Hearth Restaurant and Pub — Restaurant in Windsor

First, I will start by giving a little background about myself. I have worked in the restaurant industry for 15+ years in the BOH. I also have a Culinary Management degree from the Art Institute, Denver. I am only giving two stars because the service was mediocre, at best, and the food was average. While waiting for a table, My girlfriend and I decided to grab a drink from the bar. We approached the bar at the cocktail server location because it was the only place to get close. After approximately 15 minutes we finally were acknowledged by the bartender. Her demeanor was quite morose and she seemed to be unhappy about being there. We were seated and our server showed up fairly quickly, which I took as a good sign, but it turned out to be quite different from that moment on. After giving us a few minutes to look over the menu he returned and asked what we wanted without inquiring if we had been there before or had any questions about the menu. We started with a couple appetizers, "roasted cauliflower with goat cheese" and " fresh mozzarella with grape tomatoes and basil". The mozzarella came out first and was very good. While we were devouring that, the server brought out the roasted cauliflower and immediately scurried off. When I went to serve myself some of the cauliflower and actually took the time to look at it, I discovered a dome of extremely black, charred nastiness. To say the leas,t it was an epic fail on both the kitchen staff and the server to allow that to be served. I requested to have it made again and asked to make sure it was not burnt to a crisp. The second attempt was definitely better but barely had any color to it, as if they were now afraid to let the cauliflower caramelize to a golden brown hue, which is how one would expect to have it served. Although the second attempt of the cauliflower was much better there was still a major issue. The goat cheese that was supposed to be served with it was replaced by a large dollop of creme fraiche and olive oil. This was very disappointing because my girlfriend loves goat cheese and ordered it mainly because it was supposed to be part of the dish and the server didn't tell us before or after bringing it to the table that they were out of goat cheese and the kitchen was replacing it with something else. When I asked why we didn't get goat cheese he looked at me with a very perplexed expression. I again asked why we didn't get goat cheese and if it was because they ran out, which his immediate reply was "Oh, Yes, we ran out". It seemed as if he didn't even know what was supposed to be served and just went along with the question. Our entrees were served in a timely manner and looked amazing. I ordered the "roasted chicken" and my girlfriend ordered the "Salmon". We almost always order something different so we can share and try a couple menu items whenever we dine at a new place. The reason I mention this fact is because when we cut the salmon in half and I caught a stomach turning nostril full of the smell of very pungent, bad seafood. If you have ever walked into the grocery store and before getting close to the seafood counter were almost floored by the smell, that is what it was like. That is not how seafood should smell, neither raw nor cooked!!! Fortunately, every thing else was actually pretty good. With our clean plates sitting in front of us, with the exception of the untouched salmon, the server approached and asked if we wanted a to go container !?!?! I might be off base slightly......I don't think so but if someone has eaten everything on their plate and not touched a specific item, I would immediately inquire whether or not there was something fishy about it.....pun intended!!! Done with dinner and not wanting to go broke buying more drinks there, we asked for the check. When the server returned we handed him a credit card and a $20 bill and asked for change. He ran the credit card and brought us a $10 bill and two $5 bills. Standard change for a $20 is $10, $5, and five $1. He didn't get a 20 percent tip on...

UPDATE FROM 10/31/2019 BELOW

We come to Hearth often. Each and every time the food is amazing! What lead me to leave this review was my most recent experience, which has been identical to all of my previous visits: great food, awful experience. We have gone to Hearth on a Thursday afternoon with no one in the restaurant and still had to wait for a table because of online reservations. We have put our name on the online wait list an hour before arriving and have still had to wait at least an hour before being seated. We have put specific requests in for a booth, and when we arrived the host let us know they didn't check the online wait list before seating the entire booth section which left us with the option of sitting at a high top table with a two year old. I understand that seating is limited and I understand all of the nuances that come with that. My complaint is that the process is not consistent. Great food is only a portion of the customer experience. We continue to be optimistic about our experiences there and have brought friends and family from out of town to your restaurant, only to start our meals frustrated from waiting at least an hour and then screaming at each other because of how loud the restaurant is. Another inconsistency is taking to go orders. Sometimes I am able to order a pizza to go, sometimes I am told that you don't take to go orders, and once I was told that I had to physically come in and place my order and then wait for it to be cooked then and there. Please form consistent processes that are customer experience focused.

UPDATE: We went to Hearth on Halloween (2 months after this review was posted). The restaurant was 20% full, as is expected on Halloween, and we requested a booth. We were told that only parties of 4 or more get to be seated at booths. Surprise surprise- A NEW RULE! Unfortunately, we are only a family of 3 and with a small child, booth's are much easier and much less out in the open at this restaurant. It didn't matter that the restaurant was fairly empty- the answer was no. YOU CANNOT OPERATE A BUSINESS THIS WAY IF YOU CARE ABOUT CUSTOMER SERVICE. Officially the very last time we will be eating at Hearth.

I'd also like to add that the owner of Hearth has called me twice to talk about this review and while I appreciate the follow-up, I don't really want to talk about it. I'd just prefer that it gets fixed if that's a...

This was the second time we tried to eat at Hearth. I understand it’s a popular restaurant and to expect a wait. This afternoon I called ahead and was told by the hostess that while they do not take reservations for small parties, alternatively I could join their waitlist online (I clarified that this was similar to call ahead seating but online). I went on Open Table and joined the waitlist. I was updated as the number of parties in front of me decreased. I called the restaurant again to clarify that I understood how the wait list worked. I was told to come in whenever I wanted (not the time I signed up for on Open Table) and my wait would begin when I arrived and I would be the next table called (you see how this is contradictory). So we showed up at the time we had signed up for and was told that it would be a 45 min wait. After brief discussion with the hostess I asked to speak to a manager. After some back and forth clarifying, the manager confirmed that the waitlist is only to give the restaurant notice on who to expect, it in no way is advantageous to the customer. I would wait the same having signed up as if I had not signed up. This makes no sense to me. I worked in the restaurant industry for 10 years and have patience for all sorts of things, but this is not one of them. I would rather a restaurant not offer any waitlist or reservations than a false pretense of call ahead seating. The manager apologized, but offered nothing else when I explained that his hostess had not effectively communicated the policy to me over the phone, and that if she had we would have made alternative plans. Needless to say, we left and took our business to Okole Maluna, which is always a positive experience. I’d be happy to wait to eat there because they didn’t tell me I wouldn’t have to. It’s too bad that we can’t expect a positive experience at one of the few restaurants in the Windsor/Severance area.

Update: after posting this review I read the first couple of reviews that came up on Google. No surprise, they both mentioned the horrible wait/ reservation confusion. What makes me the most upset is that the owner responded to one review stating that they could join the waitlist to “expedite” their wait for a table in the future. Tonight I was told the exact opposite. Serious lack of communication here and follow through on...