“Am I overreacting by walking out of a restaurant?”

So the other night my husband made reservations at a restaurant I really wanted to try. The site said that we could show up 10 minutes early to check and that they have the right to cancel if we’re 5 minutes late.

So we left the house a little early to make sure we could find parking and make our way over there. We ended up being 20 minutes early. When we checked in the girl at the stand told us it’s only a 10 minute wait for a party of two so she might be able to seat us earlier than our reservation.

We said that would be great but if not that’s ok and to text on us the number on the reservation system as we were going to explore the shop connected to it in the meantime.

It gets to our reservation time and we go back to see if a table is ready just need to wait a minute or two. We were told that they took 5 large party’s and could not seat us that moment. I asked if they were reservations or walk in, a different host than the nice girl before told me they were all walk ins.

Now I’ve worked in restaurants for 15 years and none of the restaurants I worked at would have pushed back a reservation for those large walk ins. I asked how much longer the wait will be then. He told us 30 minutes and rudely told me that we showed up early. I say fine and walked away understanding that they don’t want to double sit a server and overwhelm them and the kitchen.

After 45 minutes, and seeing so many other parties get sat before us, we go back to the stand to ask about our table, again we’re told they have large party’s and we need to wait, I told him that’s crazy because no restaurant I’ve worked at would prioritize large walk ins over reservations.

After than 2 minutes latter we’re being walked, really ran, to a table. When we got sat it looked like they had just taken a table away from one of the large partys to accommodate us because we were nearly sitting on top of them. On top of that we were handed one drink menu and one dinner menu.

My husband went to the host stand to get another dinner menu and was met with a very rude remark about how he gave us two menus and my husband had to explain that we were given one drink menu and one dinner menu. The host reluctantly gave him the menu.

How that we’ve had the menus we’ve watched three servers interacting with guests but no one greeted us. We saw managers helping on the floor but none look to us. We assume that the server taking care of the party next to us was our server and saw her bring several rounds of drinks to them but never looked at us.

The other two didn’t seem to look our way either with their parties. After 25 minutes of not being greeted or even looked at by the servers I told my husband were leaving. So we got up and left.

Now here’s where I may have over reacted because as we were leaving the host told us to have a nice night. I turned around and snapped “would have been a great night if we got sat close to our reservation time and actually got to order even a drink! We will never be returning” he said that’s fine.

A manager heard what was said and stepped outside with us. I explained that we had been waiting nearly an hour to be sat and almost a half hour at the table without being greeted and that I understood it’s busy but my servers knew to at least greet the guests and bring them waters instead of ignoring them for almost half an hour.

The manager went inside to get the reservation tablet to check the times. According to the tablet we checked in 20 minutes early, which we have stated we did and understood we were early, but then said that our reservation was canceled. I was fuming.

I told the manager I’m not angry with them but it doesn’t look like we canceled, we are here! They apologized and tried to get us to come back inside and they would take care of our tab.

I told them no, after waiting over almost an hour to even be sat I’d rather go elsewhere and get dinner faster. My husband was trying to tell me I overreacted but I don’t think I did. So did I overreact?

Edit: When the manager pulled up the reservation they could see when it was canceled. It was canceled shortly after the time our reservation was for when they decided to seat the large parties.

Edit 2: We didn’t take the opportunity to have the tab comped because having worked industry I know how petty some servers are and have to do couching and counseling’s for the same thing at some of the lower end restaurants I’ve worked at and would not want to be in the receiving end of it.

Edit 3: I understand that saying we will never return doesn’t mean anything to the restaurant let alone to staff. It was just something that came out while I was upset.

Here’s what people had to say to OP:

CWHappyHusband

No, of course not. Even waiting 45 minutes after your reservation time to be seated was a massive under reaction. The manager absolutely deserved to hear your displeasure, and you were completely justified in leaving and letting them know you would not be returning. A negative online review in all available fora would also be reasonable.

Conscious-Bug1592

Absolutely not over reacting! I am a waitress as well and that’s complete BS and I probably would’ve said worse in your shoes honestly. NOR.

TheCy_Guy

Bravo. NOR but your hubby is under-reacting.

Good_Matter7529

NOR. What is the point of making a reservation if they’re just gonna ignore it? i’m a very chill guy, but your husband is under-reacting haha. that’s unacceptable.

Ready-Zombie5635

NOR – I’ve walked out for a similar reason. If I have a reservation, I expect there to be a table waiting. Sure, I might give them a little bit of time, but not that long! Plus once you were seated they were useless.

Yes. you were early but that’s not a big deal. Better early than late. It’s not just about eating, it’s about the whole experience, which you pay for. If you’re not having a good time, what’s the point?

“Am I overreacting by walking out of a restaurant?”