Route 66 — Restaurant in Wildwood

My family and I have been coming here for the past few years, every year when we head to Wildwood for our family vacation. It's not a five-star restaurant, but they always had decent food and decent service for our night on the boardwalk.

This year was absolutely different. The place was empty when we first sat down. Our waiter came over to take our order where we asked for drinks while we reviewed the menu. It took about 10 minutes before our waters and about one soda came back to our table. Next we put in our order- most of us got gyros, where my father asked for a burger. After a very long wait (but understandable for our size group), our gyros came. My brother who asked for nothing besides meat on the gyro, came back with lettuce, onions and sauce. My salad never came. An extra water never came. We only were given 3 forks. As we sat and waited for father's burger, we began to monitor the time. At about 10 minutes with no indication that my father's burger was being brought out, I decided to go up to find our waiter who was nowhere to be found. When confronting the hostess she said she could not help me, until I demanded a manager. The manager would not make eye contact, and didn't care- he shrugged me off when I began to complain. Finally, his burger came which was clearly forgotten.

When we got up to pay, we spoke with the manager again. He tried to use an excuse that there burgers "being top of the line" take longer than other meals on the menu to make. I explained as a manager, he should not allow six other meals to be brought and sat in front of customers if one person's meal will take longer. He hardly looked us in the eye.

All in all, we were so disappointed. Not only was it a horrible experience, but the fact that not one single person working at this location wanted to step up or make anything right was appalling. With all the other restaurants on the boardwalk, my advice is to stay away. I'm not sure if it's a change in management or ownership, but this place is going downhill for good and very quickly....

Patty, (previous poster) I pity you. You must be a complete and utter imbecile if you don't understand how sophomoric and bereft of common sense your post reads.

ALL food servers in the restaurant industry depend on tips to survive. Read the last sentence twice (so that you understand). The law doesn't even require that the proprietor pay their wait staff minimum wage because of their reliance on tips (which they're also taxed on). This is industry standard and would make your hamburger cost $30 if it were otherwise.

I also find it interesting that "only 3 menus had the minimum 15% gratuity on large parties" displayed. I'm guessing Route 66 went out of their way and spent additional money on two sets of menus so they could confuse troglodyte patrons such as yourself....for personal amusement I guess. This is also an industry standard; so much so that having to print it on a menu or have it displayed elsewhere is almost insulting to anyone with a minimum of elementary school education. Long story short: if you can't afford to tip the hardworking wait staff in a restaurant that brings you their food, then you have absolutely no business eating outside the confines of your own kitchen. I'm betting you ate all your food and put on your act when you got the bill. I've worked in restaurants before l, and unfortunately know your type all too well.

I've eaten at Route 66 every Summer for the last 8 or so years and never had a problem with their quality of food or staff. In fact, I've always had the exact opposite experience than you. If you had a legitimate complaint it should have been addressed prior to the bill; like when you were served. Instead, you chose to get out of tipping by trying to concoct a tale of woe...

My fiancé and I visited your restaurant a little over a week ago, and unfortunately, we left feeling extremely disappointed with both the service and the overall experience. To start, we each ordered a Pepsi and a Diet Pepsi, but both drinks arrived completely flat. While this wasn’t a major issue, we politely requested lemonades instead. A bit of a wait followed before our food arrived, which we understood given how busy the restaurant was. However, when my food was served, I found a strand of hair in it. At that point, having already waited, I chose to remove the hair myself and continue eating rather than send the dish back. The most troubling part of the experience occurred when it was time to pay. We intended to tip partially on the card and the remainder in cash. However, before we even had a chance to pull out our wallet, the waitress began questioning our tip and lecturing us for not tipping 18% — all while standing over us with the card machine. As someone who has worked in the food industry for five years, I found this to be incredibly unprofessional and unacceptable behavior. Her premature and confrontational response ultimately resulted in us choosing not to leave the intended cash tip. Quite honestly, we regretted leaving the tip on the card at all after that interaction. This behavior not only soured our experience, but reflects poorly on your restaurant’s standards for customer service. I hope this feedback is taken seriously, as no guest should be made to feel uncomfortable or disrespected...