Bernie's Dining Depot

Last night dinner at Bernies Dining Depot was interesting to say the least… so much for reservation ours were for 7 we sat down at 745..the poor waitress had a party of 14, beside us and a couple who also waited an hour for their table, and no help… and the food has become so/so, they still serve large pieces of great prime rib. but mine was over cooked it was med/well instead of med/rare… they need to fix a few things… Reservation, the sludge the served as chowder mine went back, remove the can veggies, and improve teamwork…

On Friday 12/13/13, My Husband and I had reservations for 6:30pm in the dining car. We have come here since our first New Year’s Eve in 2011 to celebrate not only New Year’s Eve each year since, but my Birthday as well as I am a long time customer since the late 1980’s. It was special to us as we had our 1st New Year’s Eve date here and now that we are married, our first New Year’s Eve as a married couple would have been here too. However, our experience this night was such a terrible one we will be going elsewhere.

On this visit we were celebrating my 55th birthday. As usual, your establishment was very busy in the dining car at that time, not so much in the front area though. We were seated rather abruptly with the menus thrown on the table and the hostess saying over her shoulder “one couple here” as she continued to walk away, and the waitress (who was very professional and pleasant) came to take our drink orders pretty quickly. We did have to wait over 10 mins for her to come back to take our meal order. I ordered the French meat pie, with green beans, mashed potatoes & gravy as well as the Clam Chowder. My Husband ordered the Chopped steak (Med Well) with French fries, Cole slaw and the house salad with French dressing. We ordered the stuffed mushrooms as an appetizer and requested rolls.

The chowder and salad came out pretty quickly; the appetizer came about 10 mins later and 20-25 mins later the entrées came out.

Issue 1. The couple seated across from us in a 4 person booth that came in after us was served their entrée before ours was served. This could be because they ordered the prime rib. The waitress was very attentive to them.

Issue 2. The waitress did not come back to us after the entrée was served ask how things were. But instead, continued to stop at the table across from us to attend to them. However, she did clear the table of unused dishes but did not engage in conversation or ask if we needed anything.

Issue 3. The chowder was spilled into the saucer; it was under seasoned and had a congealed film on the top. I ate it, because I was hungry.

Issue 4. The meat pie was heated in the microwave, the pie crust was doughy, undercooked and the filling was cold. The green beans were canned and Luke-warm. The mashed potatoes had no flavor and were not seasoned with either salt or pepper. I ate the beans and most of the potatoes as I was really hungry.

Issue 5. The chopped steak was well done at the edges rare and bloody in the middle. The Cole slaw was bland; my husband ate the edges of the steak but left the middle. He finished off the fries but left the Cole Slaw.

Issue 6. When the waitress finally acknowledged us and came to ask if we wanted to box up the left overs, I told her about the meat pie and steak. She told me that I should have informed her sooner about them and did I want something else. I did not inform her of any other issues as she was already on the defensive, seemed harried and it was getting busier, so I just asked for the check.

I have never had such horrible food and service from your establishment. I don’t know if it was just that night or if there has been a change since last December, but I am horribly disappointed despite having the meat pie taken off the bill. I did tip over 20% in cash because the waitress did not prepare the food, she just served it, it was busy and I have been a waitress and had to live off those wages. My husband however did not agree with my tip. We will not be back. We will find a new restaurant to use when celebrating our special moments. It is a shame too, as at least I have been a long time customer.

I just wanted you to be aware of my discontent and the poor quality of the food I experienced.