Famous Dave's Bar-B-Que — Restaurant in Waldorf

I’m writing this review based strictly on the service I received during my visit last night. Customers, please be aware.

I dined alone because I was craving BBQ, and Famous Dave’s is usually a solid choice. My bill came to $30.41, and I paid with my debit card. As part of my usual routine, I checked my bank account while still at the restaurant, and I’m glad I did.

To my surprise, I noticed two charges from Famous Dave’s: one for $30.41 (my actual bill) and another for $81.49, which I did not authorize.

I immediately brought this to the attention of my server, who seemed unsure of what had happened. I asked for the manager, who I was told is named Dominique. When Dominique came to the table, she simply told me the $81.49 would fall off my account in about three days, no explanation of why the charge was there in the first place. She was extremely dismissive and lacked any sense of urgency or accountability.

Because I felt like no one was taking this seriously, I told her I was going to call the police. She walked away, saying she wasn’t going to argue with me. Just to be clear, I wasn’t arguing. I was simply asking for my money to be returned.

While waiting for the police, I noticed another customer—the one I saw the server assist earlier—coming out of the restroom. I asked if her bill was $81.49. She said yes, then quickly left the restaurant. That confirmed my suspicion: my card was somehow used for someone else’s bill.

When the sheriff arrived, he asked for the manager, but Dominique wouldn’t come out from the back. Another employee said the general manager, Evan, was on his way. The officer mostly waited and appeared disinterested. Eventually, Evan arrived and reviewed the transaction. He told me the $81.49 was a "preauthorization" and would drop off. However, as someone who’s worked in banking, I know preauthorizations are never placed for another customer’s amount on someone else’s card. That explanation made no sense.

Evan did pull up the transactions and saw that the $81.49 was charged to a different card. He seemed surprised that I had the charge on my account. Still, he insisted it would fall off by the next day. I explained that I needed access to my funds immediately. The way this was handled made me incredibly uncomfortable.

As for Dominique, I was told she didn’t feel “comfortable” coming back out because of how I was “responding”—but in reality, she was the one being unprofessional and confrontational.

In my opinion, this was a complete failure of customer service and management accountability. Whether this was an accident or something worse, the fact that my card was used for someone else’s charge is unacceptable. These types of “mistakes” can easily turn into scams if customers aren’t paying attention.

I’ve contacted my bank, and I’m posting this to warn other customers to always double-check their receipts and bank transactions before leaving, especially at this Famous Dave's. If I hadn’t, I might have been short $81.49—with no explanation and no one...

I honestly thought I liked Famous Dave's, but I guess I really don't after my recent experience. My guy and I initially wanted to go elsewhere for a late lunch and drinks. But as we were about to pass Famous Dave's he decided to stop.

The restaurant was fairly empty; we arrived around 2pm. We were greeted and shown to our booth in a quiet corner of the venue. Very nice. As we perused the main menu we noticed that Happy Hour was starting at 3pm, but that there was not a menu that specified which drinks and appetizers were discounted. Once our waiter arrived we asked if he knew the Happy Hour drinks AND prices. He literally rambled and stammered the entire time. We were so confused that we simply asked if he could just provide us with the Happy Hour menu. In the meantime we went ahead and ordered our entrees. I opted for the fried catfish, macaroni and cheese and dirty rice. My guy ordered the half rib platter, with rotisserie chicken, sweet apples and macaroni and cheese.

About ten minutes later the waiter comes back over to our table and explains that he, nor the bartender, could not find the Happy Hour menu and that his manager had even tried to download it from online somewhere and still couldn't produce it to us. Wow. That's terrible, really terrible.

The entrees arrive to our table really quickly. Everything was really hot and looked great. We pretty much enjoyed everything except for the macaroni and cheese. We both agreed that was not good...at all. My guy also loved his chicken, but not the ribs. Even I could tell they looked tough and needed more time slow-cooking; they weren't tender at all.

Towards the middle of our meal we hear these two, very loud women enter into the restaurant. One was on a cell phone and the other was trying to interject into that conversation. For the life of me I don't understand why the host sat them directly behind us in a very empty restaurant. I was very upset because they were very, very loud and rude. One of the women even interrupted our meal to ask how to spell a word...I promise you I can't make this up. It was so embarrassing, although my guy thought it was funny. I was not as pleased.

This was my first time at this particular Famous Dave's and even with all the miscues I won't write off the franchise just yet, but I will write off this particular venue. The servers need more experience and should at least be knowledgeable. If that fails, then the manager should at least know about simple menu offerings and prices,...

We went to this Famous Dave's on 4/14 at about 730 pm. It was a Sunday evening. The restaurant was moderately busy but not crowded. We had been to this location previously. Service was good and food was good previously. This evening was not a good experience. We were seated promptly after about 4 minutes. Our server came to the table quickly and was very accommodating. He took out order and put drinks came quickly. From there forward things went down hill. It took more than 30 minutes to get our food. I ordered the fried chicken. My wife ordered the catfish. When we got our food, both dishes were cold. The chicken was warm but definitely had been sitting for quite a while. The catfish was the same. Not at all good serving temperature. The sides, I had beans and collard greens. My wife had broccoli and mashed potatoes. I would say all sides were 80 degrees or less. They were cold to the touch. We didn't have a ton of time and we had waited so long for the food we didn't want to order another plat. We also noticed other tables around us were sending food back. When our waiter came back, I told him about the issue and he sent the manager out. The manager offered to get us other food but I opted to have her take my meal off the bill. My wife ate hers because she was so hungrynso we paid for her meal. The manager apologized and the server apologized. We were really disappointed. The bad part happened the next morning. I don't eat cold served food at restaurants for a reason and my wife.paidnthe price. She got sick... Not enough to go to the hospital but enough to keep her away from work. I didn't eat much of mine so I didn't get sick but did have some discomfort. I'm not trying to condemn this restaurant but it is really dangerous to serve food that is not kept at the proper temperature. If you guys don't want to run your customers away you need to fix whatever is happening in your kitchen. We may go back and give it another chance some day but... We will think twice next time. Very...