Fricker's Vandalia — Restaurant in Vandalia

I was in town for a family members funeral service last September. While I was there... I took a group of 10 family members to the Fricker's in Vandalia for dinner and drinks. At our table, our server did a fantastic job taking care of us. My total bill including tip was $488.82 and processed at 10:32 PM. I had absolutely no issues with the service at our table whatsoever.

After we closed the bill at the table, everyone in my group hung out for a little while longer and left our table a little after 11:15 PM. Me and my cousin ended up going to the bar to hang out while and catch up some more since we rarely get to see each other. While at the bar...we both had 1 shot of Fireball to celebrate my retirement from the military and then switched to water after that.

The bartender was not very attentive to us after we switched to water and was hanging out at the other end of the bar with a group of people that she seemed to already know. I ended up asking for the bill a little after midnight when I called for my ride to come get me. A little bit later...the bartender told me that I was good to go and gave me my card without a receipt. I thought nothing of it and left.

Unfortunately for me... I don't review my credit card activity in detail too often and it took until last week for me notice that there was a transaction for $488.82 (which was mine from our table) along with another transaction for $446.44. Thinking that this must have been an honest mistake... I called the Fricker's location and spoke to their manager. He sent me the itemized receipts via e mail and I immediately knew that something was wrong. The bill of $446.44 closed out at 12:30 AM and literally had about 50 drinks on it. I was completely shocked to say the least.

My reply to the manager when I called him was that I would like to have the bill refunded except for the 2 shots of Fireball. He stated that he spoke to the bartender and the bartender said that I bought every drink at the bar the entire time I was at the bar. That statement is ridiculous and completely untrue. However, the manager was still not willing to refund the second charge to my card. Due to the fact that it took me over 120 days to catch the false charge... my credit card company won't let me dispute it. (Lesson Learned... Review credit card statements in detail monthly going forward.)

At this point... I have left a message with the Fricker's Corporate office and have yet to get a reply back. The most unfortunate thing regarding this entire situation is that for years and years I have always made it a point to go to Fricker's with my family and friends when I come to visit Ohio. However, after this bogus charge, the response from the manager, as well as the lack of response from the corporate office... I don't think I will ever go back there again. All they had to do was right a wrong and so far... They have chosen to do nothing.

My advice to anyone going to this specific location... Please make sure to always ask your bartenders for the receipt... especially if they are hanging out with a large group of people at the other end of the bar and hand you your card telling you that you are good to go without a receipt. If you don't... you may end up paying for $446.44 of drinks that you...

(REVISED 5/1/23) So - I felt I needed to revise my review since “owner’s” reply was obviously just a standard copy and paste response for another bad review. Basically, their response only accomplished adding another helping of salt in the wound! Offering up a bunch of rubbish jargon about improving, apologizing and “contact us to resolve issues”. I figured since they requested for me to contact them, I would go ahead and contact them. (My mistake for thinking they actually cared!) Now 7 days after I reached out, no return communication. They obviously have absolutely no concern to resolve any of their many issues!

REVIEW 4/16/23 - I am officially speechless and incredibly offended by the most absolutely miserable experience I've ever had at ANY restaurant EVER!!! There aren't enough words in my vocabulary to explain how awful this place was this last Sunday afternoon (4/16/23). We arrived at 11:45 am (baseball team and parents). We were not in a hurry and the place was mostly empty when we arrived. NO lie! Just over 3 HOURS later, half of our group left with never receiving their food. Again, this is not some exaggerating story.. never in my life have I witnessed such a mess! And... The final salt in the wound was a giant hair in the pizza of one of the meals that was actually received (of which, they wished they were in the group that did not receive their meal!). We had 3 different servers come over and the "manager" in the kitchen came out.. they said several times that they were going to put our order on priority and will send it right out. It was actually quite hysterical how the food kept coming out and went to other tables. This went on for like the last 90 minutes we were there, but finally had to leave this joke behind and go win a...

Initially, things got off to a positive start. We got our drinks quickly from the manager but then things started to take a turn for the worse. The waitress didn’t appear to take out order until 10 minutes went by. We ordered and then waited 45 minutes for our food. The couple behind us came soon after she took our order and got their food before we did. She came by and asked if we needed refills and I asked her why our food was taking so long. She said they had a large party and the kitchen was backed up. I said, “well, they got their food,” and gestured to the couple behind us. She said she put it in as soon as we ordered (doubtful) and asked if I would like to talk to a manager. The manager came and basically said that bone-in wings take “a little longer”. Ok, I get that but not 45 minutes! Our food finally came and fries were cold, my pizza was barely warm and only so because the plate it was on was heated. The manager came and asked if everything tasted ok and I sent back the pizza and asked it be removed from the bill. (I took one bite, bleh) The waitress again came over, with the bill, and they did remove the pizza and give 50% off. That was appreciated. However, she continued to make the excuse that she did put the order in as soon as she got it. Now, I understand she can’t control the kitchen BUT she can control communicating with her customers. Which she failed to do. This was our first, and last, visit...