Hammerheads, Never EVER Again

Just got home from Hammerheads this evening, formerly a restaurant (due to the food) that I had reviewed highly here and on Facebook. Ive been flabbergasted and even disappointed by restaurants in town before, but this was the first time I have ever been livid.

Took my 3 year old daughter out for dinner this evening after a day at the zoo. We first got a beer for me and a lemonade for her at the bar. Once we got seated we ordered, dinners, two sides, an app and I got a refill on my beer. By the time we go through the app, she was falling asleep at the table. So I asked the waitress for some to go boxes and figured I would save her dinner for lunch tomorrow and eat mine at home once I got her to bed.

Got her in the car and got about two blocks away when I realized I left the food. Called the restaurant and a guy answered, I told him what had happened and he said he would check and see if they had saved our food....he HUNG UP ON ME. Not accidently, I could hear him say "Oh!" in the background and boom the line went dead. I already knew the answer when that happened.

Pulled up in front of the restaurant and went in to check with the waitress. She said everything had been tossed. $45 worth of food in the trash. When the host/busboy/manager (?) asked me what was wrong I told him what happened. He looked at me and rather than trying to correct the situation his response was, "Oh is it our job to save your food for you?"
Yes, smartass! When I havent even been gone 10 mins and I called back and it was $45 worth of food, did it not enter your pea sized brain I was probably going to rush back for it?
No apology. No offer to comp it. Just a smartass response.

We wont ever be back. Although I loved the food Ive never been a fan of their hipster/entitled attitude of their service. And tomorrow will be calling the credit card company to reverse charges, since my food ended up in the garbage Im not paying for it.

Wow, I remember when I had small children in tow. There were many places, such as the BBC, which would just bring out drinks and some bread and fruit or something for kids. I am so glad you shared this. I think they fu... Screwed up hugely. Back in the old days, bad service happened. In the social media age, people need to realize that every action and transaction will be posted, reviewed and shared.

I am notorious for asking for a to-go box for my leftovers and then leaving it behind. Ask my wife. Just this week we ate at the bar at the Irish Rover and one of their always-attentive staff chased me down in the parking lot with that darn box - I got lucky. But more often than not I realize my mistake too late.

The comments that the OP received from the staff would be reason enough for me to look elsewhere for future dining options.

But I have a couple questions for the restaurant-savvy folks on this forum. If someone like me leaves that box on the table, are there logistical issues and/or Health Department rules that make it difficult or impossible to hold onto the box, even for a relatively short while? Wouldn't immediate refrigeration be required? Would the box need to be segregated from the restaurant's other refrigerated items?

Where I used to work, we threw food left on the table away if the people left. I am not sure people understand how often people leave their food. The business was supposedly worried about liability, and we definitely weren't allowed to put their half eaten food in our kitchen/fridge. 99% of the time people do not come back for it.

All that said, while I love Hammerheads' food, they have had problems with rude staff over the years, and I say that as someone who very rarely has bad experiences with staff anywhere (I'm not a complainer). I quit going there years ago until that one jerk of a bartender was no longer working, because of how poorly he treated my family. I'm not sure if it's the tight quarters combined with it generally being slammed or not, but many on the staff there seem about to pop when it's busy. That said, they do have some great people who work there, and given I usually go early nowadays if I go at all, I've had generally good experiences.

Not if you are holding on to it for a couple of minutes. And technically, I believe, since the food has already been sold, it's out of the restaurant's hands (so to speak) what is done with it. Holding it back is pretty much a courtesy.

Common sense and good customer service says that if a father and daughter come in to eat, the child gets tired and the father asks for the food to be packaged up and then they leave without it, someone should say "I wonder if they meant to leave this here, since they specifically asked for it to be packaged up because the little girl was sleepy. Let's hold on to it for a minute and see if they come back." 15 minutes later, "I guess they aren't worried about it." Out it goes. I doubt this kind of thing happens so much it would create a burden on the establishment to hold back two togo containers for a few minutes.

Honestly, were it me, I would have probably made them whole new meals and sent them out the door free of charge. Sure, it is an inconvenience and has a small impact on food cost, but it prevents the OP and that's worth it to retain a loyal customer and build good will.

Dumb move Hammerheads. Especially the attitude of the bus boy. (Who allows the bus boy to speak with customers anyway? Don't you have tables to clear?)

Where I used to work, we threw food left on the table away if the people left. I am not sure people understand how often people leave their food. The business was supposedly worried about liability, and we definitely weren't allowed to put their half eaten food in our kitchen/fridge. 99% of the time people do not come back for it.

