Mallory CC dinner tonight: AWFUL!!
 

Took guests to Mallory tonight, hoping for an enjoyable dinner. The hostess was rude, the wait was LONG!!, the food was AWFUL (one dinner was so-so, two were awful, and the other was inedible and had to be returned)......and we were humiliated in front of our guests. My husband is now eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich to make up for the poor meal. What does it take to get a good meal in The Villages other than cooking at home????

that's terrible, have to ask the obvious question, what did the Manager say when you complained....gn

What does it take to get a good meal in the Villages????? Am I reading this right? You go to ONE place and you are asking about the ENTIRE VILLAGES????? We ate at Mallory this evening and I saw the food coming out to other people as well as what we ordered and nothing seemed as you described.... "AWFUL". If I were you, I'd directly go to the manager and deal with your experience. If your food was that awful...show them your plate and get another meal. No one would humilate you unless they felt attacked. Did you attack them verbally or with hostile attitude? Strange.

See my reply to the thread on Tierra Del Sol restaurant.


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Country Club Dining
 

When you think of country club dining you think of exclusive service and food. Mallory Hill, Tierra Del Sol, etc. is golf club dining. Totally different animal. Golf club dining is more informal, lower in price, and the level of service is up to interpretation. Also the food can be inconsistent but very good at times. I've had really good and really bad meals at Palmer's, mediocre at Mallory, and it's a crap shoot at Havana. Glenview, Cane Garden and Nancy Lopez (especially Lopez) can approach a country club experience. But the reality is that unless we want to join a club that has an initiation amount, yearly membership fees, and monthly minimums, we should be happy but selective about the choices we have in The Villages' clubs.

I took visiting family to Mallory for dinner tonight and our food was excellent, service was also good.

What did you have for dinner?

What did you order? I also would have asked for the manager. Never would I use my daily calorie intake for an awful meal. How were you humiliated? Thank you for sharing.

I went to Mallory this past Monday for a group luncheon. I ordered a chef salad. Very disappointed with the meal. A couple of pieces of thin cut-up lunch meat were put in the salad, one-half egg, no shredded carrots, bacon that looked like it was put through a grinder, three sliced tomatoes, 3 pieces of cucumber, and shredded cheese finished it off. I have always been disappointed with the food and service here. And it's happened at this CC, and not the others. I would never take guests there for a meal.

I laugh every time i see threads like this. Maybe I don't get it though, so it's probably me. Last Friday I stopped at a restaurant in Sumpter Landing and asked to be seated outside. I was the only patron outside, maybe because it was mid-afternoon and 85 degrees. Regardless, I was forgotten out there. 25 minutes later when the hostess brought another couple out to seat them, I asked if I could be waited on. She apologized and took my order. When my drink was served, it was the wrong drink. It was practically an hour before I had my food and the right drink in front of me. I laughed to myself about it and when I left, I paid my bill, said thanks and left my typical 20% tip. Will I go back? Certainly. People make mistakes. Should we expect more when we are paying for a service? Sure, but things happen now and then.
I see many posts on here about the horrible this, the horrible that, bad drivers, bad food, helicopters flying too low. You know what? I love it here and will spend the rest of my days here.
The best part about my comment here is that I'm a rude New Yorker, go figure.

Sounds like you should have talked to the Mgr.

(LOL)


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I agree
 

I like your attitude and it's always fun to see NYers relax and mellow out in TV.

Was reading the Villages Gourmet Club website last night ( http://thevillagesgourmetclub.home.c...esgourmetclub/ ) and I marvelled again that we have so many excellent and affordable restaurants in and around TV. There are 73 listed as "in" TV, and 195 listed as "near" TV. What more could we ask for???? If food and service stinks at one place, go to a different restaurant, and give them a chance to improve after you clearly tell them your problem.

As a former server, I can tell you the problem is usually NOT with the server who takes all the flak directly from the customers--regardless of who caused the problem. Usually such problems are due to surly kitchen workers, or an incompetent manager who has under-staffed on a busy shift, or employees calling off "sick", etc.....or all of the above.

While some of it can be a server's fault, do not punish them with a poor tip or no tip. They make a minimum wage of $4.23/hour and depend on tips to feed and clothe their kids or pay for college. If a server is obviously doing a bad job or is sloppy/unkempt, I do leave a reduced tip.

Whenever I go to a C.C. to dine in the evening, I always think the workers have an unusually hard job there, with so many big tables and so much noise that it's difficult to hear patrons, etc.

We had a similar experiance last year, i can relate, you dont want to complain to managment for every bad meal but want to know what others think.

I am sorry to hear this. So we can better understand, please tell us what the waitress said that was rude and what was awful about the two meals.

No need for you to feel humiliated in front of your guests unless you cooked it, unless they think that you have no taste in restaurants.(Bet they know better than that.)

Had you been there before? Sometimes the best cooks are ....taking their kids on Spring break??? It all rests on WHO is manning the fry pots back there, and I am beginning to think that good cooks aren't as available as they used to be and that includes in peoples homes too.

