[Janet & Carl]

I email this letter to Glenview Country Club on June 19th. Needless to say no response as of today, July 8th, 2013.

On Saturday June 15th we visited the Glenview Country Club and were extremely disappointed with the service. Let me explain. We are a group of up to 30 plus and we travel via golf cart once a month to a nice restaurant in The Villages. We came from The Village of Sanibel to Glenview Country Club since some of us had never been to your establishment. My husband called the restaurant during the week so you would be expecting us on Saturday. We were connected to the Banquet Manager's voice message. My husband left a message explaining we would have close to 30 people for lunch on Saturday. We never received a return call. On Saturday we arrived at Glenview around 11:15. We explained to the hostess we had 23 people for lunch and would like to be seated around 12:15. Keep in mind a message was left for the banquet manager that we would be there on Saturday. The hostess said she would try to accommodate us and not until we all showed up. We asked for tables on the porch and were told a certain room was used for large parties. We asked to speak with the banquet manager and he was standing right there. My husband asked, do you not return phone calls? The banquet manager told us he was very busy and if he had a receptionist calls may get returned! So we had to wait until we all came back to see where we would be seated. We were placed in a large dining room with one oblong table, one round table and a table for 4. When I walked into the room there was a table of 10-12 set up in the center toward the porch area. Sure would have been nice if we had 2 tables of 12 set up for us, even in an L shape. We all would have been together. A few minutes later, 2 more of our people came in. One of the waiters said to the banquet manager, here are 2 extra people and I said no, these people are in our count. She explained to me that the round table could hold 10!!! I asked the banquet manager if we could have another small table to place next to ours and he said he didn't have any more tables!!! Our people at the oblong table moved around so our guests could be seated. Why couldn't we have had 2 oblong tables placed in an L shape??? So everyone’s order is placed and is served in what I thought was a timely manner. Well, I finished my lunch when I noticed one of our guests being served silverware. I asked her if she was just now being served and she said yes. A hamburger and french fries! Four people at the end of the oblong table were being served while others were finished their lunch. Gets better, another couple was served after the last 4. The reason they were being served so late, their french fries were being cooked. Oh they received their hamburger placed on 2 bottom pieces of the roll!!! So what kind of a picture was painted for our group at Glenview Country Club? Twenty three people ate at your restaurant ordering hamburgers, sides, drinks and other menu choices. Nice tab for the restaurant and tips for the servers. Foul tastes left in the mouths of our guests.

Janet Hohenberger

[PennBF]

Just a question. It seems that some have not been satisfied at Havana Restaurant, another now at Glenview, some very dissatisfied at Terra Del Sol, and so on. Given that "perception is reality" then it would be a safe bet there are problems with the CC Restaurants? Don't know what can be done but it does suggest some actions would be appropriate.
It is well mentioned as to where can anyone find a good Italian Restaurant and we (fortunately) found a real good one but not in The Villages. We are from an area where there are a number of good Italian Restaurants and kind of recognize if they are good or not. We have had to go outside of The Villages to find one which, in speaking to friends that independently found this Restaurant all agree it is terrific.
I know there will be a number of readers who swear this or that Italian Restaurant in The Villages is good or great. Like I said, "perception is reality" so if those are the ones some like so be it

[Uptown Girl]

I am sorry that you were unhappy with your experience.
I would not depend that a voice message alone to ANY restaurant would be sufficient to arrange a reservation for a party of thirty.

Perhaps it would behoove restaurants to NOT provide voice mail if the calls will not be returned or confirmed.... but I know of no restaurant, in any city that will prepare tables for a large party without actually speaking to the people first.

Perhaps in the future, it would be best to choose places that have a 'party room' area within their restaurant, and secure that room in whatever way the restaurant requires ahead of time when your party is that size. That's a boatload of people to attend to in synchrony.

[784caroline]

Why do 23- 30 people have to have seat together?? Your call ahead was an attempt at the right thing to do...but was it received? At best you can talk to 6 or 8 without yelling at someone. Our group of typically 32 visit the local CCs for diner after saturday golf for dinner and we know it is almost impossible to get even a table for 8 without waiting (unless you go to Havana). SO what we do is every 4some breaks up and we get 8 tables of 4...or if there is a larger table available we take advantage of it. If open porch seating is available and its not raining, windy or outright hot/humid..normallly this is not a problem.

If you broke your group up that did not require special seating, you probably all (at 11:15 before the rush) could have sat on the enclosed porch.

