On December 26, 2007, I took my family of 5 people to Defuniak Springs to see the Christmas light show and have dinner at Hotel Defuniak's Bogies "fine dining" restaurant. My family came up to the panhandle to spend our first Christmas since my dad's recent diagnosis with cancer.
Unfortunately, the total disregard for respect or quality service at Bogie's restaurant made our evening a horrible experience and left a very bad image of the otherwise quaint town of Defuniak Springs.
We arrived at Bogies and were told it would be an hour before we could be seated so we took this opportunity to see the wonderful Christmas light show. The attendants were friendly and the light show was wonderful!
We returned to Bogies at 6:45 and were promptly seated and our order was quickly taken. We got our drinks quickly but it took 45 minutes to get our bread and butter. We finally got our salads an hour and a 15 minutes after we were seated. 3 tables that were seated after us were served and finished eating. Finally after 1 hour 45 minutes, my mom went up to the hostess and said it's been nearly 2 hours and while we were told it would be a while because of a another large table, 2 hours is just ridiculous. We were then told 3 times that our dinner was coming and after 2 hours our dinner finally arrived - COLD! We told the waitress that we were leaving and to bring our check which came to $30 and we paid it.
At this point, we had received bad service which can happen at times but what happened next was the most appalling thing that I've ever seen in an establishment of fine dining. I asked to speak to the manager and was told to talk to the bartender who had me wait about 5 minutes and then finally approached me. I calmly and softly explained what had happened with our dinner, that we had driven over an hour from south walton and how disappointed we all were. The bartender was very rude and asked "What do you want me to do?" I told her the least that should have been done was to have our 3 drinks compted for the frustration and inconvenience. She looked at me and verbatim said "Nothing that I can do would make you happy because you're PISSED!" I couldn't believe the language and rude attitude at such an establishment. I told her that I was not "pissed" because if I was I would be upset and yelling at her which I was not. That I was trying to tell her how terrible the experience was. I then said, "This is just terrible, my sister is diabetic and asked where were we supposed to get dinner at almost 9PM". She just stood there and looked at me with a blank stare. I then asked her for her name - to which she asked me why. I said because I was told that you were the manager and I intended to contact the Walton Sun. She then told me that she wasn't going to give me her name and that I should leave. I really couldn't believe that the manager used profanity, was absolutely unsympathetic and refused to give me her name.
It is so sad that people are so unkind, especially at Christmas. As we drove through the beautiful light show with it's various lighted messages about peace and the spirit of Christmas, I never dreamed that the arguably "best" restaurant in town had none of the spirit of christmas of small town neighborly love.
The best food in the world is terrible when it's served cold, after 2 hours of waiting with poor and disrespectful service from the employees. I will stay on 30A where the restaurants strive for excellence but even if delays or problems do occur, people still treat others with respect and kindness.
Unfortunately, the total disregard for respect or quality service at Bogie's restaurant made our evening a horrible experience and left a very bad image of the otherwise quaint town of Defuniak Springs.
We arrived at Bogies and were told it would be an hour before we could be seated so we took this opportunity to see the wonderful Christmas light show. The attendants were friendly and the light show was wonderful!
We returned to Bogies at 6:45 and were promptly seated and our order was quickly taken. We got our drinks quickly but it took 45 minutes to get our bread and butter. We finally got our salads an hour and a 15 minutes after we were seated. 3 tables that were seated after us were served and finished eating. Finally after 1 hour 45 minutes, my mom went up to the hostess and said it's been nearly 2 hours and while we were told it would be a while because of a another large table, 2 hours is just ridiculous. We were then told 3 times that our dinner was coming and after 2 hours our dinner finally arrived - COLD! We told the waitress that we were leaving and to bring our check which came to $30 and we paid it.
At this point, we had received bad service which can happen at times but what happened next was the most appalling thing that I've ever seen in an establishment of fine dining. I asked to speak to the manager and was told to talk to the bartender who had me wait about 5 minutes and then finally approached me. I calmly and softly explained what had happened with our dinner, that we had driven over an hour from south walton and how disappointed we all were. The bartender was very rude and asked "What do you want me to do?" I told her the least that should have been done was to have our 3 drinks compted for the frustration and inconvenience. She looked at me and verbatim said "Nothing that I can do would make you happy because you're PISSED!" I couldn't believe the language and rude attitude at such an establishment. I told her that I was not "pissed" because if I was I would be upset and yelling at her which I was not. That I was trying to tell her how terrible the experience was. I then said, "This is just terrible, my sister is diabetic and asked where were we supposed to get dinner at almost 9PM". She just stood there and looked at me with a blank stare. I then asked her for her name - to which she asked me why. I said because I was told that you were the manager and I intended to contact the Walton Sun. She then told me that she wasn't going to give me her name and that I should leave. I really couldn't believe that the manager used profanity, was absolutely unsympathetic and refused to give me her name.
It is so sad that people are so unkind, especially at Christmas. As we drove through the beautiful light show with it's various lighted messages about peace and the spirit of Christmas, I never dreamed that the arguably "best" restaurant in town had none of the spirit of christmas of small town neighborly love.
The best food in the world is terrible when it's served cold, after 2 hours of waiting with poor and disrespectful service from the employees. I will stay on 30A where the restaurants strive for excellence but even if delays or problems do occur, people still treat others with respect and kindness.
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