A Findlay mainstay, usually the combination of well-prepared, reasonably priced food and strong, reasonably priced drinks puts Cheddar's near the top of the list of places I would like to meet up with friends. I have come to accept that, if I decide to show up during the dinner rush, I will have a bit of a wait (honestly, anyone who doesn't expect to wait for a table at any restaurant between the hours of 5pm and 8pm is delusional). However, we showed up at 4:05pm, which is hardly a busy time for a restaurant that doesn't feature "Early Bird Specials." Which is why we were less than happy to be told that, due to the "shift change," we would have to wait for "a minute."
A minute turned into five, during which time we surveyed the dining room; it was quite empty, and we could have probably seated ourselves either at a table or the bar and been served immediately. The hostess must have felt otherwise, as she clumsily dropped silverware and admitted to the fact that she wasn't quite sure what was going on yet. A wonderful start to an even more wonderful experience, surely (I hope that wasn't too sarcastic for you...I am trying to refrain). It didn't help that we were on a timed, business lunch break, which should have been obvious given our attire; I was wearing dress pants, dress shoes, a white button-down and a tie while my companion wore an all-black business appropriate outfit as well.
After being seated we waited another 10 minutes just to place our drink orders, which definitely did not coincide with our past Cheddar's experiences. When our drinks arrived, we told the waiter we knew what we wanted and would order immediately because we were in a hurry. By the time he left our table, the hostess had seated a total of three other tables in this waiter's section, and it was easy to see that the rest of the restaurant was almost completely empty. I was beginning to develop a distinct sense that we weren't getting out of there on time, considering that it was already 4:30pm.
A full 25 minutes later (yes, 25 minutes!) our lunch arrived, and I asked the waiter to bring us boxes and our bill immediately so we could leave as soon as we were finished. What was it that we ordered that took so terribly long? Salads, the both of us. I, the Grilled Chicken Pecan Salad and my companion, the Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad. I happen to know from experience that 25 minutes is a bit excessive when it comes to preparing a grilled chicken salad in a slow restaurant. As if the time to prepare them were the only issue...
Now, we have both ordered the exact same dishes on past occasions (and the Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad was actually my companion's favorite). I mention this because I feel it should be noted that we know what the salads should look and taste like...which is why we were both perplexed to find that we had been given salads with Lemon Pepper Chicken Breasts on them. I assure you, that is not what goes on those salads; they usually feature a plain, marinated grilled chicken breast which is tender, juicy, and delicious. Instead we were given dry, overcooked, tangy chicken breasts which clashed with the flavors of both our salads.
We would have complained when our waiter came back with the check, but by that time it was 5:00, we were already late, and we realized that if we sent our food back we would probably end up being there until 6pm. As such, we buckled down and ate, but not until after I had conspicuously placed my credit card in the check folder at the edge of our table for the waiter to cash us out.
We hurriedly finished our salads, but our waiter was nowhere to be seen. After boxing up part of my salad to take home, I glanced at the clock and saw that we desperately needed to leave. Fortunately for us, I had enough cash to cover the bill, which came to $17.90. Unfortunately for the waiter, I only had a $20 bill, because I would have certainly left him a better tip...if he had only come back to the table to process my credit card payment. I hate leaving a bad tip because I have waited tables in the past and know that waiters and waitresses count on tips to pay the bills. But, if you can't be bothered to take my money, there is a chance you could lose out.
In all, it is unfortunate that we were unable to enjoy our lunch and return to work on time (which we have done many times in the past). Additionally, we should not have been forced to feel like we couldn't complain about receiving the wrong chicken on our salads; but, what else can you do when the service is already slow and you are in so much of a hurry that you can't wait any longer for a manager?
In all, I will probably return to Cheddar's in the future. This was far from what we normally experience when we go there, and I know that even the best restaurants can have bad days. I do know, however, that I will never go back around 4pm (since it's "Shift Change," and all), and I suggest that those of you who go to Cheddar's at any time of the day brace yourself for the fact that it could take you an hour and a half or more to sit, order, eat, and cash out.
Cheddar's is located at 2100 Tiffin Ave., in front of Meijer. Their phone number is 419-423-4499 and you can find their entire menu at Cheddars.com.
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10 comments:
Wow I'm pretty sure that lemon pepper chicken comes on those salads..Hold on let me think?...Yep definately come on there..Pretty sure it says it in the menu. The only salads that get the marinated chicken is the Hawaiin Salad and the Asian Salad. Fresh chicken for those salads take 15 min, Plus comin from havin experiance in the restuaraunt biz...Anyone who states that they are in a hurry is usually a jerk. If ur in a hurry and want fast food then go to mcdonalds or burger king.
