For some reason, a lot of restaurants frown upon large group bookings. When in a group of 20 at a restaurant, you'll typically get poor service. Kingsleys Steak and Crabhouse is no different.
Don't get me wrong -- I understand that trying to get 20 dishes out to a table is a logistical nightmare. But that's no excuse for bad service, cold food and no drinks. Apart from curly fries, serving large groups really is something Hog's Breath has down-pat.
I was at Kingsleys Steakhouse on a Sunday night, in a group of 14 people. Being a Sunday night, they weren't exactly run off their feet -- apart from our table, there was three other tables with people at them.
Firstly, the person assigned to wait on our table was some snotty "2-cool-4-skool" girl wearing sparkling diamante sunglasses. All she ever did was frown.
Secondly, there was the sequence in which orders came out. I don't have a problem with dishes themselves coming out staggered to a large table. But staggering an individual's order over 15 minutes is just plain unacceptable:
- 0 mins: steak comes out. Asked waiter where my pepper sauce was.
- 10 mins: pepper sauce arrives. Asked waiter where my salad was.
- 12 mins: Beer finally comes out.
- 15 mins: Salad finally arrives.
Most restaurants will serve the drinks almost immediately. Drinks have a great margin on them, and if you can get them out fast enough, the chances your table will order a second round is greater. Not Kingsleys.
I noted previously that the pepper sauce for my steak came out 10 minutes after my steak. What I failed to mention was that my steak was "warm" at best when it first came out -- meaning that by the time the sauce for it arrived, my steak was well and truly cold.
I really don't understand the mentality of "more people" => "worse service". If you show 20 people poor service, that's 20 return-customers immediately you've lost. And those 20 people will tell 20 more people (or worse, put it on the Internet...).
To anyone considering an outing to Kingsleys Steak and Crabhouse: save wallet, and save yourself some anguish. Go to Hog's Breath instead.