All that said, while I love Hammerheads' food, they have had problems with rude staff over the years, and I say that as someone who very rarely has bad experiences with staff anywhere (I'm not a complainer). I quit going there years ago until that one jerk of a bartender was no longer working, because of how poorly he treated my family. I'm not sure if it's the tight quarters combined with it generally being slammed or not, but many on the staff there seem about to pop when it's busy. That said, they do have some great people who work there, and given I usually go early nowadays if I go at all, I've had generally good experiences.

Yeah not if they left it on the plate but if it was already boxed up?? At least give them 30 minutes or so to see if they come back for it. Thats just common sense. People don't leave their boxed up food that often honestly. Maybe happens once or twice a night and they usually come back for it before they even pull out of the parking lot.

Omg if the bus boy had said that to me i probably would have berated him loudly.

[Robin Garr]

Dumb move Hammerheads. Especially the attitude of the bus boy. (Who allows the bus boy to speak with customers anyway? Don't you have tables to clear?)

Yeah, I see two distinct issues here that need to be kept separate. People leave leftovers boxes behind, it's complicated. At some point they need to be refrigerated, but pop 'em into the kitchen fridge and it's a big red "C" waiting to happen.

But treat your customers like crap when they come back for it? That's bad business, and it's just stupid.

Normally, I'm not one to complain about restaurants, especially local/smaller operations. But I have to say, I have eaten at this establishment three times, and each time I walk out shaking my head at the service. Surly, snarky servers have been my misfortune each visit. Sorry, after three swings & misses, I'll not be back. Doug's experience does not surprise me.

Where I used to work, we threw food left on the table away if the people left. I am not sure people understand how often people leave their food. The business was supposedly worried about liability, and we definitely weren't allowed to put their half eaten food in our kitchen/fridge. 99% of the time people do not come back for it.

All that said, while I love Hammerheads' food, they have had problems with rude staff over the years, and I say that as someone who very rarely has bad experiences with staff anywhere (I'm not a complainer). I quit going there years ago until that one jerk of a bartender was no longer working, because of how poorly he treated my family. I'm not sure if it's the tight quarters combined with it generally being slammed or not, but many on the staff there seem about to pop when it's busy. That said, they do have some great people who work there, and given I usually go early nowadays if I go at all, I've had generally good experiences.

Yeah not if they left it on the plate but if it was already boxed up?? At least give them 30 minutes or so to see if they come back for it. Thats just common sense. People don't leave their boxed up food that often honestly. Maybe happens once or twice a night and they usually come back for it before they even pull out of the parking lot.

Omg if the bus boy had said that to me i probably would have berated him loudly.

You all have far different experiences with frequency of people leaving their boxed food and not coming back to get it than I did. Of course, to be fair, at my old abode, I would not have blamed them for not coming back to get it. I know exactly what percentage of our food came out of Sysco boxes with no additional work done to it.

Normally, I'm not one to complain about restaurants, especially local/smaller operations. But I have to say, I have eaten at this establishment three times, and each time I walk out shaking my head at the service. Surly, snarky servers have been my misfortune each visit. Sorry, after three swings & misses, I'll not be back. Doug's experience does not surprise me.

I'm pretty certain they're aware of it, which I guess makes it worse. My bad experiences were all in the past, and the last few times I've been, it seemed to be handled pretty well overall. It's a shame if those same people are actually back there again. But I've heard the same thing from other people (again, all well in the past), and I know quite a few people that won't go there because of it. Granted, they're so busy it probably doesn't matter to them.

You don't have to put those take-away containers in the fridge, but you can put them off to the side of a server's station or somewhere relatively safe for 15 mins and see if the customer returns, ESPECIALLY when they specifically asked for an entire meal to be boxed up due to an unexpected early departure.

In my opinion, that is the first mistake.

You don't have to put those take-away containers in the fridge, but you can put them off to the side of a server's station or somewhere relatively safe for 15 mins and see if the customer returns, ESPECIALLY when they specifically asked for an entire meal to be boxed up due to an unexpected early departure.

In my opinion, that is the first mistake.

Exactly, and not hang up on customers and not let the host be a smart ass to them.

Restaurant staff should not have been rude. They should've apologized and found some way to make things right. Tossing the boxes was necessary because of health dept. codes but they still could have tried to explain why they were tossed and then made it right by comping the uneaten food, giving a gift card to use at a later date, or offering to remake the meal if the guest wanted to wait.

I fail to see why anyone would feel a restaurant should be held resposible for someone's left behind take home boxes being thrown away a situation like this. Or why a customer would feel that the restaurant should eat the cost of the meal. Customer orders food. Restaurant makes it and brings to customer. Customer pays for it, walks out and leaves the leftovers behind. Restaurant clears the table for the next turn, and in the trash it goes.

The fact that one of their employyes was an ass about it is a seperate issue to me, but it's Hammerheads-customer service and friendly attitudes are not their strong suit.