Brian's Landing Jamesville — Restaurant in Town of De Witt

Edit: Hello "owner" person! You were not there for my meeting with the GM, she and I had it in private outdoors. I'm sad to see you're blindly listening to only one side, but that's ok. You guys escalated this to the point where we just don't bother to come by ever. We've never treated anyone poorly, and it's an absolute shame to see this response. When I left that convo, I did NOT say anything was resolved. I flat out told her that due to her poor handling of this situation I would leave this review. It's uncouth to lie. By the way, your manager intercepted me in Wegmans to "thank" me for the reviews. Coincidentally, that was about an hour ago... Right when these "responses" came in... Huh. How intriguing. Let sleeping dogs lie.

Seems it's not just me either, others have left reviews out there about your "manager" and her "winning" personality. Screenshot attached for proof (and appropriately redacted to respect privacy.

Original I almost didn't post this, until the manager approached my friend and brother and tried to tell an untrue tale.

We had a party of 10-15 that came in every Sunday. We tipped separately, but several of us tipped more to make up for folks who might not be able to. One of the waitresses can be a bit rough around the edges, she was concerned two of our members hadn't tipped several times in a row. She didn't handle this well though, she confronted them for not tipping and implied that if she isn't tipped then they take that money out of her paycheck. The manager has both claimed that is and isn't true at this point.

I went to speak with the manager about this awkward confrontation and to address the fact that tipping isn't required, it's inappropriate to be confrontational about it. Also, to tell her that we try to make up for that again by collectively tipping more. Even after telling her this, she refused to give ANY ground or acknowledge any wrong doing on her side. This, is only the start.

Waitress complaints? Look, we've looked the other way with her being snappy (telling my fiance to just "hurry up and pick there's only 3 choices", for example). And also there are tactful ways to check in on tipping. That's about where that ends, we felt uncomfy about how it was handled specifically.

Manager conversation I had was awful. She refused to own any of her actions. She did say she wished the waitress hadn't done that, and she asked her not to, but she did it anyway. Well, ok then. So, it did happen. The manager made it clear to me that the rest of our party was still welcome, but not the people who do not tip. She blatantly stated: "If you can't afford to tip, we do not want your business".

After the conversation didn't go anywhere productive I let her know that I was going to post this review, as the conversation had honestly proved to me that we weren't truly welcome. Or rather, some us were and some us were not. She did tell me that I'm still welcome! Because I ALWAYS tip! I'm different! That's very gross feeling to me. I am not different than my friends.

The manager turned to telling me roughly: "You're going to leave a review? Why? You'll look so bad. Don't do that. You're young, I'm doing this to protect you. Don't leave a review."

Now, that was about where my story ends. My brother can leave his review to explain how this same manager tracked him down on Facebook, requested he come in, and then apparently told a different version of this story where I was supposedly quite aggressive and threatening.

Myself and my party will honestly never return here. This manager tried to actually call a friend of mine in, to try and turn him against me. That is wildly inappropriate. So, we lost our 'Cheers' that we used to come to frequently, because the manager couldn't own her or her teams mistakes (turns out that waitress is her best friend, so, big yikes. I walked right into this fight I suppose).

At this point others have heard both this first half of the story, and the soon-to-come sequel to be told by my brother. And many have felt disgusted by what...

I'd like to start this off by introducing myself. My name is Caitlin Halladay, and I typically go by the name Oren. I avoid conflict like the plague. However, as someone who has both worked in the food service industry (front and back of house) and been raised by a mother who kept a roof over my head with tip money, I can, under no circumstances, say nothing.

The group who is having an issue with Brian's Landing is a group I've been lucky enough to stumble across and find community with. I was there on one of the days where a close friend of mine was harassed for tips. He was in attendence there with us despite not having money to pay for himself. The same went for a few other members there. They were paid for by those of us who could afford it. Out of the several of us that paid for those of us who could not, we all left generous tips to make up for those who were not paying.

Because of tips, I ended up paying almost $80.00 total for three people, inlcuding myself.

Listen, I've been there. I've worked food service, I worked ice cream stands, and there were days that I didn't get a lunch if I didn't get enough tips to cover it. My paycheck went fully toward bills at the time. Even under those circumstances, it is NOT okay to harass customers for tips, especially when you're getting tips from multiple bills of the same table, anyway.

The issue was never resolved, folks. The owner of the store is lying to our faces, your faces, and the community's faces. Most of the staff there were amazing, so I hate doing this. Regardless, I will be sharing my review and similar negative reviews on social media.

