FFC Week 5: Hangar Bar & Grille
Week 5 Review: Hangar Bar & Grille (inside the Dubuque County Airport)
*time stamps will be noted to give a sense of what our experience felt like
This fish fry started like any other Friday night fish fry...I had made reservations earlier in the week for our group of 10 at 6:30pm. They were very nice on the phone, and were very accommodating to our large group. We were very excited to go to a unique place, as it was located in the airport.
I arrived at the airport at about 6:25pm. Most of our group had already arrived and were seated at our table that was clearly marked reserved for our group. The restaurant was fairly full, but didn't give off the impression that they busy. There was also a large table next to us of about 8 people, and the other tables were about 3-4 people at each. After I sat down the others mentioned that a server had said we could do a family style of the all you care to eat fish fry. Their fish fry special for the night was a "All You Care To Eat Pollock", served with baked potato or hashbrowns, coleslaw & hushpuppies for $11.95. This was great news! Until....
About 20 minutes or so went by (6:45pm) and I finally asked the group if our server had stopped by to get our drinks. They said no, we didn't have a designated server yet or menus. Hmmm. So I decided to head up to the bar. I went up to the bar and encountered a server. We'll call her Server B going forward. I said to Server B that our table had not been waited on yet. She said (with such sweetness), "we have a new girl." I said, OK, well we still haven't seen a menu. Server B then grabbed a stack of menus and handed them to me. I thanked her and went back to our table.
Another maybe 15 min went by (7:00pm) and still no one had come over to our table to take our drink order or our food order. We're now 30 min. past our arrival time and no server or drinks. Another group member went up to the bar and asked if we could get some drink orders and asked if we could get some hush puppies as we were very hungry and waiting. They did bring us two small baskets of hushpuppies for the table, which were very good. But still no one took our drink order.
We continued to wait another maybe 15min (7:15pm) and still no server, no drink orders taken, no food ordered. Another member of our group went up again to ask for a server to come over, as we had not been helped AT ALL and we had been there almost 45min. Please keep in mind that the large table of 8 next to us was being served drinks, and their dinners in a very timely manner by their what appeared to be friendly server. Their server walked by us numerous times, very much so acting like we didn't exist.
A few minutes later the lovely Server B (finally) approached our table and said standing next to me, "well, I guess I have to wait on you guys." Great way to impress us after our 45min wait! She went around the table and took our drink orders and dinner orders. Another probably 10min went by (7:20pm) and Server B and a man, we'll call him Manager Man going forward, brought half of the table their drinks. Manager Man asked those of us who were still needing their drinks what we ordered. We told him and he appeared to head back to the bar to get our drinks. So we thought.
Another 10min, maybe 15min went by (7:30pm), and still not drinks for the rest of the table. And if you caught the time, we are now at 1 hour of waiting since we sat at our table, and I still had no drink. Another member of our group went up and asked Server B for the rest of our drinks. Server B then finally brought the remainder of our drinks. As you can imagine, our table is becoming increasingly hangry (hungry + angry= hangry). I especially was very upset and our group was discussing whether or not we should just leave and go somewhere else.
**side note: tables of 3-4 people sitting around us, who had arrived after us, had gotten their drinks, and their food, before our table even got our drinks. And the large table of 8 had received their second round of the AYCE fish.
Just as our group was ready to stand up and walk out, our fish dinners came(7:40pm). Or I should say 7 of our 10 fish dinners came. Reminder--this is an AYCE fish fry. On my plate I received one small piece of fish (seriously?) a little cup of coleslaw and a baked potato (see photo). They put bowls of tartar sauce on the table. I had received all the items I had ordered but many at my table were missing coleslaw or their potato. At this point I was so hungry that I immediately ate all of my food. I literally was able to eat all of it in just minutes. While 3 of my group members sat their hangry. Server B still had not come back to say anything to the table about our 3 missing dinners. We waited for another 10 min. with no one coming to apologize for the wait or checking on us.
Another group member went up to the bar and mentioned to the server that we still had 3 meals coming and was wondering how much longer they would be. She replied "that's not my table." That was her response. Our group member came back to our table and we were stunned. A few minutes later Server B came to our table and said that with big groups like ours its easy for tickets to get messed up. She then went on to ask what was all missing and what did they still need to bring to our table. This is when I decided enough was enough. I asked her to send out the manager.
