Artichokes Restaurant — Restaurant in Wakefield

We went last night for a family dinner for my boyfriend's mom's 72nd birthday. We also went for her birthday last year. My boyfriend and I arrived early and the hostess explained we would be seated when the rest of the party arrived; not a problem at all this is typical and my boyfriend works at a restaurant so he knows how it works. The restaurant wasn't terribly busy so the hostess ended up seated us anyways so we could get a drink since the bar was busy (we did not request this, she just did it anyway). This was very kind. Our party arrived 10 mins after we were seated and we ordered drinks and apps. The waitress explained the eggplant app we ordered took longer so the other app (meatballs) would be coming out first. Not a problem, we appreciated her letting us know this. However; the eggplant came out and we ate all of that before the meatballs came. The waitress had to go back after we finished the eggplant to get the other app. Again, not a huge problem could have been a kitchen problem and nothing to do with the waitress. We all ordered a second drink, waitress never wrote anything down and forget my drink. Food came and most of our meals were delicious. The birthday girl was finishing the last of her app when the waitress asked if everything was okay (only a couple of minutes after getting our dinners) so naturally, we said fine. However, once the birthday girl finally bit into her meal (veal parm), she didn't like it at all. She said it was overall "spicy" and after someone else took a bite to confirm it we realized it had an overwhelming pepper taste. Someone came over to fill our water and she sent her meal back with him saying she didn't like it. She wasn't interested in ordering anything else since she had the apps and everyone else was halfway finished with their meals. The gentleman refilling the waters told the waitress what had happened and she said: "I wish you told me earlier so I could have done something for you." We assumed this just meant replace the dish with something else so we said "no worries." We ordered 3 desserts and said it was a birthday so we could get a candle on the birthday girl's dessert. The waitress put the candle on the wrong dessert. Again, not a big deal. The real problem was when a $300 bill came to the table and we noticed the veal parm dinner that was sent back with only a bite taken out of it ($24), was not removed from the bill. We flagged down the waitress believing this was just a mistake since she was busy. She said (again) that if we said something earlier she could have done something about it and now it was too late. Never offered to get a manager. She just said "happy birthday" and waited for us to pay. Obviously, we paid the full bill and we even left a fair tip (we normally tip over 20% we tipped approx. 18%) because the waitress still had to do the work, but we will not be back. We completely understand that restaurant's can't just comp every meal and it was poor etiquette on our part to send the entree back with the person getting our water and not flag down the waitress, but she was clearly busy. She obviously talked to the man who took away the dish because she came back shortly after that and said she would have done something if we said something to her (again, we assumed this meant order another meal). I believe service is what really makes or breaks a restaurant in the end and for $24 on a $300 bill on a birthday (and it was the birthday girl's dinner nevertheless), it should have been taken off.

**Some restaurants provide the birthday person with a free dessert; we were NOT expecting anything free, but checked to make sure they didn't comp a dessert over comping the meal to save some money (which would have been fine with us as it still would have been an attempt to rectify the issue) --this was not the case. We paid for everything, including the meal that...

I ordered food from them on my way home from work. I live in Peabody, MA. It took me about 35 mins to get home. I called the restaurant back immediately and took photo evidence of the haddock I ordered from them. The lady I spoke to on the phone was nice and told me they would take care of it and it wouldn't be a problem and she will call the owner I asked her if she wanted me to send photos or video chat to show her the food. She told me that wasn't necessary and said I shouldn't get a call back and she will call the owner. The lady that worked at this restaurant called me back and told me the owner now wants me to drive back the food. I told her that would be fine if I was 5-10 minutes down the road but I'm almost 35 minutes away with traffic, I told her it would cost me more money to bring back the food in gas then it would even be worth getting the 30 dollars refunded. The owner at this restaurant clearly has poor business ethics & poor food quality standards. I will also be filing a complaint with the health department. I do not know how you can serve someone food without notice a piece of hair is on it they clearly had to put the lid on it and close it up. I'm not quite sure how they did not see this. I'm really not to concerned about the 30 dollars. It's simply about principle now. I feel bad for the employees that have to work under these owners they seemed like nice people you could clearly tell the women who called me back didn't want to have to tell me to bring the food back specially after she told me I'm all set it shouldn't be an issue. I was pretty much robbed by this restaurant. I most certainly should of checked the food before leaving, but you shouldn't have to at an upscale place Like that. I will be filing a dispute with my credit card company also.

If I where anyone reading this review it not worth even going there and wasting your money specially when they treat paying customers like this over a 24.00 dollar tab I can't wait until they re-run my credit card to add the tip in very disappointed with this place. It honestly makes no sense they would cause such a problem over 25 dollar meal. This review alone will probably cause alot more then 25 dollars in future customers / business. Clearly this guy / lady. Didn't go to business school 101. The customers always right ESPECIALLY WHEN THERE HAIR IN HIS FOOD AND HE HAS TANIGABLE EVIDENCE.

I am also assuming there discriminating against me bcuz of the way I look.

P.s This Review will stay listed until I get a full refund and...

I don’t usually write reviews but decided to for Artichokes. We had a moderately older server. It took her a while to greet us (ok fine we brushed it off). My friend and I each ordered a glass of wine. We had barely gotten our app, it was a little over 8:15, and our server insisted that we order entrees because they wanted to close (it was 45 mins before close). We asked, “When does the kitchen close?” Her response was: “Whenever we want to.” After a while, my friend asked for a refill. Our server almost denied the refill, implying that we were irresponsible drinkers and shouldn’t drive like that. My friend quite literally had to convince her into allowing a second glass. After eating, my friend asked for a holiday martini, the server took the drink menu away in a hurry, and I had to call after her asking for the menu. That’s when she basically told me I shouldn’t be ordering a second drink because I’m driving. I assured her that I was OK and then she proceeded to tell my friend and I that basically we are too young to be ordering like this. We are 24 years old. She then told us that the restaurant is closing and that we needed to hurry. Our drinks were then not as described and I’m guessing because they were all in a hurry to leave. I’m writing this review because in no way should a server or restaurant be talking down to business. I understand that Artichoke usually gets a middle aged crowd, but that does not mean that as 24 year olds, we should not be welcomed there or should be judged for ordering a couple drinks as if we are freshly 21 or under drinking age. Also, I work in the restaurant business and I know very well that servers should not be making it obvious that they want to leave or be rushing customers. I also know that there is no way that the kitchen was closing 45 minutes before close and that the bar should have put more effort into our drinks when it was only 9:10 at this point. I have heard some bad reviews from friends about Artichoke and was really hoping to prove them wrong. Really hoping that the owners/managers of the restaurant aren’t setting this attitude and will talk to...