The service stunk at this Inn! Especially for breakfast and dinner.....

Please pardon me while I vent......

Breakfast.

We were told that food was to be served until 10 a.m. So, we made reservations for all 6 of us at 9:30 for the first morning. When we were seated, we overheard the help in the kitchen say that they were running out of food. Then, the waitress advised us "You should make earlier reservations, because we run out of food when toward the end." How an Inn that operates as a bed and breakfast can be so careless as to run out of food is beyond my comprehension. The innkeeper should make sure that there is an adequate amount of food to feed everyone - even if they show up at 10 a.m. If breakfast is from 8(?) to 10 a.m. there should be an adequate amount of food available from 8-10 a.m. - the entire time.

On the second morning, we made reservations for 8:30 a.m. Our orders were completely screwed up. For example, I ordered 2 eggs over easy, blueberry pancakes and home fries. I received 1 egg (when I ordered 2) sunny side up (hardly cooked- when I ordered over-easy), no home fries and my pancakes? My blueberry pancake was smaller than an English muffin in diameter, thinner than a dime (running out of food again??!) and I received JUST ONE, when I ordered pancakes (plural). My husband ordered 2 eggs over easy - even though the over-easy part was right on his, he got only 1. He ordered sausage, which never came. He ordered blueberry pancakes and only received 1 pancake the same size as mine (see above) without a blueberry in sight. I could go into detail about each order, but suffice it to say that out of all the other orders at our table of six, only one of them was entirely correct.
Since I could not eat my half-cooked eggs, the only thing left to eat was the microscopic size pancake- hardly enough to satisfy. I had to stop and pay for breakfast outside. Our waitress seemed oblivious to the fact that we were all unhappy, and when she asked if she could get us anything else, I said "I ordered over-easy, not sunny-side up- Can I just have 2 more eggs - this time over-easy, cooked on both sides lightly?" Once again, she brought
out sunny-side up. It was hopeless. Again, how an Inn that operates as a bed and breakfast can be so careless as to hire help that is so obviously inefficient and incapable of taking an order correctly is beyond my comprehension.

Dinner.

The other major complaint was our $200.00 dinner. One of the couples who were with us were celebrating a special wedding anniversary and the other 4 of us decided to treat them to a special dinner. We were in search of a special restaurant that would make our dinner memorable. Upon checking in, the gentleman at the front desk told us that we would have a hard time finding reservations and urged us to made dinner reservations at the Two Turtles.
He urged "We have a cook from The White House". We were ecstatic since we wanted to splurge on our friends and give them a dinner they would remember. Boy- did we get a dinner to remember!

· Our dinner reservations were for 8:30 sharp. We were not seated until a half hour later.

· We ordered wine and the waitress poured each of us a large glass (we do not all drink and therefore wasted large amounts).

· We had to wait over an hour to get our soups and salads. When we asked for bread, the waitress said "I don't know, I have to see if we have any left".!!!!!!!! She then proceeded to bring out three tiny rolls for six HUNGRY people.

· When the waitress finally brought out our soup an hour and a half later, she apologized and said "The reason it took so long is because we were out of soup and had to make it." The correct thing to do would have been to come out and say "We are out of soup tonight, would you like to try another appetizer?" instead of making your customers wait hours.

· After the soups, we finally got our dinners at about 11:30 p.m. - 3 hours after our reservation, 2 ½ hours after we ordered dinner. All of the orders were wrong - 3 of the 4 of us that ordered the steak ordered it well-done and they all came back rare- not just pink but extremely rare and inedible.

Thank God that we all have senses of humor and were able to just laugh at everything.... but it's really ridiculous to pay top dollar for something and get crappy service. To top it all off, they add 20% tip automatically to the bill. What a joke! And, even though the innkeeper acknowledged (even to us) that the service we were receiving was horrendous, she did nothing to correct it. In similar situations we have faced in other restaurants, the
owner has always made it up to us in some way - i.e., given a discount on the meal, even free desserts and coffee for the table- something, anything, to pacify the customer. And usually, we are able to overlook our first bad experience and return time and again, thereafter receiving fine service. Well, nothing was offered to us in this instance.

For a 2 night stay, together with our other friends, we paid $1200, plus $200.00 for dinner, and we expected good service.

We are three young professional couples who make good salaries. Having vacationed there many times before, we are not ignorant of the prices that are charged for good lodging in New England. Further, we frequently spend money on dining in good restaurants. In short, we do not hesitate to spend money on these things. It does not bother us, as long as the service merits the price.

May I assume this is Chatham on the Cape (Cod)? Never heard of this place...

What a horrible story. Thanks for the heads up. I believe that you would have been within your rights to tell the manager that you refused to pay (both breakfast and dinner).

Not to excuse the truly outrageous experience in any way, and really not trying to sound like some kind of snob, but I just have to ask . . . you didn't mean to imply that $200 for dinner for six, including wine and the "forced" 20% tip, is expensive, did you? I suspect that most on this board think of a nice meal as closer to $200 per couple, and an expensive meal as $200 (or more) per person. PS - Next time in Chatham try the Chatham Bars Inn - expensive, but worth it.

uh oh - I'm in big trouble.........

"I suspect most on this board think of a nice meal as closer to $200. per couple and expensive as $200. (or more) per person."

And here I have been enjoying the travel tips and chat thinking I was among like minded people. Can someone direct me to the poor people's travel board. Thanks.

The dinner was actually like $240 and then tax of whatever they charge up there (6%?) plus $50 for tip. I thought it was pricey enough to expect good service.... maybe I should try to find the poor people travel board too! (I liked that one Marie! <g>)