Kevin S.
Yelp
Open but not ready to be open. Can we all just be easy that this is a 1st worlder review a first world establishment. In the grand scheme, I am privileged in ways even some 1st worlders are not. Grains of salt.
Given we are just emerging from a devastating pandemic, I have developed service tolerance. Service staff is stretched to it's absolute limit, yet businesses are opening at full capacity. If the customers show up, that justifies the demand for a fully staffed experience. Pay them, or soon you will see business fall off due to management and owners flaunting their perception that we will come, just because they built it. Um, others are building as well. We will go to them.
Texas Spice is not Waffle House, not when they charge $19 plus tip for the buffet WH, you get the same basic food items as this place, in a vast quantity enough to match a buffet meal, yet one can expect WH to be fully staffed, and for about $14 plus tip, with coffee, and you get doted on. Aesthetics is no advantage if the service experience is not on par with your price point. Yes, it is 1st world, but it is not for free, we pay to cover that it is.
Buffet is back open, some of the menu items have changed. The potatoes I made the 45 minute drive, now just huge chunks of roasters one would expect on a dinner menu, not breakfast. Gone are the delicious, delicate slices paired with onions. Why on earth would you do this? To be able to serve that not sold for breakfast, with lunch or dinner? It doesn't work, so breakfast is now less appealing. Cut corners, but not so obvious that it effects the experience so basic.
Sausage patties are mass canned, and not the hand formed patties they had before. I served in the Army for a decade, these were like the mess hall sausage patties that come in a can precooked in mystery juice, then heated and served. Awful. They offer omelets, but the eggs on the line appeared to be of the reconstituted powdered variety, not fresh eggs. Who is managing this place making such decisions to offer quality that is far less than a dive experience, but at niche pricing? You think we get lost in ambiance? Those unused to good food quality for whom this is that special experience, but not those of us that do this regularly, that have developed expectations.
Service. 1 server cannot meet the needs of as many tables as you are expecting. Yes, you may be short staffed, then make sure it isn't were it counts. Maybe limit capacity, or pay a wage that workers will show up to work for. Losing customers will not build your brand. Pay more, more customers spread the word you are top notch, and you can fill seats, raise prices, everyone wins.
Anyone coming to the Omni Hotel for breakfast, can afford $24.99, if they can afford $19.99, and will pay it gladly. Your clientele exists. Now the service has to match the clients expectations. Starbucks is charging a mint for coffee, because there is a huge client base willing to pay it. So sell it, but service matters. The server that waited on me was doing an awesome job. Imagine if there were two, then the juggling act would not seem so. Waffle House staffs in such a manner that you have very little wait time, and your glass stays full. You need anything, they are on it before you can ask. They are present in your experience. WAFFLEHOUSE! How are you lagging behind them in hiring staff? Wafflehouse, get it, do you know your tier versus theirs? Do you understand what that says?
You are placing a side of the road WH a cut above your offering. I have bacon, sausage, links, a Cuisinart Chef quality Waffle iron, I can make everything you offer, and quite well I might add, I burn. For me to choose to leave what I could have made much cheaper, and great, you have to know I am only coming out, for service, and what you say you do better.
I have placed TS at the top of my nationwide, favorite breakfast spots for quite some time now. Lots of great spots in LA, Carlsbad, LaJolla, San Deigo, and in the DFW, but loyalty to TS as my fav, has always withstood the rest. If this change in food quality, and service, is a glitch due to pandemic recovery, I am prepared to see what the future holds, and to a return to normalcy. But if this is your new normal. Time to avail myself to other offerings.
WH has real sausage patties, that taste like pork, eggs you see them crack, not wisk with water, and people in numbers to match the flow of customers. Heck, if you go to the right location of WH, you can even witness, or join in a brawl or two. Now you're talking. Who doesn't like a bit of exercise after, or during a meal? Okay, so that is usually in an unsavory area, and during after hours when the drunks roll in. I am never out in those wee hours.
Step up your game Texas Spice. You need to justify valet parking, and the concepts appeal, or go away like so many other businesses.
Be safe Yelpers. Take care of yourself, your loved ones, and even look out for others you may not know.