The Blue Chair Cafe & Tavern — Restaurant in Winchester

This place has potential to be 4 Stars, but poor service and incorrect orders make this a 2-Star, at best. I can do nothing but recommend you, as a potential customer, read all the other horror stories in the reviews about the service and this establishment's inability to rectify incorrect food orders.

We arrived for an early lunch on Friday, Valentine's Day. There was only one other couple seated in the restaurant when we arrived. Our waitress was friendly and greeted us upon walking in. We were seated, looked over the menu, and placed our orders. I ordered the Nashville Hot Chicken, my wife ordered the catfish, which is offered with a choice of tartar sauce OR marmalade. My wife chose tartar sauce.

About fifteen minutes later, at 2:00PM, my plate arrived, but there was none for my wife. I looked toward the counter, no plates were waiting for service. about 5 minutes passed before her plate made it to the window, but the waitress was too busy talking and looking at her phone to notice - even walking by the plate three separate times before noticing it in the window. At 2:07PM, my wife received her catfish on croissant - laying in a pool of marmalade. Before we could even say anything, before the plate could even be laid on the table, the waitress told us she would be back with some tartar sauce.

At this time, a young college girl came in to order a coffee to go, followed shortly by a couple. I will tell you from our experience, if you are dining in and other potential customers come in for a quick order, you will have to wait. Our waitress was the only one working the floor this day, and every customer that came in for a coffee or pastry order got the VIP treatment while we sat with catfish in this marmalade murk. The first three customers received their order, followed by another couple and then another woman. At 2:15PM, a younger girl came in and walked behind the counter, she looked to be relief help, and even made a comment to our waitress about why they didn't call her in to help. After the take away orders were finished, our waitress and this newer girl stood behind the pastry case chatting and showing each other pictures on their phones, I guess.

Well, we never received that tartar sauce. Dry catfish and soggy croissant because of the lake of marmalade. Our waitress finally came around at 2:26PM to pick up our plates, 19 minutes after she said she would come back. As she is in the middle of asking if we are interested in dessert, the helper that walked in a few minutes earlier begins to walk out the door, saying goodbye. Our waitress stops her spiel mid-sentence, talks to the girl briefly, then walks away from our table, never asking us about dessert, our orders, anything. So, to recap: 1:50PM - Drinks arrive 2:00PM - I received my order 2:05PM - Wife's order is in service window 2:07PM - Wife receives order; Waitress says she will get tartar sauce

• 2 Couples, 2 Individuals come in over the next 15 mins* 2:15PM - Relief help comes in? 2:19PM - We finish our meals, never checked up on 2:26PM - Plate Pickup, Relief help leaves 2:28PM - Received Ticket

This place was such a huge disappointment. It has been saved to my "Want to Go" in Maps for a long time, but...

Highly disappointed in our experience. We came in early afternoon for lunch and sat in the cafe. We noticed immediately that the place had a lot of character and had a very comfortable feel. The waitress took our drink order and food order quickly and that was the end of the good service. My husband ordered the Nashville hot chicken and I ordered the catfish. I opted for the catfish on a croissant and the menu stated that it came with slaw and the option of tarter sauce or marmalade. I requested tarter sauce. My husband’s plate was delivered to him fairly quickly and I didn’t get my food until at least ten minutes later. It sat in the kitchen window for minutes prior to her bringing it to our table. When the waitress brought my plate out we immediately noticed that my catfish was covered in marmalade and there was no tarter sauce to be found. She said she would be right back with tarter sauce - without me commenting or asking for it, which tells me she knew my order was incorrect. I did not send it back because I was very hungry and did not want to wait for a new plate. While the catfish was cooked perfectly, it was not seasoned and neither was the tiny scoop of cole slaw that was on the sandwich. I did not enjoy the marmalade on my catfish (I know this is a taste preference), it just didn’t work for me. The waitress never came back with my tarter sauce and only came back to leave the check after we finished eating. While I realize it was a little busy, the customer service could have been far better. The waitress was busy having personal conversations with other staff members. I DO NOT RECOMMEND this cafe to dine in. As a side note, I was so irritated once I received my plate that I forgot to snap a picture...

Today was not a good day for The Blue Chair. I used to go there with friends a few years back, so I met my kids there for lunch. We seated ourselves outside. The kids were told to go from the lounge part to the other part to put in an order, and then told someone would come to our table outside. After watching the tables at the adjoining patio get waited on, I headed for the restroom and I asked if the waiter was coming to us next. He said he was not coming up and to just tell our orders, so I ordered our food and had everyone yell their orders down (from maybe 15-20 feet away).

The food eventually came, but no silverware. After waiting several minutes for that, my daughter went and found some.

Several bites in, my son started gagging. He spit out his food and there was something blue in it- a chip from the bowl! We asked for a new bowl and they said there would be a discount.

When the next “bowl” came out, maybe 20 minutes later, he started eating and then SPIT OUT A SCREW! I asked for the manager and was then told they were short staffed that day and that the woman bringing our food was in charge. I informed her about the screw and she made it clear she did NOT believe me. She said they don’t even have screws in the kitchen. She left, angry. I went back to our table.

She came back several minutes later and said she would cover our meals for the day, reiterating they were short staffed.

I thought about that screw all the way back to Nashville. What a weird day. The manager did say she hopes we will come back- but I think we all know that...