Please just tell us what was bad and what the waitress said and more details.

This could be cause to call out the girls.

I read some of your past posts and it seems that you have rented since January and will return home the end of March. Overall, how do you like it here?

Kindest wishes,
Gracie

Always give a restaurant a second or third try. You would be surprised..:police:

Working at a private cc up in PA I've seen the members have some "less than ideal dinning experiences". I chat it up with the kitchen folks daily and even I have been "forgotten" when they were supposed to make my lunch. There are many reasons and people to blame but , from what I have observed, it typically revolves around a sudden avalanche of patrons. Has anyone had a bad experience when the restaraunt is empty? We have not had a bad experiemce yet but expect one depending on the number of times we eat out. Odds are........

Now if it happens 2 or 3 times in a row I'd be suspect of the establishment....

There is a very easy to understand problem here. If I took a poll of 1000 Villagers on CC food quality, I would have a fairly consistent pattern. Lopez, Palmer and Cane Garden would be at the top, Glenview close, OB and Hacienda in the middle and Tierra, Mallory and Havana at the bottom. Order might vary by one position or so but it would be close. They all have the same buildings and kitchens and parking lots. They all hire their staff from the same pool of talent and they all have the same customer base. There is only one difference of any significance. Now I have been accused of being in an ivory tower, even snarky for saying this, but that is just the lack of knowledge of those people. Management is the only difference. If I shifted those managers right by 4 places, within 90 days the pattern would follow the management.

Follow Warren Buffett. He only buys companies with solid management that have a proven track record. Now yes, that leads to good earnings history, low debt to equity, and solid value, but it is because of the management. Follow the successful mutual funds and it always because of the management. Listen to Adam Bold or Ric Edelman and there whole sales pitch is the mutual fund manager.

Can good managers fail? Sure. Usually as a result of an outside force. War, earthquake, flood, fire, or some event outside their control. 100% of all problems in any business are owned by the management of that business. Good managers solve those problems and deliver results. I don't care what the business is the rule is the same.

The good places to eat have good management. The bad ones ...........

:BigApplause:

:thumbup:

:highfive:

Oh where is the hugging icon? You are so right....as usual. GREAT words, all put together so right!!

Oh and I so agree.

good for you chief, we need more attitudes like that.:BigApplause:

A very interesting perspective. By the way, how do you explain the fact that Glenview (One of your Good choices) and Mallory (One of your stinko places) are both run by the same person, Randy Perkins.

Actually I think both of these are mediocre at best. Common to both, and Cane Garde, is their very poor treatment of Golf Groups of 12 - 20 players, none of whom they allow to sit down until all are present. They think it's OK to make Group #1 wait 30-40 minutes until the group on the 14th green finishes # 18. When I finish my round I want to sit down, have a drink and order a meal. I don't want to be bullied by an arrogant Manager of Hostess who have no conception that golfers don't want to wait until the last group finishes to be seated.

This very same thing happens to our Friday group everytime we play Glenview. We still play Glenview but afterwards our group meets at Beef O' Brady's for lunch. Rediculous to make 4 people wait for the next 3 foursomes.

Let me clarify a few things to all of you that have posted comments. I DO love just about everything in The Villages, own a home, have been down here for 3 years, and have tried just about every restaurant around (including all of the country clubs). We even ate at Mallory twice in the last couple of months, so it is not like that was the first time there.
My deductions from our experience last night:
- Their "special" dinners leave a little bit to be desired........guess, that's why they are priced lower.......For example, a previous taco dinner, on a Tuesday night.......meat was dry, toppings (lettuce, tomato,etc.) were skimpy. Last night was the BBQ special......ribs (ok), pulled pork (dry), cole slaw (served in a plastic cup), and cobbler (the equivalent of one tablespoon in a plastic cup).

- The server/waitress.........she was great. Not her fault that the food took 45 minutes to arrive after we ordered.

- The manager...... a different story. Sorry, but I don't think her rolling her eyes was appropriate behavior. We were not rude, my father worked in the restaurant business all his life, and we understand the trials of running a restaurant. No excuse to make customers feel uncomfortable.

- My husband ordered salmon which was tremendously overcooked. He returned the meal, and did not request another because he did not want to inconvenience everyone else in our party.

- We like to eat out, and understand the pros and cons to what we have in The Villages. For just the two of us.......a poor night at an establishment.......no problem. Now, in terms of taking visiting friends out.......maybe we'll stick to cookouts........;P

This defininitely clarifies your experience. Yes...it probably embarrassed you while you were at Mallory. Sorry this happened. No ...mgr. should NOT roll her eyes. That's disgusting!

I would think floor manager would be more appropriate in this case not General Mgr. If he's running both he certainly can't do it at the same time.


But I think Glenview and Mallory are close in the middle not very far from each other, IMHO.

Big Al,

I hear you on this - but think of it from their perspective. If they have set aside tables for another 12 people after the first 8 arrive, they have vacant tables at what could be a busy time of day. Also, think of the other folks wanting lunch and seeing 8 people taking up more than double their space.