Manager Man came to our table and apologized for the delay in getting our food. I went on to tell him the following:
1. we had to wait nearly 45 min to get waited on.
2. we had to wait an hour to receive our drink order. And he had taken our second drink order.
3. we had to wait over an hour to receive our meal, and 3 meals were missing, multiple people did not receive what they had ordered or were missing items. Some of us got two pieces of fish while I got a small piece with no hopes of getting more anytime soon.
4. our server, Server B, was extremely rude to us and obviously did not want to serve us
5. that we had made a reservation ahead of time so they knew we were coming.
Here was Manager Man's response: I apologize for the wait, we were understaffed tonight. Your group reservation was the only reservation we received for the night.
A group member of ours stated to Manager Man that he did feel we should have to pay for our meal when it first of all took extremely long, we were treated so poorly, and barely received any food. The 3 that hadn't even been served a meal said to just cancel theirs. At this point another member of our group said that they would pay for the fish they ate, but did not feel they should have to pay for an AYCE if that's not what they got. Manager Man said to her (something like this) "well how much do you think is fair to pay."
At this point our entire group was just so shocked. We all just said we do not know what would be appropriate to pay because our entire experience there was unacceptable. Manager Man just said "Ok, let's just call it a wash". He then walked away from our group. Our group got up and a few left some money for the food they ate, while others decided to not leave anything.
This is the point in my reviews that I give a rating, but I honestly can't give a rating because I barely tried any fish or side items. The fish I ate was OK, not a lot of flavor, and the tartar sauce was sweet and I didn't care for it. The coleslaw was creamy, which I like, but it needed pepper and I wasn't able to ask a server for pepper because they never came back.
This was one of the most bizarre dining experiences I have ever had. And I've even had a tray of food dropped on me! I don't want to encourage others not to go to the Hangar Bar & Grille, but I would give great caution to anyone who goes there.
Perhaps if we had been a smaller group they could have handled us, but the fact that we were the only group that made a reservation and they knew we were coming, and we were still treated so poorly, I really do not have a lot of hope for this establishment. Especially if they keep Server B around.
Proceed with caution.
*time stamps will be noted to give a sense of what our experience felt like
This fish fry started like any other Friday night fish fry...I had made reservations earlier in the week for our group of 10 at 6:30pm. They were very nice on the phone, and were very accommodating to our large group. We were very excited to go to a unique place, as it was located in the airport.
I arrived at the airport at about 6:25pm. Most of our group had already arrived and were seated at our table that was clearly marked reserved for our group. The restaurant was fairly full, but didn't give off the impression that they busy. There was also a large table next to us of about 8 people, and the other tables were about 3-4 people at each. After I sat down the others mentioned that a server had said we could do a family style of the all you care to eat fish fry. Their fish fry special for the night was a "All You Care To Eat Pollock", served with baked potato or hashbrowns, coleslaw & hushpuppies for $11.95. This was great news! Until....
About 20 minutes or so went by (6:45pm) and I finally asked the group if our server had stopped by to get our drinks. They said no, we didn't have a designated server yet or menus. Hmmm. So I decided to head up to the bar. I went up to the bar and encountered a server. We'll call her Server B going forward. I said to Server B that our table had not been waited on yet. She said (with such sweetness), "we have a new girl." I said, OK, well we still haven't seen a menu. Server B then grabbed a stack of menus and handed them to me. I thanked her and went back to our table.
Another maybe 15 min went by (7:00pm) and still no one had come over to our table to take our drink order or our food order. We're now 30 min. past our arrival time and no server or drinks. Another group member went up to the bar and asked if we could get some drink orders and asked if we could get some hush puppies as we were very hungry and waiting. They did bring us two small baskets of hushpuppies for the table, which were very good. But still no one took our drink order.
We continued to wait another maybe 15min (7:15pm) and still no server, no drink orders taken, no food ordered. Another member of our group went up again to ask for a server to come over, as we had not been helped AT ALL and we had been there almost 45min. Please keep in mind that the large table of 8 next to us was being served drinks, and their dinners in a very timely manner by their what appeared to be friendly server. Their server walked by us numerous times, very much so acting like we didn't exist.