To the waitress specifically who harassed my friend: it may feel nice right now to have your managers defending your entitled behavior, but we all know what you did was wrong. You know what you did was wrong. Rhetorically, why are you putting yourself and your management team through these tedious repercussions when it all could have been avoided by a "my bad, I was just frustrated by _" ? Instead you've all seemed to double down on defending inappropriate behavior. Yes, not getting tipped sucks, I've been there. If not getting tips is affecting your paychecks and affecting your financial security, you should be directing that frustration at management, not customers.

To the owner and manager involved in this dispute: your attempt to save face when an employee is out of line is going to bite you from behind in the long run. Not even because of this one incident. It's because you're setting a precedent that you will keep defending this behavior. Your other employees will eventually get sick of it, feeling like they can not trust you to protect them from the way those actions affect them. On the other hand, you will end up with employees who walk all over you because you will keep defending them at your own expense to save face.

No one is attacking this business as an attempt to "hurt a small business" for no reason. People like us become upset at this kind of reaction because we loved this small business. Our group visited frequently, tipped generously, and did our best to support small business instead of everyone pulling up to a fast food place after or bringing our own foods to practice. We are upset because we loved Brian's Landing, and y'all are being ridiculous.

I'm not going to say my companion's are impacted the way I am, but I, personally, intend to make a point of this. You're lying to make yourselves look better because you know that your actions and your words are both wrong and not backed by common sense.

I am not sharing out of spite. I am sharing partially because I intend to make a point. Mostly, I am sharing because I would be mortified if I hadn't warned my friends and family in time before they went to treat themselves to lunch and got bullied by a single staff member with an attitude problem.

Genuinely, it's a joke that you think your high prices, stale atmosphere, and status as a small business are worth feeling like the staff hates you for simply...

I'm pretty disappointed to have to be writing this review, and that this became a bigger matter than it needed to be.

As part of two sizeable communities we would often frequent the restaurant, whether on our own are as part of one of the two. In fact, this place had become our Cheers and we would stop in with a party of 10-15 on Sundays.

Our group would tip more to help cover those who may not be able to, but in the end after the majority of us exited the restaurant, and despite the rest tipping more to cover anyone who couldn't, two of our group were cornered, chastised, and lectured after the rest of us were out of sight and earshot. It created a starkly negative experience that should have NEVER happened.

My Brother went in later on to speak with the manager, who insisted that tipping was mandatory, and if people don't tip she doesn't support that and they shouldn't do business there. She stood staunchly in defense of the waitress who had stepped out of line, ( I later learned from the manager herself it is her best friend), and held firm to this stance, which she voiced verbatim to both my Brother and myself. "If you don't tip it's stealing money from the waitresses paychecks."

Naturally the conversation between them ended poorly, and minutes later my Brother had walked over to our class down the street and informed me of what all had been said and gone on. We were disappointed, frustrated, and decided we would no longer feel comfortable recommending Brian's Landing nor able to bring our community there any further.

Should have ended here, but it did not.

Two weeks later, I woke up to a Facebook friend and message request from the manager. Mind you, I've had wonderful interactions with most the staff and long conversations with many of them, but none with the manager. I do not know her, and it felt incredibly uncomfortable to be tracked down on social media and asked to come in to talk.

I went in the same day to discuss the matter, and after we sat down I was fed a saccharine line of how generous and kind I am and how they love having me there before she proceeded to spin a tale of how my Brother, (She didn't know he was my Brother), was loud, aggressive, pointing his finger at her and making statements of not bringing anyone around anymore and writing a bad review.

She was not aware he and I had spoken minutes after their conversation ended at the class we attend down the street. That I knew what occurred, and that her characterization of him was wildly inaccurate compared to anything I've ever known of him.

As our conversation progressed she took the same tact she had with my Brother, trying to get me to agree that tipping is mandatory, and that it is theft from the wages of the waitresses if we don't tip. I informed her that was not the case, and that while we tipped more to help cover those who couldn't, tipping is NOT mandatory and is service based.

She tried telling me that it was New York State Law, which I called out for the lie it was. She then told me that they have to tip out the kitchen staff and if the tips don't cover it then it comes out of their paycheck. She kept pushing this end, stating her age and how she knows the service industry and what is and isn't required.

I then informed her of my Brothers and my own experience in the Hospitality and Service industry, which is quite strong and lengthy having worked front and back end at a high level.

Ultimately, the manager stressed that because I, my Brother, and the head of the second community I mentioned, the one who runs the class we attend down the street, are all so generous we are welcome and wanted there, and she hopes we continue going even if the others who can't tip don't come.

It was a disgusting experience that spiraled out beyond the initial issue that should have been simply resolved with, "I'm sorry that happened. We won't seat you in that waitresses section. We hope you continue to...