This is one think that I think Havana has been good at. If you have a large group, they will seat you the first back and take your order. As the others arrive they also order. Sometimes they can't keep the whole group together, but they do try.


To your point though, they are a restaurant at a GOLF club - they need to be more flexible in this I think. Creative ideas, anyone?

Why do 12-20 people have to "sit together" and all eat and drink together at the same time? You can only converse with a few people near by. I have been out with 10 people and you can't converse with a couple of them in any seating arrangement. So what if you have multiple different seatings and multiple smaller groups.

If I finish golfing I'm not going to wait 30-40 minutes for the last group, who I will barely be able to see let alone talk to, before I order food and drinks.

Get over the group simultaneous eating and drinking fest and use some common sense!

Can't speak for other golfing groups but we use this time to "settle up" on the game winnings and to gather info for the following week's game; etc; who will put the request in, who will make the game up and who will be in what group. More a matter of convienance than anything else.

I really love your attitude. :thumbup:

Chief X,
You are the kind of person who makes The Villages among the finest places on earth in which to live.

This kinda soulds like an entitlement issue... disregarding the fact that these are business' that need to be run in the best interest of all customers not a specific percentage or group.
Remember that large groups, even if they arrive at the same time, are inefficient to service...and otherwise on the cost prohibitive side, especially when it is busy(snow-bird season). These operators, as businessmen, need to capitalize on every available seat in their restaurants this time of year, so that they are able to stick around to take care of us in the harsh summer months....

I think it is also important to point out that a lot golf course restaurants will not allow golfers in the dining areas without a shower and change of clothes.... I personally find sweaty golfers offensive(even when it's me:loco:).

Also, I am not sure about FL... but in SC gambleing, or settleing up, in bars or restautants without a gaming liscense is illegal... and they will shut you down. Show a little respect toward the livelyhoods of the people that are trying to make a living while you settle your $2 bets., at your convenience.

The long and short of it...if one restaurants policys don't jive with you...go somewhere else, it does not mean that the restaurant owner is insensitive or unsympathetic... they are in most all cases trying to run a business to the good of the whole.... special interest groups, get over yourselfs yor a minority.

In referance managemant of Mallory and Glenview... Randy P. is a partner and common denominator in both restaurants...but to my knowledge has limited involvement in both. He runs his restaurant in Belleview... while the Country Clubs are operated by 2 different partners of his... Hince the vast difference in the in the organizations. Just FYI

Makes sense - thanks for the info.

Once in awhile we get a not-so-good meal, not a bad one, though. For the most part, we get great service and great food in all the restaurants in the Villages.

Three times
 

We give places three times if by then 2 out 3 are bad we dont go back. Mallory is one we dont go to not in the last 2 years. Did try about 8 months ago same thing couldnt get a drink 35 minutes and we did ask the server 2 times about our drinks. I guess they just didnt like us not that I really care Beef O Bradys has always been good service food etc. It is what it is

Hi Bigalibaba,
If the first group holds seats for 30-40 minutes until the group on the 14th hole finishes, should other patrons who come in during that time have to wait for a table while seats are saved for people who will be there 40 minutes later?

I agree. One might argue that an owner didn't provide management with the resources needed (e.g., enough staff or quality product), but that is the owner's part of the management equation.

I think Bigalibaba's point was that he wants to be seated when he is finished golfing, and not wait for his compadres. Perhaps I'm missing the point here.

Yes he wants to be seated but that would mean holding the other places empty until all get there. If you have 3-4 foursomes and you seat the first foursome that would be about a half hour to 45 min before the last group arrived.

Not sure how I feel about this. I do know that I don't want to be told that it will be 30/40 min wait and I see 2-3 four tops empty while they finish their round. Don't think that's fair either.

Thanks Russ. That's what I was trying to say.

Mallory et al
 

Thank you all for reaffirming my belief that eating out ought to be an exception rather than the rule. Too often I found the wait to be long , the food just adequate and the price not commiserate with the experience. I therefore seldom eat out prefer to eat in even when I am going out. I only found three places locally in 5 years that I would return to. Make that two I had brunch at one of them yesterday to celebrate a birthdayand will never go back. I will never make a recommendation nor will I freely offer negative feedback. To each its own P.S. I married an excellent good who mentored under my mother :D

I kinda agree Rubicon. I know most people enjoy dining out, but I kinda like my own cooking...especially since most restaurants these days serve a lot of premade food, kinda like the restaurant variety of a TV dinner.

Last night at Cane, one of my favorite restaurants, I ordered roast beef, mashed potatoes and gravy. It was O.K., not completely hot. Not awful, not wonderful.

Now there are things I love at Cane, their salads and their burgers are always top notch...and the servers are just wonderful...always.

I have another confession to make. I like to grocery shop too.

Gracie.
Born in the wrong century.

I don't like to clean up, but Sweetie does that for us. I'm so lucky.