Crimson American Grill — Restaurant in Spring Garden Township

ASSEMBLY LINE JUNK FOOD, THEY BEHAVE LIKE A COOKIE CUTTER CHAIN PLACE, THEY TAKE NO PRIDE, BASICALLY DRESSED UP, NASTY FAST FOOD, COMPLETE WITH A NEGATIVE ATTITUDE FROM AN INCOMPETANT SERVER WITH NO SENSE OF URGENCY- anybody remember Boston Market? You're BETTER OFF eating there- you'll get the same experience and save a BOAT LOAD of cash. Things began on a positive enough note- the place was gorgeous on the inside, great ambiance, we were seated quickly enough (on their outdoor deck, which was very cozy and welcoming); they have a relatively impressive beer selection, we ordered, beverages came out quickly enough. After that, though, it was very evident that the staff of this restaurant has no sense of urgency or pride. As a server, if you happen to notice that the piece of salmon that's on your guest's salad appears to be made of plastic, most folks, I can only assume, would investigate, rather than just..... seeing if you can get away serving it? I don't know what the cook AND server were thinking! This was hardest, driest, most over-cooked poor excuse for a piece of fish that I have ever seen in my life. I got a MAJOR attitude when I brought it to the server's attention, and it took (I was frustrated, so I actually DID time this) 36 minutes for the fresh piece of fish to come back out. Again, as said server, if you happened to notice that all the chef did was throw another piece of fish on top of a salad that already looked haphazard and skimpy in the first place, wouldn't you want to possibly request a refresh of the plate? If for no other reason than not taking an earful from the already angry customer? The bowl of crab soup had hardly any crab in it; was more like crab flavored flour goop. You could almost cut it into slices and serve it like pie; and just SO bland. Even the appetizer, spinach artichoke dip, was SERIOUSLY out of proportion; like 8 pieces of, basically, toast (I forget what they actually referred to it as), and a VERY small, poor excuse of a bowl of dip, which had 1 artichoke heart in it. My girl and I didn't even begin to pile dip onto the bread, and only got 3 pieces TOTAL out of the whole dish. To top it all off, it took captain positive attitude server almost 25 minutes- HE HAD NO CUSTOMERS, ZERO- to bring us our check after we asked. Again- if you're even considering eating at this place- STOP IT, AND JUST GO TO A FAST FOOD JOINT.... save yourself the trouble and the money; experiences like the one that we had here should NOT come at an average price of...

My family and I have enjoyed our meals at Crimson for years now, especially on holidays, but it is becoming less and less enjoyable because of the hostess Lauren. She is usually the one who answers the phone and is at the front door. Over time I have noticed her unwelcoming tone of voice, belittling comments and negative interactions.

While this has occurred over time, the events on Mother's Day hit an all time low and I feel as though I should share my experience. I called on Saturday to make a reservation for any time on Mother's Day for 3 people and I was told there were no openings at all but I could walk-in. On Mother's Day, my family and I came to the restaurant with high hopes. As we were begrudgingly greeted by Lauren, she promptly told us that we were welcome to go to the bar side as they were booked. We were able to get a seat there. The gentleman serving us and the bartender were working so hard to serve the entire bar area. Their service was wonderful and we were able to enjoy our holiday and the delicious meal. However, when I finished my meal, I went to peek in the dining room....more than half of the booths and tables were vacant. I can understand some tables being open while waiting for the reservation time but there were a lot of smaller tables available that could have accommodated us. I spoke with a few other people who were there in the bar and heard similar stories as to what happened to me- their small family wanting a reservation and being told they had no openings but many open tables.

Because of the other staff and the great food, I have put Lauren’s actions aside in the past. But this was my breaking point and I will be trying out different restaurants while Crimson, hopefully, fixes their management, or...

Crimson used to be a favorite of ours - we ate here two to three times a week at one point (the photo included of our receipt from tonight shows what an average order is for us). What wasn’t to love? Locally owned, friendly staff, close to home, and great food - all of these pros used to make the price of dining here worth it.

Those days are GONE. Long gone. I will admit that the food, itself, is still quite good. But something has changed at Crimson. We started noticing a drop off in service about a month ago. Orders weren’t coming out to our table correctly and such. We never made a big deal out of it. Never asked for a discount or to speak with a manager. Just addressed the issues with the serving staff when they occurred. Well, the downward trend has escalated and tonight, after having to address multiple errors with our meal - including the absence of one of our meals - the poor professionalism and downright rudeness of our server was enough and we finally asked to speak with a manager. Lauren, the manager, came to our table and we relayed the issues we’ve been having dining here, the problems with our meals, and the way we were treated tonight by our server only to be, for all intents and purposes, brushed aside by the manager. Absolutely no attempt made by the manager to even ask how she could make things right for us and how to keep us as customers beyond the offer to change our server (which, by this point, was of no use to us).

Such a shame that the service at Crimson has become so poor. We hate that what used to be our favorite local restaurant is now the one restaurant in York we will actively tell...