MONIQUE sent a message to Eugene Lee – President and Chief Executive Officer of Darden Restaurants, Inc. – Email Address that said:
Monique continued:
I asked him to leave because I was dealing with the manager. I never told the manager what the waiter said, but I was disgusted by how fake the waiter was now being in front of the manager of the fear of me mentioning his previous actions. The waiter gave me a piercing glare in front of the manager (who witnessed it and said nothing to him) then walked off. At that point, I'm done and over it. So as I go to take another bite of the broccoli, it falls apart. With the manager still at the table I noticed that the reason that the broccoli seemed so overly cooked was that there was cheese previously burnt on top of the broccoli and instead of preparing an entire new one, they just melted more cheese on top of it. Therefore, as it cooled, it layered and fell apart. By this time, I am utterly disgusted, disappointed and feel like I'm being treated and fed like less than an human being. At this time the manager is silent and I ask him, "Really? So is this normal also?". This manager said to me, well it looks like the cheese was burnt and new cheese was melted on top of it. I said now that we have identified the SAME problem for the second time, what is the solution. His solution was to offer me 2 new DIFFERENT sides. Now my appetite was completely lost at his response. I told him, " IF I WANTED SOMETHING DIFFERENT, I WOULD HAVE ORDERED SOMETHING DIFFERENT." Not to mention, if the two sides I ordered weren't up to par after two tries, why should I try something else. He had no response. Finally, after him STILL trying to justify everything, I said to him, "Look at this!! Are you serious? Would you eat this? This manager looked me square in my eyes and said, "No I wouldn't eat that." I said, "So why would you serve it to me then and you want me to pay for it?" After an awkward silence and stare, he asked me again would I like 2 new sides. I asked for a box for the chicken fingers. I told him that I was completely done talking,because at this point, it was like waiter like manager, I wasn't getting anywhere talking to either of them. I then received a box and the check by which I was charged FULL price for EVERYTHING. REALLY?! I was floored. Not even the $5 off coupon I'd initially showed the waiter was taken off. Now this forces me to have to communicate with one of them once again. The waiter comes by and I had to stop him. I asked him about the check and the manager came back out with a new check. This time he came to the table (booth) standing moreover to my side blocking my entrance and exit. Before placing the check down he begins to try to talk to me again. I asked him to PLEASE stop talking to me and there was nothing left to say. He proceeded to say what he was trying to tell me. After SEVERAL times of me asking him to stop talking to me, telling him I didn't want to hear anything else he had to say and give me the check, he told me he was not going to STOP talking to me until I heard what he had to say. At this time things were getting loud and ridiculously embarrassing. Feeling deplored upon and further degraded, I shut completely down and stopped talking as I began to box my food and gather my belongings. Taking advantage of my silence, the manager proceeds to tells me that he's going to go ahead and comp my meal, but the next time I come into his establishment, I'd better not ever disrespect his waiter again. WHAT THE HELL? I COULDN'T GET OUT OF THERE FAST ENOUGH. I walked out and left my friend to pay. ONLY to find out that he took off MY meal and $2.50 off the coupon because we didn't buy two meals. I was livid. I almost wrecked my car on the way home, threw the chicken fingers out the window and had no appetite to eat dinner that night. It's taken me a while to determine how to deal with the situation, so instead of seeking any legal advice i wanted to try to explore an alternate effective way to resolve the matter. So locating you to inform you was the next best thing. Aside from that fact, I'm sure you'd want to be made aware because their actions are a reflection of Darden considering they are the ones we are directly interacting with. To be expected to pay for food fit for an animal, awful service and treated like less than a human was much more than I bargained for that night. Money was no object, because I never go any where that I can't afford. But Mr. Lee right is right and wrong is just UNACCEPTABLE. Again I wish this email was on better pretenses, but I do appreciate having the opportunity to let you know about my unsavory experience at Longhorn.
