Red Robin - Restaurant Hours

Posted by Venice09 on 2012-03-13:

I think the problem here is that when you called you got a recording stating the hours, and then something happened, beyond the employees' control, to force the restaurant to close early. You definitely should have received an explanation and sincere apology instead of an abrupt reply.

Posted by trmn8r on 2012-03-13:

I had this happen at an Outback, and they had no concern that the recording was wrong. I had no concern with kicking their butts to the curb and taking my dollars elsewhere.

Venice may be correct - 10pm sounds early for RR to close. I'd call and speak with a manager about this lousy experience. Actually I'd suggest you call, since I have been banned from RR.

Posted by CrazyRedHead on 2012-03-13:

If the restaurant closes at 11pm and you showed up at 10pm with a large party, they probably realized you would be there long after they closed. If you would have showed up with 3 or 4 people you probably would have gotten in to eat. Next time you may want to speak to a human and ask what what is the latest time you can show up with a large party. Besides, you probably wouldn't have gotten the best service at that time. Most restaurants start shutting things down close to closing and it would take awhile to get things going again just to cook you and everyone else's burger.

I'm not saying it is right but you have to look at it from all points of view, and just because your the customer doesn't make you point of view the only one that is right.

Posted by trmn8r on 2012-03-13:

That is an interesting perspective, CrazyRedHead, and it sounds more plausible than other alternatives I have considered.

They should have been honest, but I wasn't there to see exactly what happened.

Posted by Churro on 2012-03-13:

The OP shows up an hour before closing time only to be told the restaurant is closed yet somehow it's the OP's fault for not showing up even earlier. Seriously? That's a new one to me. I wish these restaurants would post their real closing time and not some imaginary time that you have to convert based upon unwritten rules into a real clock time you need to show up to be served. That would be the reasonable thing to do

Posted by Venice09 on 2012-03-13:

I have to agree with Churro on this one. Unless something unexpected happened forcing the restaurant to close early, there was no excuse not to let these people in. I wonder if there were other customers inside at the time.

Posted by clutzycook on 2012-03-13:

I also agree with churro. If they served them quickly, odds are the large group wouldn't have taken a whole lot more time than a smaller one

Posted by trmn8r on 2012-03-13:

I've seen large groups at Red Robin. They can easily take two hours.

I'm not saying this is what happened, or what should have happened. Red Robin does start shutting down prior to closing time, meaning a lot of cleanup goes on in the back. Staff is reduced. Cooks start talking freely and voicing obscenities that diners can audibly hear over the music that is raised in volume and more heavy metal than earlier.

I ate at RR 1-2 times a week for 4 years. This is what went on at mine near closing. I never saw a large group near closing, for whatever reason.

Whatever happened, they should have been given an explanation of why they were sent away.

Posted by Venice09 on 2012-03-13:

Something I never understood is why one large group is any different from several small groups.

Posted by SteveWiginowski on 2012-03-13:

Venice, my guess is because of the timing of things. In several small groups, each group only has to wait for a few people to order and then the food only has to come out a few people at a time. With a large group, everyone has to be ready to order before the order is taken. Then they are suppose to send out all of the food at the same time.

When splitting up the check, that can be more timely for a large group than for several small groups.

As for the review, I would be disappointed if one place said it was open until one time, but then it wasn't open until that time. Hopefully the alternative place that you went to was good.

Posted by I love my son on 2012-03-13:

I try not to go to places close to there closing times,but I think an hour is enough time before closing for them to have been able to serve your group.. And if something happened where they needed to close that night early they should of given an explanation as to why..And i always thought when a place said they close at 11 that meant they allow people to come in until that time,I have worked at some food places and we served until closing, but i have never worked at a restaurant so i don't know.

Posted by ontario_girl on 2012-03-13:

If Red Robin allowed people to enter until 11 pm or midnight and then had to serve them...well, some groups can take 2-3 hours to dine so they would be there forever. But to not let you enter an hour before closing? Even I'd have to say that's not right. And yes, if they closed unexpectedly, an explanation should have been stated.

Posted by BigAl on 2012-03-13:

Here is my 3 cents worth. (At least from RR point of view)The restaurant closes at 11. That means you must be done eating at 11. This group did not arrive 1 hour before closing (missed it by a few minutes) This restauraunt (whether right or wrong) closes its entrance at 1 hour before closing. The OP was a few minutes late.

Posted by furnman on 2012-03-13:

I have seen some p,ace state they close at say 11 but quit serving by 10. This give the customer time to finish the meal as well as giving the employees time to clean ang get ready for the next day.

Posted by Churro on 2012-03-13:

Red Robin allows customers to enter up until the posted closing time. We're gonna have to figure out another way to pin this one on the OP.

Posted by justcuz on 2012-03-13:

Seriously. Have any of you ever been to a restaurant that posts its hours of operation and also a stop serving time? I have, and that's how it should be.. otherwise if you say you're open til 11PM, then you're open til 11PM.

Hopefully the OP forwards this on to RR HQ. I'd like to see the company's response to this one.

Posted by DebtorBasher on 2012-03-13:

I just watched a show the other night called, 'Resturant Stakeout' on the FoodNetwork and they said if your hours are until 11pm then you're supposed to take customers until 11pm and treat your last customers of the day with the same respect and service as your first. It's a great show, he set up people to walk into a resturant 5 minutes before their closing time to see if they would turn them away or service them. At first they told the customers they staff was getting ready to close, but then, they seated them and served them when the customers insisted they would just get something quick.

Posted by justcuz on 2012-03-13:

Good stuff, DB. I can understand why employees would be irritated by someone walking in minutes before closing, but then again that's the nature of the business they're in.

Posted by DebtorBasher on 2012-03-13:

Exactly JC...The show I mentioned is going to be on Wednesday nights and it's really good. The guy sets up cameras to 'spy' on the staff and sends people in to test them. He had one guy leave his wallet on the table to see if the server would be honest enough to turn it in after another customer who was set up, gave him a hard time ordering and then didn't tip him. The server did the right thing and went out to the parking lot to catch up with the customer to return the wallet.