Mark R.

Wow. June 30th, 2014. I wonder about Yelp since my original post disappeared. I am therefore reposting. I'm probably the last one to ever want to write a negative review. I love Mom-N-Pop restaurants. Citrus Co. has lots of them, and we always prefer to patronize local small business over chain establishments. This has got to be the worst restaurant experience I've ever had in my life. My elderly parents who live 5 miles up hwy 41 had been frequenting this restaurant regularly for the past few years. I joined them tonight, Sunday 6/29/14 along with my two kids. The restaurant was not that busy at all - only us (party of 5) and two other tables. Each grandparent had 1 beer each, daughter had water, son had sweet tea, and I had a root beer. We ordered the family special that day which was supposed to be a large pizza with 10 wings and garlic knots. We also ordered a 2nd two topping Xlarge and three side salads - plenty of patronage here. We heard it was really good. It was a long time before we got our drinks, but that was OK. No problem. The young waitress was polite. The salads took another 15 minutes. Again, trying to be patient and have a good time. The waitress accidentally dumped salad dressing on my son's clothes. We are understanding people. We made light of it. Things happen. 30 minutes later, 10 chicken wings and 6 garlic knots finally arrived. Chicken wings were good. Garlic knots were not good - dry dough, little garlic flavor, with sauce in a plastic cup on the side. Bland. Lousy. Salads were simple basic iceberg only lettuce with tomato and cucumber - that's it. Very plain. Cheap ingredients. We questioned what was going on....what was taking so long. We were told the pizza would be out soon. When the waitress came back (one of the few times she offered to refill drinks), finally, she picked up the plate of chicken wings and accidentally (I suppose) dropped it on my son. She did NOT even say anything, not even an apology. I thought that was very strange. And really rude. Everyone makes mistakes, OK even twice, but really??? We were noticing the time. After 1.5 hours, and this is no exaggeration on the time, we asked when the pizza was coming. We are extremely patient people. We watched the other two tables in the restaurant both get served pizza. They came in well after us, and we watched them nearly finish there whole meals. At this point we are getting furious. We finally got the attention of our server and asked to speak to the manager. We were told there was no manager there. I then asked for whoever was in charge. Another young lady, who I believe was also serving, came over and said the pizza would be out very shortly. At this point we said that we have had enough, that we had waited 1.5 hours, at least, and again that is no exaggeration, just to get some pizza. She said it would be out very shortly. We said that we are leaving and got up from the table. This person in charge supposedly called "Kevin" who is apparently the manager and owner. She told him that it had been 1.5 hours and still no pizza for us. "Kevin" apparently informed the person in charge that we would have to pay for the 2 beers, 2 soft drink, 10 wings, 6 garlic knots, and 3 side salads. The total for this experience was $30.00. I could not believe it. I can't stand people who go to restaurants and, always complain, and then expect a free meal or something, But in this case? After all this? My time is worth something to! And my patience. My parents are in their 80s, and all they wanted to do was to treat us to a nice dinner in their hometown before we move far away. I felt so bad for my father. It was like being held hostage to have to pay for this. He insisted on paying the 30 dollars for this horrible experience, instead of me. I let him pay it because I was literally afraid of him having a heart attack right then and there. We were all very upset, even my kids. I felt like walking out, especially after the person in charge apparently thought this was now funny with a smirk on her face. Now that is when I really got mad. Who runs a business like this? How can you rip people off like this? After leaving I called the restaurant and asked to speak to the manager. I was told he was out. I told the girl who I was and that I wanted a return call from "Kevin". No call. I called back 45 min. later and again asked for Kevin. This time, I was told he was busy. I told the girl on the phone that he should assist me now, at least give me the common courtesy of letting him what know how he ripped us off and ruined our evening. She said he would call me back. Guess what? No call. Not surprised. Thanks a lot Kevin. You should be ashamed. You owe my parents a big apology for ripping them off. I would advise anyone in the area to avoid this place at all costs. I wish I could give a zero star rating.