Covered Bridge Cafe — Restaurant in Stayton

This morning was awful. Our group had called ahead, placed what was called a “reservation” for our party for a specific time. When we arrived, we were informed that they don’t guarantee their reservations or even make reservations that you can call and ask for one, but if someone comes in before you, they will seat them in your spot and serve them and you’ll have to wait for them to finish. So the restaurant had put people at half the tables we needed for our group. One of our party is in a wheelchair, when the waitress came out to let us know that she didn’t have tables for us, and we’d have to wait and informed us that our reservation was not in fact at all, she pointed at my friend in the wheelchair and stated “THAT, how are you going to get THAT in there.” There is two small steps up to the space that had the tables we were supposed to be sitting at. We assured the waitress that there was plenty of us to safely get our friend with herwheelchair up the steps. She had a negative attitude told us this is just how it is and it’s a busy day because of Mother’s Day when she was well aware that we had made this reservation for this very busy day and that we were arriving. She argued with us that the reservation had been made for a different time than the one we verified it to be scheduled for. She suggested that we drink some alcohol to calm ourselves down while we wait for our table to be cleared and that it would probably be about 45 minutes or so. Part of our party went on down the street to another restaurant that had 11 seats available. When we let her know that part of our party had left so that we would have a smaller party she would need to seat. She told us “no wonder they have room for you, they have horrible food”. Well, let me tell you that our friends took photos of the food. They were served at that other restaurant. It was beautiful. It was well-made. It came out timely and they reported that it was very delicious. Unlike the food that we got after we were sat nearly an hour and 15 minutes later by this rude waitress who claimed she worked here for 20 years and knew what she was doing. After we were sat down my adult daughter wanted to ask her a question about an item on the menu and her statement back was “It should be self explanatory”. That’s how she responds to my daughter clarifying about the menu?! If it was self-explanatory, she wouldn’t be asking a question. Then she explained to us that we would in fact be charged 18% gratuity on our checks whether we like it or not, even though she usually waves that and doesn’t do it because she was going to ask her staff to hurry up and service our food so they would need to be compensated with that 18% at this point I literally almost got up and left. Had I not had a group of people who had already waited and we’re hungry and the event we were going to was in this town I would have. I’m absolutely disgusted with the way this woman spoke to us today. I ll make a second post to...

Today my mom, husband and I went to the Covered Bridge Cafe for my birthday breakfast. We had read and heard so many great reviews including from my mom who had been there before with friends.

As soon as we walked in the door, we noticed how cold it was in the restaurant. No biggie, we were seated and thought the cold would subside, but it didn’t. We were absolutely freezing. My mom jokingly said something to one of the employees asking them if they were also cold and they said,” yeah kind of.”

Now, keep in mind, it’s been warm during the late afternoons here, but not at 10:30 in the morning. I see that all but 1 or 2 customers are elderly and they all have sweaters and jackets on.

When we got our food, my mom asked the server if the air could be turned down and the server responded with,”no, my boss won’t let us.”

I am all for the servers comfort since they’re the ones doing all of the leg work but, this was crazy.

While we were eating our food hoping to be distracted from the cold, I over heard other customers being asked if they were too cold and if they wanted to move to another seat. Apparently our comfort was not as important as the regulars.

I had ordered the French toast, country potatoes and bacon. The first slice of the French toast was fairly descent but the two after that were so incredibly soggy and seemed to be undercooked.

I would have told a server but we weren’t asked how our food was until we were about done. I didn’t want to interrupt any of the severs friendly conversations with the locals which seemed to be a priority over the outsiders.

When we were finally asked if everything was ok, the server did offer to get me new French toast but I had eaten the very outer edges that weren’t as undercooked along with my underwhelming country potatoes and very good bacon. She did remove the French toast from the bill.

We waited outside, in the sun while my mom paid the bill where she once again said something about how cold it was in there and again was given the excuse of,”our boss won’t let us turn it down.”

It had to have been 65° inside and the restaurant closes at 2pm, so I’m not sure why they needed to keep the temperature at the level of a morgue during the coolest part of the day. Also, with such quick responses with what seemed to be the go to answer, obviously we’re not the only ones who have complained about this.

We will never return to this restaurant as we did not feel welcome and the food was sub-par and made me feel nauseous after we ate. We drove from Salem to try this restaurant which was a waste of time,...

Our group was excited to try this restaurant, but unfortunately, the service experience left much to be desired.

We arrived a few minutes early for our reservation, only to be told they "don’t take reservations"—despite having one confirmed. The staff also insisted our reservation was for 30 minutes earlier than we had actually booked. While this was frustrating, we remained polite and flexible.

The real issue, however, was the tone and conduct of the woman who greeted and assisted us (who identified herself multiple times as the owner, though I cannot confirm this). When she saw one of our friends in a wheelchair, she pointed and said—loudly and condescendingly—“I don’t know how you’re going to get THAT in there.” That alone was inappropriate, but it was just the start. Throughout our time there, she continued making sparky, sarcastic comments, creating a tense and uncomfortable atmosphere for everyone in our party.

Having spent over 25 years in customer service, I understand that bad days happen. But professionalism and respect should never be optional, especially when interacting with guests.

What shocked me most was her pointed announcement that the 18% auto-gratuity would be charged because her “crew” needed to be compensated for having to “deal with us,” as she assumed we wouldn’t tip. Then, ironically, she made sure to take over our table herself rather than let her crew handle it.

Because of this, my daughter personally sought out the two kind and attentive staff members who had helped us earlier and gave them tips directly. One of them even tried to hand it to the woman who had treated us so poorly, assuming it wasn’t meant for him—clearly a reflection of the culture she’s fostering.

To be fair, the rest of the staff was warm and professional, and we appreciated their service. The food was fine, though nothing exceptional. Unfortunately, due to the overall experience, half of our group ended up leaving early to eat elsewhere. That decision visibly upset our host, who then took it upon herself to insult the other restaurant—another unnecessary and unprofessional move.

I sincerely hope this was just an off day for the individual involved, and that future guests are met with the kindness and respect shown by the rest...