George’s Restaurant Bar & Catering #2 — Restaurant in Waco

Update*

It has now been one full week and 0 responses from any management or owners of establishment nor have I received a refund for my order either.

Placed an order online for all of our employees in our shop, ended up spending alittle under $170 for 14 meals, upon arriving to pick up my order I pulled into my parking space, a vehicle that had just driven in behind me off of Hewitt Dr. pulled up at the door, a woman gets out of her car and starts unloading two massive bags of food out of the hatch of her vehicle, an employee came out to help, I ended up holding the door for her when she went in. I then watched the employee place the bags of food that just came out of the woman’s vehicle back onto the online order shelf, gave the woman her correct order which was of course not 2 massive bags, then the employee asks me if I am there to get an order, I said yes and gave her my name, she then proceeded to pick up the two bags that I just watched another customer return to the store. I said “ma’am, I am so sorry, but I just watched those bags come out of the rear end of another customers vehicle after leaving the premises and I for one was not comfortable accepting a now “returned” food order”. The very sweet hostess said “oh not a problem, I understand, let me go grab a manager” and takes the bags back with her to the kitchen. A few moments later she comes back and tells me that the manager and the “owner” would be with me shortly. I saw them both come to the computer in front of me, then walk away, then the “owner” came back to me a few moments later saying “excuse me is that your online order?” I replied that yes it was, he then said “so what’s wrong with it?” I reexplained that I was not comfortable taking an order that somebody else returned, not knowing who that person is, where they took the food, if they opened the boxes, if they touched the food, and what is in their car. He then replied with “yea I’m not remaking that order, there is nothing wrong with that food, the bags sat in the car, not the food” I asked how he knows that? Does he know what’s in her car? Because I for sure don’t. He repeated that he was unwilling to remake my order, so I asked him to refund the order. I told the man to have a nice day and went to leave, he then yelled back at me “you have a nice day as well and I’ll let everyone I know not to go to **(my place of employment)” I was in my company uniform, as I was, again, picking up lunch for 14 employees of my companies over 100 employees on our property. I for one cannot believe that the owners of George’s of all restaurants in Waco would condone this type of behavior or poor food handling, as well as I cannot believe that this “owner” would conduct business in this manner especially in front of a group of atleast 10 customers and several employees to witness in the lobby. I reached out to a manager at the Speight location, she agreed with me that this was not acceptable behavior nor food handling practice and she would be giving my contact information to the actual owner of the George’s locations, Sammy, who would definitely be reaching out to me to resolve this situation.

This has now been almost 48 hours ago and I have gotten 0 communication from anybody at either George’s, this whole situation was completely unacceptable as well as the hate speech and slurs that the “owner” spewed at me was absolutely ridiculous and uncalled for, my company did not serve our food to another customer, let her take it off the premises, return it, then try to resell the now returned food to another customer. We did not make the mistake, your company did. I purchased food as a customer from George’s in Hewitt, not George’s in the back end of a Pontiac Vibe. If this happened this time, there is no telling how many times they have done this, this was just the first time they got caught. Unacceptable and...

This is a very popular place. You can tell by the line that forms outside to dine in. They also had a lot of take out orders waiting to be picked up. With that being said, we put our names on the list and waited to be called to be seated. We didn’t wait long at all.

I honestly persuaded my friends to go here for dinner because I wanted to try the pancakes. I’ve been so bummed that I haven’t found a place with really good pancakes and I’m on a quest to find my go to place. However…..the server informed me they don’t do breakfast for dinner. Booooo. Thumbs down for that.

I ordered the crybaby burger with onion rings, and my friends ordered the cheesey fries with bacon, the crazy tails (bacon wrapped shrimp with jalapeños and pepper Jack cheese), nephew’s chicken with broccoli and sweet potato casserole, and the bruiser hamburger with fries. I can’t give a rating on what my friends had but I’ll tell you about mine.

