I am one who is not shy about reporting unsatisfactory service or cleanliness issues to a manager. It is my longtime experience that, more often than not, it produces no results. It depends on the restaurant or chain. At some chains unsatisfactory food will be replaced or removed from the bill. Some places it won't. In some restaurants, the person who purports to be the manager is just the next unlucky employee sent out to deal with the complaint.
But the issue of reporting safety or cleanliness issues, more often than not, goes unheeded and mostly unwelcome. For example, we dined at a very popular restaurant in Ocala that is always packed. The service and food are great. The fire exit door in the dining room was jam packed with cleaning equipment, high chairs and boxes. The manager didn't give a rats ass when I mentioned it. The fire marshal did, though, when I called him.
There is a popular restaurant in Sumter Landing The last time I was there, the food service counter in the back was as the same location at the restroom doors. The service staff rubbed elbows with the restroom patrons. Every time the restroom doors opened they were inches from the fresh bread. I hope that's changed.
At another restaurant, I saw the table busser put the squeeze ketchup bottle in the tub with the dirty dishes and left over food. When I mentioned it to the server, she gasped and said, "I can't believe he did that, please tell the manager." When I did, the manager said, "Oh, that's okay, we wash them all before we put them back out." YA RIGHT.
BTW, we stopped going to Cattle Baron after one night when six of us went there for desert after a movie. The restaurant was nearly empty. We were told that desert and coffee were not permitted without having had dinner. My call the the manager the next morning was unproductive.
JLK
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