Austin's Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in Spring Township

Me and my family always enjoy the food, and until yesterday the service at Austin's. It was my grandmom's birthday. I alerted the waitress and asked if she could bring over the sparkling birthday candle with dessert. She said yes. However, she was taking quite awhile to bring it over, so we sang happy birthday with the cake we brought with us. Afterwards she came over with the birthday dessert.

Then my cousin received notifications from her bank that her card was charged twice (for different amounts). Only one was correct. When she inquired, asking the waitress, "Can I ask you a question?" the waitress said, "What!". I was so taken aback that she would respond to a customer that way. My cousin went on to ask about the extra charge. The waitress explained she didn't put the amount in after processing the cash, so the system pre-authorized $193 for the balance. However, she was only being charged for the second preauthorization which was for $46. When explaining, the waitress seemed to be irritated she had to explain and she was very nonchalant, like it's no big deal, when we were just trying to understand. Not happy with her handling of the situation, we asked for a manager.

Tyler came over, we explained the situation. He explained the preauthorization again and said the incorrect amount would fall off in a few days. He did apologize when I told him about the "what" comment.

Several things. Saying "what" isn't a professional response. It was inappropriate and unappreciated. If the waitress knew she didn't put the amount in at first after processing the cash, she should've made the cardholder aware of both preauthorizations.

All of this being said, I'm hoping the disappointment in service this time was just a one-off experience. Based on past dining experiences we've had there, this was uncharacteristic of Austin's service. For that reason, for now we will continue to dine at Austin's. The food is delicious and environment inviting. I'm hoping this review is shared with the appropriate parties and used as a learning...

Disappointing Overall Experience

We had a wedding anniversary dinner here tonight. With reservations, we waited an hour for our main dish food to come. As an appetizer, we ordered soup for husband and Deluxe Side Field Salad for me. Soup came but no salad. I asked server and she said we always serve the soup first but she’d bring my salad right out to me. It did not come and neither did she for over 6 min. and I flagged down another employee to inquire. She called to the back and then asked me what type of dressing. I told her. A manager came by and she told her. They both went to the back and I waited about 3 more minutes before that manager came by with salad, placed it down and walked off without apologizing or saying anything.

Prime Rib was fine. Husband’s tasted juicier than mine which was a little disappointing. Had anyone come to table to ask us how it was, I would have said something. By the time our server came, we were ready to go.

While we were waiting for the check, another employee came to the table, introduced herself and said she was helping our server out by seeing if we wanted any sweet treats, We declined. Her presentation did not appear to be authentic but just a poor job of upscaling.

We have been here a few times before but not on a Friday evening. Anniversary is Sunday but with possible pending snowstorm, we decided to come tonight. Ambience and great experience that I was expecting did.not happen, Happy 40th to me. We won’t make that mistake again (celebrate our anniversary here or come on a Friday evening).

Hope Austin will read these comments, take them to heart and do better. I am available for further feedback should Austin’s...

The food and coffee tasted good, but I felt that everything was very overpriced. IMO, it's diner quality food at fine dining prices. I got the least expensive thing on the entire menu (a grilled chicken sandwich with fries), one soda, and one coffee...and, was I was billed $25. I could have gotten the exact same meal at a diner for $15. Additionally, they force you to tip, which I strongly disliked. And, finally, you don't get to even pick how much you're going to tip; there is a certain percentage automatically added to the bill. So, if you feel that you didn't have very good service, there's nothing you can do about it. Definitely not a terrible place... but, I won't be back. Additionally, the reply from Austin's is incorrect. I was not the person who called to set reservations, but she claims that she was told that there were no reservations, and we would have to wait. So, someone isn't telling the truth...my workplace co-worker, or Austin's. However, I was never told that we had reservations and that meant that we could not choose how much to tip. If the service had been bad, I would have been quite aggravated...reservations or not, tipping is an indicator of how well the service was. The fact that I didn't get to decide, based on the service received, how much tipping the waitresses deserved destroys the entire point of tipping, as the amount tipped indicates how well the service was. The fact that one doesn't have this choice (and the overpricing- $25 forone chickensandwich, a side of fries, one soda andone coffeeis, IMO, ridiculous...) ensures that I will...