LongHorn Steakhouse — Restaurant in Spotsylvania Courthouse

Subject: Disappointed Visit — Poor Service Experience with Waitress Alexis F.

Today, my son and I met for lunch at the Fredericksburg LongHorn — he was coming from Alexandria and I from Richmond. We meet here every couple of months, and it has always been an enjoyable experience with excellent food and top-notch customer service. Unfortunately, today was very different.

We were seated in the main dining area instead of our usual spot in the bar section, where service has consistently been exceptional. Our server, Alexis F., made this visit notably unpleasant. From the beginning, her attitude came across as impatient and self-focused.

When she first approached, she took our drink order — I requested a LongPour Strawberry Margarita (she did ask whether I preferred salt or sugar), and my son ordered a soft drink and the Tonion appetizer. She immediately followed up by asking if we were ready to order entrées. I politely explained that we weren’t in a rush, as this was a special lunch for us and we rarely get to spend time together.

About five minutes later, she returned with the soft drink and bread and again asked if we were ready to order. I reiterated that we wanted to relax and enjoy our drinks and appetizer first. The appetizer arrived about ten minutes later, but my margarita still hadn’t come. When I asked about it, she curtly replied, “It’s coming.”

When she finally brought the margarita, it was served in a regular tall liquor glass (with an excessive amount of salt) instead of the proper margarita glass. She didn’t offer to pour it or present it courteously — she simply set it down on the table rather cockily and dismissively, then walked away.

Once both drinks and the appetizer were finally in front of us, we began to settle in, but a few minutes later, she returned again, asking, “Have you figured it out?” I said yes — and was met with yet another dismissive tone and body language. Her impatience was evident, creating an uncomfortable dining experience. My son even tried to smooth things over, but it was apparent she was irritated and rushing us.

I was on the verge of asking the general manager to intervene, as I had never been treated with such disrespect at any other restaurant. Alexis needs serious customer-service training — particularly in reading the pace and energy of her guests, rather than imposing her own.

I was so unsettled by her behavior that I didn’t finish my meal. I stepped away to the restroom to cool off, and my son — being the peacemaker he is — quietly paid the check and requested takeout boxes to defuse the tension.

My wife and I are longtime LongHorn customers, from Virginia to Hawaii, and this was the first time I’ve ever experienced such poor service. What made it worse was that this was likely the last lunch my son and I will share here before he relocates out west. It was meant to be a meaningful, relaxed meal — not a rushed and uncomfortable one.

Had I received the check, I would have left only a small tip and a note explaining why: guests should never feel pressured to order quickly or have food pushed at them before they’ve even had a chance to enjoy their appetizer. Being disrespected and hurried to meet a server’s personal pace is unacceptable.

This visit was a significant disappointment, and I sincerely hope management addresses this issue. Alexis would greatly benefit from coaching in hospitality, attentiveness, and emotional awareness — the very qualities that have always made LongHorn such a trusted and enjoyable restaurant for us.

This is nothing a little customer service training cannot fix. It just has to be brought to the leadership's attention, which is what I am doing. I will also send this to corporate to Make Sure no other customers experience the Alexis rush on my time...

We had a terrible dining experience at the Fredicksburg, VA LONGHORN. We walked in expecting to be seated and were told to wait because the seater didn't know where to put us admiting that she was new. The restaurant's air conditioning was set on Arctic. We stood for another 5 or so minutes before she came back to seat us in a booth two steps away. Seated, we waited perhaps another ten-fifteen minutes for someone to take our order. The man in the booth behind us, exasperated, stood up and loudly asked if anyone was going to help us. Soon after a waitress came and began work to help us. We ordered a bottle of cabernet and asked that it be served now instead of at dinner. We waited another 10 minutes and she came back with a bottle of Chardonnay, which of course we rejected. After about ten more minutes, during which time the waitress walked past our table our table at least three times with our wine in one hand and someone else's entrees in the other. , the wine finally got delivered, and we asked her to please turn down the A/C or get us a sweater. At this juncture, having sat in the ice box for almost 45 minutes, and not placed an order, we decided to get some hot food and leave as soon as we could. We came in intending to buy two filets, salads and sides. We gave up on that just to get some hot food fast. I had chile and a baked potato, my wife ordered French onion soup. The manager came to apologize and ask what she could do. We told her to TURN DOWN THE A/C., which was something of a no brainer. Why didn't she turn it down and come to tell us that she had, since we had already told the waitress. Terrible onion soup. Served way to cool and not piping hot to keep the cheese melted. Average chile and baked potato. Very cold restaurant. Just an awful dining experience. AVOID THIS PLACE LIKE THE PLAGUE. We don't have it in for Longhorn generally. We had a very pleasant experience in a Longhorn in Kingsland, Georgia. But at this one,...

I would give a zero if possible. Went there to celebrate a birthday last night. So let me go through the list of why I will never go there again.

1. The wait time was ridiculous and should have not been so long. The problem was that they booked several parties of 12+ people during prime hours. I can see 1-2 but I was told at one time there were 6 parties going on, at 6:00 pm. I don't mind waiting but that was just the beginning of the problems.

2. We saw an open table that sat there the entire time of our wait and this was where we ended up being seated. It had not been used at all for 1.5 hours! Then when we were seated there, the temperature was at least 15 degrees colder than the rest of the restaurant. When I asked for the AC to be turned off (it was 20 degrees outside) they told me that it would take time to get the system to cut off. It never happened, we froze the entire dinner.

3. Our service was horrible. The waitress was friendly but we never saw her. She was nowhere to be found most of the night, (I was told later that she was helping serve one of the large parties) and several times we had other waitresses help us out. When we ordered dessert and asked for take home boxes she was gone for 30 minutes. 30 minutes to get 2 desserts! It took another waitress to get us the boxes.

So this is the way it went down, it took an hour & 20 minutes to get seated because of parties and it took 30 minutes to get dessert because of parties. Since this restaurant doesn't consider my family important enough to properly serve us, we will no longer go to their establishment. We were there for a total of 3 hours because of poor planning and a lack of good service. It's been a long time since I've given such a horrible tip, usually I'm gracious even when it's bad, but not last night. I do NOT recommend this...