Carrabba's Horror Story
 

My wife and son took me to Carrabba's at the Target Shopping center on HWY 27 in The Villages for Fathers day. It was the worse dinning experience I have ever had.

To start with, when we got there the line was out the door to get your name on the waiting list. We waited our turn. When we were next in line at the podium there was a party of about 5 people trying to get out the door so we stepped aside to let them through. The person before us finished giving his name and left and we stepped up to the hostess . I told her there were three of us. She said in a not so nice tone, "I believe these people were next" and she then turned away from us and helped two other people before taking our name.

Next, when our food came there was a huge (at least 4 inches long) piece of metal laying on my wife's plate, half embedded into her chicken. The server took the metal away and my wife had to ask him to take that back and bring her a new one. He took it and when he was in the back all he did was place it on another plate. When he bought it back out, there was still a hole in the chicken from where the metal was sticking out.

Meanwhile the manager came over and asked what happened, we told him and he said he was sorry and then left.

When the check finally came the waiter asked if the manager was going to comp it and we said he didn't say anything. The waiter said he would check and came back a few minutes later and said that the manager said we were fine with it (I don't know how many people are fine with a piece of metal sticking out of their food) and that he wasn't going to do anything.

The check came to 44.94 and we gave the waiter a $50. He said he would be back with change and when he came back he gave us a $5.00 bill. I usually don't complain about two or three cents but in light of what happened, it's adds to the problem that he kept $0.06 of the check.

Needless to say, we won't be going back to Carrabba's.

Sorry to hear about your experience. Never ate at Carrabbas in the Villages. But we have one in Virginia tried to eat there a few times over the past several years, as a lot of folks say how great it is. We gave it about three tries, never had much luck with service or friendliness of staff, and the food was nothing to brag about. So, that's a chain we crossed off our list.

I have had great success at carabbas both in the villages as well as other states. You can always count on great food and a good meal. The line out the door is normal on any holiday or weekend for that matter.

Im sorry to hear about your bad experience there, but I wouldnt write them off over your experience.

15% of $45 is $6.75, right? Wait staff need money to live on also.

Wow, I don't blame you. I wouldn't go back either.
What I suggest is a letter to Carrabba's detailing the horrors of your dining experience. These are all company owned restaurants and I think the corporate officials should know how you were treated. There's no excuse for what happened to you. Busy or not, you deserve better than that.

Wait staff are tipped for service and being friendly. I start at 20% and go up or down. In this case he lost out on both and in my book should only have been given the .06 he decided to keep from the total change due. Tips are not automatic as some servers believe. Been on both sides.

Meal should have been comped and waiter should have been more proactive for the customer. jmho:beer3:

Sorry to hear about your bad experience at Carrabba's. Although we have never eaten at the one in TV....it is one of our favorite places to eat. We did have one bad experience and my hubby called when we got home to complain. Gift Certificates for the cost of the meal were in the mail the next day. You might try and call....all they can say is no.

Now, regarding the point that you didn't get all the change back, I completely agree with you....That has been done to me at a number of rest. We have always tipped good (hubby was a bartender), so we know how hard servers work. When I don't get all my change back, I write a note....letting the wait staff now that some of my money was not returned, so I will need to deduct that amount from his/her tip. I figure. that little amount of money not returned is just as important to me as it is to the eating establishments. Just think of how much, they 'get' in one day/week/month by keeping that change.

Just to be sure......it was $.06, right?

We all have bad days. I always give a restaurant a second or third chance. If I didn't I would be dining at home and she cannot cook. When we do dine at home I grill normally. :pepper2:

Yup....6 cents he maybe forgot to get change for & did not "keep" on purpose
 

Yup....it was 6 cents, and condemning a server, over 6 cents he probably forgot to go and get from another server because he didn't have pennies or nickels in his apron, would explain why excellent servers do not stay here in TV......

...That, and people like 3 TV residents in a conversation where they were told that servers do not get full minimum wage (it is $4.23 per hour for tipped employees), and they said,

"Yeah, but we've heard that if it is a CHAIN restaurant, you don't have to tip, so we don't."

OMG.....this is one of the most ignorant things I've ever heard...

Ignorant, or pretending to be ignorant of it, as an excuse for being niggardly.

( http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/niggardly )

You did not read carefully
 

they did not state that the tip was $5.00. They only said the change was $5.oo when it should have been $5.06. I presumed that he left a separate amount on the table for the tip.some of you former waiters are a litle bit maybe in your case a lot paranoid.anyway carabbas is definitely not my favorite italian place. It is overpriced over glorified italian food. You can do a lot better at a small local place like giovannis etc. Having daid that i do think the olive garden on 466 is a very good one.management and staff has always been very accomodating with me. The food is pretty consistent. The desert menu id the best in toen.{not the cheapest deserts but the best tasting and selection. You can also have the lunch size portion at the lunch price any time you go there. Try the chicken parm it is so light.

Bogie Shooter: Just to be sure......it was $.06, right?

That's what he said, and any Village employee should understand the real point being made ..... without the sarcasm.

I'm not a Village employee............ with sarcasm.

Yes, it was six cents. And we did leave him a tip as well on top of that. I realize it was probably just an oversight on his part and I don't blame him for all the other stuff that happened but it just added insult to injury after everything else.

We did send a letter to corporate through the feedback link on the receipt they gave us as well as through their website (being the feedback link didn't ask for any personal contact information). We haven't heard back from them yet but it has only been one day.

Oh, and we are not Village Residents yet (have a few more years before we are old enough) but my wife works for The Villages, my son goes to the Charter School, and I have clients for my business who are Village Residents.

The point here is that all three of us spend a lot of time in The Villages and we subscribe to The Villages philosophy. In my business I know that the residents come to expect a certain level of service and personal care. I see that all over the Villages, and to go into a restaurant that caters to Village Residents and see the lack of respect is something that bothers me.

If this happened to us in Tampa or Orlando, I may not have even though twice about it. But when we go into place after place at The Villages and receive a consistent level of service, and then this, it just blows my mind away. I understand it was Fathers Day weekend, and the line out the door didn't bother me, that isn't something they can control. But being courteous and showing some concern towards your customers is something that is within their control.