BOCA RATON, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) — Yes, Morty’s Back.
Morty Eatowitz is back following months of training culinary writers in famine ridden lands and is astonished to find that one of his favorites, Yard House in Boca, is seemingly in the midst of a downward spiral.
Morty ate at Yard House Saturday night and, quite frankly, wished he hadn’t. This once perfect restaurant for grown ups and kids alike has transitioned into a hell hole of noise, poorly prepared food and horrendous service. The menu has been simultaneously expanded and downgraded. The Thai Noodle salad is gone forever.
Service Saturday night was abysmal. Our waitress, Briana, apparently went to the Ice Queen school of waitressing, taking ten minutes after we were seated to ask if we wanted to order “apps.”
Morty’s policy is that anyone who refers to an appetizer as an “app” immediately has any potential tip reduced by fifty percent. It’s not cool or trendy. It’s just annoying.
There were four people at Morty’s table, yet Briana didn’t write down anyone’s order. Maybe she had an app for that in her brain, Morty self-queried. But she didn’t. The food came out wrong.
While we awaited Briana’s return to request that the food actually ordered be brought to the table, Morty and party observed the staff of Yard House try to figure out how to position several tables to seat a local company’s holiday Christmas party. Over the course of ten minutes — and Morty isn’t making this up — the staff moved tables around multiple times in an effort to maximize seats. Like a game of musical chairs in the midst of a High Holiday service, the party sat, was told to “please rise,” sat again, then again instructed to to “please rise.” Gifted Kindergarten kids could have solved this problem in seconds. Incredibly, it took a full team of waiters and waitresses to ultimately realize that the tables must go diagonally in a rectangle space.
But back to the service and food. Our waitress, Briana, was more interested in the party of 30 than our party of 4 so paid no attention when another waitress told her our food was wrong. In fact, Briana didn’t come back until it seemed another staffer noticed her inattentiveness and called for a manager. Even that was an ordeal. The manager apologized, then offered to comp one of the meals without even being asked. That’s a good management move, but telling that it came just seconds after the manager arrived.
However, it took nearly 20 minutes for the food to be remade — and nothing in the order was complicated.
As for taste and quality — Yard House used to be near the top of the charts. Now, on a scale from 1 to 10, it’s barely a five.
Darden Restaurants has a problem. Actually, Darden has several problems, but Yard House is a big one. It’s going to go the way of its Red Lobster if the company doesn’t move in and fix what’s broken. Morty Eatowitz says Darden must start with the staff. Hire people who want to work there and actually have customer service talent, not appear that they just left a job at TGIFridays where, you know, apps are plentiful cause it’s always Friday.
Then, fix the food. A $16 salmon salad shouldn’t have just one teeny tiny piece of salmon on top.
Next, operate the kitchen in a way that a do-over doesn’t take twenty minutes. That’s inexcusable.
And most importantly, never allow your wait staff to just “remember” what’s being ordered. Some may be talented enough to do that but most are not. It makes your restaurant look bad. And when restaurants look bad, people talk and Morty Eatowitz writes.
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