RJ Gators
 

My wife and I ate at RJGators this afternoon. On a scale of 1-10 the food was a 10. The service (the waitress) a ZERO. Attitude city. She never came by to see how food was and I could never order another soda. When it was time to leave I had to hunt her down for the check. She stood over us as she waited for the money instead of leaving us alone. I tried to leave a complaint on Gators webpage, but there was no Contact Us menu. If I had to do it again I would have asked for the manager. People like this should not be serving tables. I may call tomorrow and ask for the manager.

Yes, do. If I were the manager, I would want to know.

Do it Tom! Most of the time service has been fine there. He would want to know.

the poor service is legendary, we don't go there now

If the food was a "10" or even close, then call the manager because the kitchen seems to be excelling while the front end seems to be failing. That's a recipe for failure. It's management's job to fix this or, at least, to be given the opportunity to do so.

we've had similar experiences, food an 8 or 9, service a 4 or 5....gn

Remember, we all have bad days. :boom:

This is true, but being a business owner for 36 years, I always treated my customers well. And yes, there were some customers I did not like personally, but they were the ones paying my bills and I made sure they were treated fairly.

Tom... We have had similar experiences (poor service) at various TV locations; both restaurants and retail outlets... We've also experienced GREAT service.

Here's my question(s)....

Did you tip the server?

If yes, how much (%) & why ?

Thanks for sharing....

I saw someone leave a meager tip with a note explaining why.

We eat there regularly and the service is usually pretty good. We really like the food. I will say I think they stretch their wait staff when the weather is good and people are eating in and out. We enjoy sitting outside and not being in a hurry while watching the beautiful scenery.

Having that much experience, you should have known to speak with the manager right away.

tip
 

The bill came to $41. I had no small change and gave her $45. More a tip than she deserved. Usually, when service is this bad I leave a nickle just to send a message. I always tip well when service is good. I will call and talk to the manager today. I should have done so in person.

Speaking of tips.
 

My wife was a Red sauce the other day. Two ladies were sitting at the table next to her. Their bill came and the one lady says to the other oh we don't have to leave a tip that's why we pay an amenity fee. WOW !

That's not a "lady", being so inconsiderate of a person working their tail off to make ends meet.

Do tightwads or no-tippers know that servers do not get regular minimum wage and that it is now a "whopping" $4.23/hour for tipped employees.....as gasoline prices approach $4.00/per gallon?

How a person treats a server tells pretty much everything about one's personal integrity...or total lack of it.

On the original post, it sends a message of "The service is bad at RJGators...don't go there"......when it was only one server who was bad. It's not fair to the other good workers there to have incoming clientele drop off, causing the good workers to lose hours and income. The manager should have been told first.

Don't be so cheap
 

We are almost all retired people here in The Villages. The servers are trying to make enough money to support themselves and maybe a family. It does not hurt you to slip an extra dollar or two in on a tip.

I love RJ Gators and get good service there. I love Cody's and get good service there. I could go on with the good service I get at Redsauce, Thai Ruby, Urban Flats, and others.

If you do not get good service, let the manager know of the problem. If you do not get good food - do not take it out of the server's tip - let the manager know.

The manager at TGIFriday's got fired because he did not listen to complaints. Other managers in Villages restaurants know about this so they are vigilant now.

Try to think of the server as being your son or daughter - and how you would want others to treat them.

Shame someone didn't explain to the woman (in a nice way, of course) that the amenity fees have nothing to do with the restaurants, let alone the staff. Sounds like she was confused about what amenity fees actually cover. She probably really did think that eating out was one of the amenities. Surprised she paid the tab.

This reminds me back when our son was working on one of his first jobs before going away to college.

It was a local restaurant where he started off working back bar and on the day he was assigned to wait tables for the first time he had a customer that had the same sense as the lady with the amenities comment. When the customer went to pay the check he told our son that his service was fine, but he wasn't going to leave any tip because he was not satisfied with the job the chef did. Needless to say, by son was royally p***ed and thereafter turned off to the idea of waiting tables!

After the bill was paid the customer left and forgot to take his credit card off the table. My son did the right thing and turned it in to his boss, but he was highly tempted to make sure the customer never saw the card again!

"Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise." Thomas Gray

My guess is those ladies were just kidding. Can't imagine anyone would actually think our amenity fees pay for restaurant tips.

Gators
 

I'm surprised by the negative reviews. We've eaten there many times and have always had good service & good food. We've also taken many guests there, and they've also been pleased. :shocked:

tips
 

I can't believe someone actually didn't feel the need to tip because they pay an amenity fee! For the most part, the servers in the restaurants in The Villages do a very good job. They get paid very little, and it's hard work. We always tip 20% unless service isn't up to par, but that's rarely happened here.

