Let me start by saying I’ve been to Gridley’s in the past and never had a problem with the food or staff.

This year for Mother’s Day my wife and I decided to take our parents to Gridley’s for their brunch. My wife called Gridley’s 2 weeks before Mother’s Day and spoke to Angelo – whom she made a reservation with for 6 adults + 1 high chair. We were confirmed for the 10:30AM seating.

On that cold and rainy Sunday morning, we arrive at Gridley’s at 10:28AM. There was a mob of people in the reception area all waiting to be seated. They were not seating anyone until 10:30. So imagine 200 cold wet people stuffed into the front entrance. My wife checked in at the desk – told them our name and that we had 6 adults +1 high chair which the host at the desk confirmed and said it would just be a minute.

At 10:40AM they finally began to seat people by calling out names (one at a time). Finally we’re called and they brought us downstairs to the basement, which was fine since there was a buffet there too. Some young PUNK (the host), brings us to our table where there are 6 place settings and five chairs – No sign of a highchair.
I asked him if we could have a highchair and he said – “give me a minute.” He came by 2 more times without acknowledging me, pretending I would go away. Finally he came over and said “We are out of highchairs.” I told him that was unacceptable – he needs to get one for us. He told me that we can have a booster seat. Now at this point my 7 month old child is sitting on the table, and it’ obvious to anyone who looks..that she is not yet old enough to sit in a booster seat with no straps, and no support! He then questioned my wife as to whether she told the person when she was making the reservation that we needed a highchair. What a jerk. Not only that, 2 more families waiting for highchairs and were told the same thing.

I was holding my child and since there wasn’t a highchair, she spilled a glass of water on the table. My mother, who was sitting next to me, goes to an empty table behind us and takes 2 napkins off of the table. The little PUNK host happens to be walking in to seat a family and sees my mother reaching for the napkins.. He said “Maam, we need those.” I looked at him (I think he saw fire in my eyes) and said “We need them too” He then went to the man standing at the carving station, and spoke to him in Greek. Now, I was really upset, not only did he question my wife’s ability to make a reservation (and if you have children…you know you always ask for a highchair so that you can sit and enjoy your meal and feed your child at the same time) but, he lied and stated he was getting a highchair, then he ignored me, and then he went to speak about me in Greek to another employee. Professional right? I didn’t get this persons name, but what a condescending little lying punk. This is the host? This is who you want greeting people when they come in to your restaurant?

As for the food…It was COLD! I let my wife eat while I tried to feed our child and she was one of the first up to the buffet and it was cold from the start. Our entire table and the surrounding tables complained that it was nothing special and most of it was cold. I was able to get my food about 30 min later. The sausage was COLD, the shrimp was GONE, the bagels were 1/3 the size of a normal bagel. I’m not sure if it was cream cheese or whipped cream – especially since it was on the desert table. When was the last time you went to a breakfast buffet and there were no scrambled eggs… nor an omelet station. There was some guy at a carving station, cutting thin slices of ham. When I finished the garbage on my plate, I decided I wanted more ham – since that was the only thing with taste. The guy had disappeared, so I cut my own thick slice of ham while everyone watched. The dessert table had little square pieces of cake on it that had no taste. I didn’t see any tiramisu which was listed for the buffet on their website. There were however, plain croissants that were hard. The only thing that was good were the cookies, that looked like they were bought from Sam’s Club but delicious none the less.

Our waitress took a beating too…Not really from us, we were nice to her understanding that this was not her fault. However, all she did do was get us drinks. Half the time my wife’s drink was empty for 5 min before she came back. When we got the bill – they charged 18% gratuity. What buffet charges gratuity? We would always leave something for the waitress, but if all she did was get us drinks, she didn’t deserve 18%…and one man really let her know how much she didn’t deserve that amount of gratuity. As what I am guessing was meant to be a courtesy, they did comp one meal – YIPEE!

All in all, we paid $26/person for cold and tasteless food. I could have gone to McDonalds, had hot food, friendly service, and a highchair for less price and less headache.

I WILL NEVER GO BACK TO GRIDLEY’S AGAIN!

Our family had our reunion dinner there…..what a great place to eat & enjoy the music.