BTW I think the banquet mgr should have returned your call or you should have followed up and not assumed he/she received it. You never did speak about the food...typically the Glenview lunches I have had there are very good.

[graciegirl]

I love Glenview and have always had good service there. When you have a group of 32 even in off season, that is a LOT of folks. I think your expectations were just a tiny bit too high and I am sorry you didn't have the enjoyable experience you were hoping for.

[justjim]

The Banquet Manager clearly should be fired and perhaps his boss. OP'S phone message was never returned and email never answered. This is totally unacceptable and awful business management---exactly the reasons restaurant owners go bankrupt.

[rjm1cc]

Must be the CC have enough customers that they do not have to worry about good service.

[CFrance]

Originally Posted by PennBF

Just a question. It seems that some have not been satisfied at Havana Restaurant, another now at Glenview, some very dissatisfied at Terra Del Sol, and so on. Given that "perception is reality" then it would be a safe bet there are problems with the CC Restaurants? Don't know what can be done but it does suggest some actions would be appropriate.
It is well mentioned as to where can anyone find a good Italian Restaurant and we (fortunately) found a real good one but not in The Villages. We are from an area where there are a number of good Italian Restaurants and kind of recognize if they are good or not. We have had to go outside of The Villages to find one which, in speaking to friends that independently found this Restaurant all agree it is terrific.
I know there will be a number of readers who swear this or that Italian Restaurant in The Villages is good or great. Like I said, "perception is reality" so if those are the ones some like so be it

Will you give the name of the Italian Restaurant? We too are looking for one.

[Mallory]

I don't believe that 30-36 people should be an overwhelming problem for most restaurants / clubs. From the description of events, the group was told there was a certain room used for large groups. That being the case, it would seem pretty easy to get the room prepared in a short period of time.

Two thinks jump out at me -
#1 - If they can't handle or don't want to handle a large group, why have a Banquet Manager?

#2 - The inane policy of not seating the group until everyone is in the building. This has been discussed on this board previously concerning the hostesses at the Glenview podium creating the artificial logjam. If you have a group, going into a specified and specific room, and most have arrived, put them in there and start running the tab. I've got to believe this is better than having two dozen people hanging around the entrance waiting for another few to arrive.

[rubicon]

Anyone who has worked in business is aware of the problems associated with employees not returning calls (e-mails voicemails). What could have be done when these folks arrived is anyone's guess and quite honestly moot. If the phone call had been returned the intended preparation by the OP would have been achieved and/or the manager could have informed the OP it was not possible to accommodate. Posters shifting blame to the OP IMHO are mistaken the OP executed her responsibility Mallory did not

[eweissenbach]

Originally Posted by rubicon

Anyone who has worked in business is aware of the problems associated with employees not returning calls (e-mails voicemails). What could have be done when these folks arrived is anyone's guess and quite honestly moot. If the phone call had been returned the intended preparation by the OP would have been achieved and/or the manager could have informed the OP it was not possible to accommodate. Posters shifting blame to the OP IMHO are mistaken the OP executed her responsibility Mallory did not

Glenview rubi!

[mickey100]

I'm sorry you had a bad experience. Obviously the banquet manager was in the wrong in not returning your call. What we've done in similar situations, is to go in person to make arrangements, because we've had better luck that way. I hate it when people don't return calls. You really are left not knowing where you stand. Sure sounds like they might have done a better job of getting the food orders done in somewhat the same time frame as well.

[eweissenbach]

Originally Posted by mickey100

I'm sorry you had a bad experience. Obviously the banquet manager was in the wrong in not returning your call. What we've done in similar situations, is to go in person to make arrangements, because we've had better luck that way. I hate it when people don't return calls. You really are left not knowing where you stand. Sure sounds like they might have done a better job of getting the food orders done in somewhat the same time frame as well.

While I like Glenview, it sounds like this was a mess from jump street. They should have returned the call, it takes a minute - don't tell me how busy you are it takes A MINUTE! Secondly, when approached about the ball-drop he should have apologized and made every effort to accommodate the group. I don't know who teaches restaurant management customer relations these days but they aren't getting through to many of their students.

[karostay]

1 guest check or 32

[Happinow]

Sorry you had a negative experience, but why didn't you make a follow up call to the restaurant? With that many people attending dinner I would have called them back and reiterated that 26-30 people would be showing up to eat. Take the name of the person you talked to and then you can have someone to hold accountable if things don't go as planned. I agree it is unacceptable that no one returned your call.