Hi Tom,

Glad to see you're back, but saddened that you had a not so good dining experience. I've not experienced that sort of situation at Gators. Sounds like this young woman either had a bad day and you got the brunt of her upset or she just doesn't have the right personality for the job. The wait staff helps make or break our dining experience in any restaurant. Of course food plays a very important part in whether we go back to a restaurant, but the waiters and waitresses are the people who act on our behalf. They need to make sure we're taken care of properly, let us know of any possible delays, express our concerns to the cooking staff about any problems with our meals and make sure our time in their dining room was to our satisfaction. It's a tough job and personally, I don't think I could do it. Waitresses or waiters that make our dining less than enjoyable should be mentioned to the manager....his job is on the line. Word of mouth about bad service spreads like wildfire and some people just don't want to deal with a surly wait staff and will dine elsewhere.
Hope you had a satisfactory discussion with the manager. Let us know how it went, will you?

Come on Tom.........We're all sitting here at our keyboards awaiting the results of your phone call:D
Skip 2

We went to Gators today, and got up and walked out. We sat there for 10 minutes, waiters and waitress just walking buy. We will not return. Went to the Lighthouse and had a great lunch!

Wow, sounds to me like Gator's management better start reading the posts on TOTV to find out how there restaurant is doing.:read:
Skip 2

3 of us went to Gators yesterday for lunch and had no problem. Waitress took our drink order as we awaited the arrival of one of our party. Service was good, food was good. Maybe all depends on what waitress one gets???

wow, 10 whole minutes............maybe just maybe your server was picking up and delivering an order to another table. Try waiting a few more minutes or at least see the hostess...10 minutes........give me a break.

:agree:

Sorry but I don't agree with you on this one. I don't want to sit at a table for 10 mins. wondering who my waitress/waiter is. The least I expect is an acknowledgement that the waitress/waiter will be with us shortly. Maybe even offer to take our drink orders but not be left wondering.:duck:
Skip 2

This reminds me of the 70/20/10 rule. 70% are positive, happy, and understanding, 20% are on the fence, can go either way. and 10% are never happy no matter the reasoning or result.:ho:

Which manager at TGIF's was fired?

RJ Gator Stuff
 

Interestingly, Friday evening after listening to the Rocky & the Rollers concert at LSL, my wife and I sauntered over to RJ Gators for a "better late than never" feast.

I was mildly surprized that they closed at 9:00 on a Friday, but that was neither here nor there. It was 8:30 and we were but two of the 6 people at the bar.

After waiting for a few minutes the bartender lady finally turned around and asked if we had been waited on. Things that make you go "hmmm" !! Well heck, she was the only one there, who else was going to wait on us?

She dropped off a couple of beers and disappeared. Hoping that it wasn't too late to order food (since she never asked if we wanted any), I flagged her down and asked if we could get a menu. Menus delivered!!!!

Not much personality to go with the minimal service, maybe she had a bad day. :( The food arrived quickly, as did the bus person who put up chairs on top of tables all around us. Geez, I guess maybe we were infringing on someone elses Friday Night social hour!!

The food, as previously mentioned, was pretty good, so the kitchen IS doing THEIR job!!!

As for tipping, I'm the type that you really got to tip my boat over for me to give you less than 20%. 15% would always be the minimum, 20% the norm, and exceptional service gets more.

If we're ever "left alone" like this in any restaurant, I always snag someone working there who happens by to ask them if they mind taking our order. That always gets us taken care of. We at least want to give them a chance and to let them know we've been overlooked. It's usually because the server is either busy or there's some sort of mix up regarding the scope of the servers' sections.

Works for us! :)

Bill

Common sense wins again.

:thumbup: I agree.........those 2 key words.......... "common sense"....... often lacking in today's "air of entitlement" society.

Actually, I think I saw that particular waitress on Friday. When we walked in and went to the podium for tables, a waitress was there and she honestly seemed to lack the "charm" that most wait staff should exhibit. We talked with her, but she never smiled, barely answered questions and appeared to be a bit on the "grumpy" side. Quickly someone came over and got us our table and then along came a very congenial and attentive waitress. Maybe that first young woman we sort of talked with could be the one you and Tom might have deal with.

Okay Skip- I called the manager at Gators today. He promises me the service will be better in future. He said all the right things. I told him to read this post on TOTV. Next time if there is a problem with any service anywhere, I will address the issue then and there.

I would guess after reading your post, his comment would be; gee, I wish you would have talked to me before posting on TOTV.
These situations happen everyday and they are resolved on the spot.

My wife and I frequent R.J. Gators at least once a week. When the snow birds are here things are quite busy. We had poor service one time during our trips there. We spoke to the manager and he definitly went out of his way to make our experirience a great one! We have returned regularly and have even gotten to know the staff. Everyone is very friendly to us and we are planning to keep returning. We have even had the same server that gave us a bad experience, and the next time she was great! LOVE ME SOME GATOR TAIL!!!