The crybaby burger. First, if you’re expecting that this burger will make you cry from being too hot, it won’t. What I mean is, there are jalapeños in it and pepper Jack cheese, but it isn’t spicy. It’s flavorful. I’ll start with the best part. The meat. Omg, the beef on this burger was so good. I could tell it was very good quality beef. It was served on a jalapeño bun, that had good taste and it was soft, but the texture was a little off. It was almost cake like instead of bread like. It was tasty though. I ate my burger with a knife and fork because the bread was falling apart due to texture. The question is, would I get this burger again? No. I’d try a different burger, and ask that the same beef patty that’s used in the crybaby burger be used. Oh btw, they served my burger without the onion rings, because they weren’t ready when my friends got their food so I got my hamburger first, and 30 minutes later, my onion rings came out. I shared them with my friends, and they loved them. They said it was the best onion rings they’ve ever had and that it was worth the wait. Imagine chicken fried steak batter on onion rings. That’s what they are. I prefer the traditional crispy breaded onion rings to the chicken fried steak batter onion rings. They tasted delicious but the texture was off for me. I do love the fries though. Those cheesy fries were so good, they had a sprinkle of chopped bacon on it. My favorite dish of the night for me that I will absolutely come back to George’s for are the crazy tails. Imagine jalapeño popper meets shrimp fritter sealing their love with bacon and deep fried crispy. Match made in culinary heaven. I can’t wait to go back and have more of those and try a cocktail. If you try a cocktail, make sure to have a designated driver, those cocktails look huge served in a fish bowl sized glass. I didn’t try one this time, but everyone around me seemed to enjoy them. Another thing, this place is great for a date night or for families with children that are older. Definitely not really a place for babies. More like a “moms night out” or “let’s go eat after the game” kinda place. Can’t wait to go back and I would recommend this place to my friends to try.

Ambience was good too. We sat on the bar side. Lots of Texas memorabilia and...

If I could give ZERO stars I would, George's #2 was a HUGE disappointment!!

We went to George's #1 yesterday and had an amazing experience, so what a huge let down this one was. We were really excited and looking forward to another evening of great service and great food, but that's not what we got. First let me start by saying the onion rings at both George's were amazing! The servers were friendly at #2, but not nearly as friendly and personable as the servers at #1.

The entrees at #2 were nothing to write home about. The catfish was mediocre at best and the cook totally messed up my sirloin steak, not once, but twice. I ordered my steak medium rare. The first time it came out medium well to well done (hardly ANY pink). When I sent it back, one of the servers said the cooks weren't all that good at cooking steaks. And then, the second steak came out more rare than medium rare (see pic). I wasn't able to eat it as the center was barely warm and was very bloody. The server apologized again and offered to bring me something else to eat. By this time, the other person in my party was done eating, so I declined her offer.

Instead, I asked to speak to a manager. A middle aged gentleman with brown hair and a receding hairline, named Kevin, came to our table. As I started to talk him about my experience and give him some feedback, he interrupted me on MULTIPLE occasions and wouldn't let me finish a sentence. He got defensive and said, "they were cooked right, I cooked them myself!" Kevin then went back to the kitchen and proceed to bring both steaks back to the table and argue with me about them being cooked accurately (according to temperature) even though I repeatedly told him I did not want to argue, I just wanted to pay and leave. Now get this, one of the steaks he brought back to the table wasn't even mine! But he kept insisting they were mine and cooked right because he cooked them.

I then asked Kevin again to stop. At this point I felt as if he was verbally abusing me in front of all the other patrons. It was embarrassing.

In the end, Kevin said we didn't have to pay for it, which was nice, but not the end result I was looking for. All I wanted was to be heard and offer feedback. My intent was not to complain, but to offer some insight about our experience. After all, the restaurant can't address something and fix it if they don't know about it.

I sincerely hope the owner, Sammy Citrano, speaks to Kevin (who said he was also part owner) about how he treats customers. As a person in a leadership position myself, Kevin seriously needs training on how to listen to customers, listen to feedback, and provide exceptional customer service. Right now I feel sick to my stomach, not from the food, but from the way I was verbally accosted.

Had Kevin simply said, "I'm sorry your food wasn't what you expected, how can I make it right?" my experience would have been completely different. As we head back home from our vacation in Waco, we are saddened by the way we were treated by Kevin and hope no one else falls victim to his...