A few minutes later the lovely Server B (finally) approached our table and said standing next to me, "well, I guess I have to wait on you guys." Great way to impress us after our 45min wait! She went around the table and took our drink orders and dinner orders. Another probably 10min went by (7:20pm) and Server B and a man, we'll call him Manager Man going forward, brought half of the table their drinks. Manager Man asked those of us who were still needing their drinks what we ordered. We told him and he appeared to head back to the bar to get our drinks. So we thought.
Another 10min, maybe 15min went by (7:30pm), and still not drinks for the rest of the table. And if you caught the time, we are now at 1 hour of waiting since we sat at our table, and I still had no drink. Another member of our group went up and asked Server B for the rest of our drinks. Server B then finally brought the remainder of our drinks. As you can imagine, our table is becoming increasingly hangry (hungry + angry= hangry). I especially was very upset and our group was discussing whether or not we should just leave and go somewhere else.
**side note: tables of 3-4 people sitting around us, who had arrived after us, had gotten their drinks, and their food, before our table even got our drinks. And the large table of 8 had received their second round of the AYCE fish.
Just as our group was ready to stand up and walk out, our fish dinners came(7:40pm). Or I should say 7 of our 10 fish dinners came. Reminder--this is an AYCE fish fry. On my plate I received one small piece of fish (seriously?) a little cup of coleslaw and a baked potato (see photo). They put bowls of tartar sauce on the table. I had received all the items I had ordered but many at my table were missing coleslaw or their potato. At this point I was so hungry that I immediately ate all of my food. I literally was able to eat all of it in just minutes. While 3 of my group members sat their hangry. Server B still had not come back to say anything to the table about our 3 missing dinners. We waited for another 10 min. with no one coming to apologize for the wait or checking on us.
Another group member went up to the bar and mentioned to the server that we still had 3 meals coming and was wondering how much longer they would be. She replied "that's not my table." That was her response. Our group member came back to our table and we were stunned. A few minutes later Server B came to our table and said that with big groups like ours its easy for tickets to get messed up. She then went on to ask what was all missing and what did they still need to bring to our table. This is when I decided enough was enough. I asked her to send out the manager.
Manager Man came to our table and apologized for the delay in getting our food. I went on to tell him the following:
1. we had to wait nearly 45 min to get waited on.
2. we had to wait an hour to receive our drink order. And he had taken our second drink order.
3. we had to wait over an hour to receive our meal, and 3 meals were missing, multiple people did not receive what they had ordered or were missing items. Some of us got two pieces of fish while I got a small piece with no hopes of getting more anytime soon.
4. our server, Server B, was extremely rude to us and obviously did not want to serve us
5. that we had made a reservation ahead of time so they knew we were coming.
Here was Manager Man's response: I apologize for the wait, we were understaffed tonight. Your group reservation was the only reservation we received for the night.
A group member of ours stated to Manager Man that he did feel we should have to pay for our meal when it first of all took extremely long, we were treated so poorly, and barely received any food. The 3 that hadn't even been served a meal said to just cancel theirs. At this point another member of our group said that they would pay for the fish they ate, but did not feel they should have to pay for an AYCE if that's not what they got. Manager Man said to her (something like this) "well how much do you think is fair to pay."
At this point our entire group was just so shocked. We all just said we do not know what would be appropriate to pay because our entire experience there was unacceptable. Manager Man just said "Ok, let's just call it a wash". He then walked away from our group. Our group got up and a few left some money for the food they ate, while others decided to not leave anything.
This is the point in my reviews that I give a rating, but I honestly can't give a rating because I barely tried any fish or side items. The fish I ate was OK, not a lot of flavor, and the tartar sauce was sweet and I didn't care for it. The coleslaw was creamy, which I like, but it needed pepper and I wasn't able to ask a server for pepper because they never came back.
This was one of the most bizarre dining experiences I have ever had. And I've even had a tray of food dropped on me! I don't want to encourage others not to go to the Hangar Bar & Grille, but I would give great caution to anyone who goes there.
Perhaps if we had been a smaller group they could have handled us, but the fact that we were the only group that made a reservation and they knew we were coming, and we were still treated so poorly, I really do not have a lot of hope for this establishment. Especially if they keep Server B around.
Proceed with caution.
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