A family dinner at Newport Creamery in Smithfield, RI turned into losing 2 hours of my life that I will never get back. We had just finished at my daughter’s orthodontist appointment and wanted to have a quick, easy meal since there wasn’t much time to really cook anything and the kids were pretty hungry. We arrived around 4pm and weren’t greeted by anyone so we just went and found a booth to sit in.
Fast forward about 20-25 minutes and we had yet to have anyone even come by the booth to say hi or let us know they would be right with us. Finally around 4:30, the waitress comes over and says she’s the only one waiting tables right now and it’s unusually busy for a Wednesday night. I’m thinking “ok…that’s no problem”. We order our food and drinks and start the wait again.
Another 5-10 minutes go by and our appetizer is brought out. We start eating and just about finish when we realize our drinks haven’t been brought out yet. At this point we’re all pretty thirsty. You may be asking why we didn’t ask for anything…we would have if the waitress was anywhere to be found. I look at my phone and notice it’s already 5pm. Finally our dinners come and things are going ok while we eat. The place is getting busier and I notice 2 new waitresses walking around that must have gotten called in.
We decide we want dessert so when our waitress comes over, we place the order…the kids are having sundaes and I’m having a shake. She informs us that she will bring our check over in a minute too. Another 10 minutes go by and here’s our check but no desserts. I take my VISA out and place it with the check and leave it on the end of the table. One of the new waitresses comes over and grabs the check and my card. Next up, our waitress brings the 2 sundaes but nothing else. I guess they’re still making mine is what I’m thinking.
Next up, a young guy, probably about 17 and dressed like he’s important, brings the check and card over…but the card isn’t mine. It belongs to someone else. He mixed up our table and the table next to us. No big deal…we make the switch. I’m still waiting for my shake. Not even 2 minutes later, our waitress comes over and takes my check and said her manager mixed them up and tries to switch it with the next table. I’m looking at the other table and the lady there has the same expression on her face that I probably do. We say there was no mixup, everything’s fine. I’m still waiting for my shake. The waitress walks away and I look at the check. It didn’t have anything about a shake on it anywhere and I’m not being charged for one either. The waitress comes over again, takes it out of my hand and says “Can you just sign this at the bottom? My boss screwed it up. He hasn’t been helping me all day. I already ran it through the credit card processor and put in the tip.”
HUH? Come again? You put your own tip in? That’s what it sounded like she meant but she said that no tip was entered because she rang it up before I could sign it. I took my phone out and logged into my bank account to make sure she didn’t pull a screwjob and charge more than she was supposed to. Nothing was showing up yet. It was time to leave and I was still waiting for my shake. I came to terms that I wasn’t getting my shake on this night. I just wanted to get the hell out of the there as my patience was knocked out in the first round. I put $3 on the table and we took off.
Next time, we go to Pho Evergreen again, which is right next door. If you read one of my earlier blogs, you’d see why. No more Newport Creamery unless it’s just for ice cream. MO PHO FO ME!
Fast forward about 20-25 minutes and we had yet to have anyone even come by the booth to say hi or let us know they would be right with us. Finally around 4:30, the waitress comes over and says she’s the only one waiting tables right now and it’s unusually busy for a Wednesday night. I’m thinking “ok…that’s no problem”. We order our food and drinks and start the wait again.
Another 5-10 minutes go by and our appetizer is brought out. We start eating and just about finish when we realize our drinks haven’t been brought out yet. At this point we’re all pretty thirsty. You may be asking why we didn’t ask for anything…we would have if the waitress was anywhere to be found. I look at my phone and notice it’s already 5pm. Finally our dinners come and things are going ok while we eat. The place is getting busier and I notice 2 new waitresses walking around that must have gotten called in.
We decide we want dessert so when our waitress comes over, we place the order…the kids are having sundaes and I’m having a shake. She informs us that she will bring our check over in a minute too. Another 10 minutes go by and here’s our check but no desserts. I take my VISA out and place it with the check and leave it on the end of the table. One of the new waitresses comes over and grabs the check and my card. Next up, our waitress brings the 2 sundaes but nothing else. I guess they’re still making mine is what I’m thinking.
Next up, a young guy, probably about 17 and dressed like he’s important, brings the check and card over…but the card isn’t mine. It belongs to someone else. He mixed up our table and the table next to us. No big deal…we make the switch. I’m still waiting for my shake. Not even 2 minutes later, our waitress comes over and takes my check and said her manager mixed them up and tries to switch it with the next table. I’m looking at the other table and the lady there has the same expression on her face that I probably do. We say there was no mixup, everything’s fine. I’m still waiting for my shake. The waitress walks away and I look at the check. It didn’t have anything about a shake on it anywhere and I’m not being charged for one either. The waitress comes over again, takes it out of my hand and says “Can you just sign this at the bottom? My boss screwed it up. He hasn’t been helping me all day. I already ran it through the credit card processor and put in the tip.”
HUH? Come again? You put your own tip in? That’s what it sounded like she meant but she said that no tip was entered because she rang it up before I could sign it. I took my phone out and logged into my bank account to make sure she didn’t pull a screwjob and charge more than she was supposed to. Nothing was showing up yet. It was time to leave and I was still waiting for my shake. I came to terms that I wasn’t getting my shake on this night. I just wanted to get the hell out of the there as my patience was knocked out in the first round. I put $3 on the table and we took off.
Next time, we go to Pho Evergreen again, which is right next door. If you read one of my earlier blogs, you’d see why. No more Newport Creamery unless it’s just for ice cream. MO PHO FO ME!