Family Get Together Nearly Foiled!

Last weekend my family and I were in need of a restaurant to eat at.  My sister-in-law and her husband and six kids were in from out of town and we had our family of four, for those of you counting that’s 12 total.  My sister-in-law called Texas Roadhouse and was told it could be anywhere from 2.5-3.5 hours before a table would become available.  When you have hungry kids to feed you don’t want to wait that long.  We knew since it was a Saturday night we would be hard pressed to find anywhere super fast but we didn’t want to wait over 2 hours. They called around to several other restaurants and settled on Logan’s Roadhouse.  My brother-in-law called them at 6pm for “call ahead” seating telling them that we would be there at 7pm and how many were in our party.  The woman who answered the phone told him that it would be no problem, they would be able to accommodate our party of 12 and that our table would be ready when we arrived.  My sister-in-law and her family arrived at 6:45pm and we weren’t far behind.  At around 7:10 we had some hungry, anxious kiddos and some grumpy babies so we inquired at the hostess station about how much longer we might have to wait.  We were told that they were waiting on a large party to clear out and then we would be seated.  Twenty-five to thirty more minutes went by and still we were left waiting.  My brother-in-law, again, went to the hostess station inquiring about our wait time and informed them, again, that we had called ahead and what we were told about our table being ready when we arrived.  The lady and gentleman at the hostess station informed him that they weren’t really sure how much longer we would have to wait and that “call ahead” seating is pretty much pointless with a large party.  (what a lie!) My brother-in-law came over and explained to us what they had said and we all decided that we needed to turn in our pager and find somewhere else to eat.  It was clear that Logan’s was not interested in our business, the inconvenience that they caused us, or our 8 hungry kids.  We turned in our pager, called a local pizza restaurant (who was almost equally as busy), Pizza King, and they were able to seat us within 5 minutes of us arriving where we had a wonderful meal. 

Some may ask why I’m sharing this story.  Why am I “bashing” an obviously busy restaurant, what did I expect, and what do I want out of this.   

To answer your questions I’m sharing my story in hopes that businesses and people alike will see situations like this and learn from them.  I’m not looking for a payday or any compensation, I’m hoping that others will see this as a “what not to do.” 

"Ok, so why didn't you just write an email to the customer service department privately instead of complaining here?"

Well, here's the funny thing, upon navigating through Logan's website intending to do that very thing I stumbled upon a tab labeled, "The Experience." So of course I had to know what their stance was on "The Experience" and clicked on it and found this little gem:

"Logan's Roadhouse revisits the classic roadhouse from days past and brings it to life in a modern way through its welcoming hospitality, attentive service and kickin' upbeat atmosphere."

Sadly even though this is their motto regarding the experience they wish their patrons to have, I experienced none of those! As a small business owner I know the importance of customer satisfaction and will do anything I can to right a wrong.  It was completely understandable that they were busy and that we would have to wait a length of time in order to be seated.  What was not understandable was the complete lack of empathy from the employees we encountered and how uninterested they seemed in providing customer service to their guests.  The point of “call ahead” seating is so that customers can confirm a seat and put themselves on a list so as to avoid waiting in a crowded restaurant for a table.  It’s a form of convenience and in the past I’ve never had an issue using it at various restaurants.  While I do not believe that the lady who answered the phone was lying to us about our wait time or table, I do believe that the she along with the employees at the hostess stand were/are poorly trained and were uninterested in creating a dining experience.  Upon our first visit to the hostess stand, Logan’s employees should’ve explained either the miscommunication in our wait time or offered to make it right.  The employees offered to neither instead they did nothing and lost 12 patrons, lost the revenue, and any further business from any of us.
Here is how the evening should have gone:
                My brother-in-law calls Logan’s, we are placed on the “call ahead” seating list, we arrive when we said we were going to, we were seated in a timely fashion, and our family was able visit after not seeing each other for over a year without any complications.  However, because I realize that we don’t live in a perfect world I understand that most likely that we would would’ve had to wait and here is how Logan’s should’ve handled it:  We should’ve been notified upon arriving that our table was not in fact ready and that we would have to wait “x” amount of time.  Should we have had to inquire about our wait time/table the hostess should’ve then apologized about our wait time, inquired about the details of our party (group size, how many kids, highchairs, etc), and then made it a priority to get us seated as quickly as possible.  If necessary they should’ve gotten the manager involved in order to make sure their guests were completely taken care of. 

In conclusion my family has decided that in the future dining at Logan’s Steakhouse is not an option for us and I hope that others have a more positive experience.  Have you ever been on the tail end of bad customer service? If so, how did you handle it? Were you satisfied with the results?