when I was growing up and the best place to find some real good "grub". Plus The lemon meringue pie! We'd take my Nana for Root Beer Floats. The Gunters had a daughter Lisa who waited taes there, but usually appeared to not like working there, but it was a family business, so... Then, years later, the Gunters sold the restaurant and I have to say that it's still a great place to eat. The outside is now bright orange! Joanne still works there in the mornings and she's been there forever! The dinner crew is fabulous and always so kind. My only real disappointment was when they removed the German items from the menu. I miss the chicken schnitzel! So who remembers Sue? I adored her. Remember Sandy? She was the classic waitress with a smarmy attitude. I ordered a Baja burger from her when I was in Jr. High, it had guacamole on top. She came over with the plate, dumped it in front of me. Curled her nose, said "Baby Caca" and walked away. Much as I nearly pmsl'ed I couldn't eat it and I've never ordered one since. There was also a real big lady cook there years ago who my friends noticed didn't wash her hands after being in the bathroom. We were so grossed out, but she's long gone. The staff now is clean and sanitary. I could go on and on. Please being back the schnitzel and...