If you check the menu at Cheddars' website you can see that you're mistaken. It specifically lists "grilled chicken breast" for the Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad and "savory grilled chicken breast" for the Chicken Pecan Salad. We get those same salads every time we order a salad at Cheddar's, and it had NEVER come with Lemon Pepper Chicken Breasts before.
The funniest part? We just ordered those same two salads for carry-out recently and...surprise! Regular grilled chicken breasts. Quite tasty, and the salads were ready for pickup in 15 minutes on a busy weekday at 12:30pm.
As far as the "jerk" comment, I know what you mean. USUALLY those people are a jerk. However, I have been on the receiving end of many cranky customer interactions and, as such, am extremely forgiving in most situations.
To clarify: I understand that the waiter was quadruple-seated. THAT is why the service suffered. We have eaten there for lunch plenty of times before, and they have always been able to accommodate us when we politely mentioned our time constraints. The problem with timing would not have been an issue if he had simply grabbed the check from us when he passed by.
In any case, I did state that this was out of the ordinary, but it has definitely made us avoid dining in any time when we don't have at least an hour.
Ok, first off, I know for a fact that the Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad comes with regular grilled chicken...I literally order that salad every single time I visit Cheddars, and to be absolutley sure, I called to confirm and what do you know? It doesn't. Secondly, I've been in that situation myself where I've been on my lunch and have been in a hurry, and I can assure you that I'm never a jerk, and I am very understanding of the situations that can happen when eating in a restaurant. However, I know when something is deserving of criticism, and it sounds to me that the writer's experience was deserving of it. As far as your last comment goes, I have a 45 minute lunch break every day and I eat at many restaurants in the area and never have a problem getting out of there on time. It seems to me that you must work at Cheddars, because otherwise I don't know why you would take such personal offense to the review, which makes me laugh even harder because if you do work there, perhaps you ought to study the menu a bit harder and know what you're talking about before you judge so harshly.
I go to Cheddars quite frequently, and it has never taken me an hour and a half sit, order, eat and cash out. Unless, of course, I order a painkiller, and start chit chatting with everyone, haha. Just because the Cheddars website says "grilled chicken breast", doesn't necessarily mean "marinated grilled chicken breasts." It could mean, bourbon glazed, lemon pepper, smokehouse, etc. It does not say one type specifically. If you notice, none of the salads say what type, all of them say "grilled...", with the exception of the Hawaiian Chicken salad. No restaurant is perfect. I have never been to a restaurant where the service or food was perfect. But, I don't do reviews. It seems like you took the one bad experience you had, with a lot of the restaurants you have visited, and put that on the internet for everyone to see. I'm not telling you to do better reviews, because honestly, I would like to know if a place I've never been to before is going to be a crappy experience. But, you could at least write something a little more appealing, since you said yourself, you visit Cheddars frequently.
The point about what kind of chicken breasts go on the salads is moot; either they did it wrong that one time, or they have done it wrong every other time we have ordered them.
As far as picking our "one bad experience," that's not the case. This was the first visit we made to Cheddar's after starting this website. Since it has been a while, we will probably post a new review of Cheddar's, just as soon as we go back for a dine-in meal.
Or, something that we would gladly do is post up one of your reviews; if anyone out there wants to write their own review of Cheddar's, please do so and send it to us at findlayeatsout@gmail.com and we'll put it up right away.
We do care about your opinions, as well as our own...which is why we share our experiences here in the first place.
I usually eat at cheddars every friday or sunday, but havent gone there for about 2 months know ...I have recently connected back up with some friends i hadnt seen for about 20+ years and we went there about 7p on saturday nite sat in the bar area my friends and I got caught up on eachothers lives, the server was so rude kept coming back u could tell by her comments she wanted us to leave..as soon as we were finishing up our meals around 8p, that is why we asked to sit in bar area so we could relax and catch up, so we took the hint and left shortly after being bothered 4-5 times....RUDE_RUDE
ok I work at cheddars and those NEVER come with anything but lemon pepper chicken. As far as sitting and catching up....your called a camper. someone who comes in and sit in a section and eats then proceeds to chit chat. obviously its a busy night and we cant make money if your tying up our section. I'm sure you tipped crappy as well.How do you know thats she was being rude? maybe you misconstrued her questions.As a server its very easy to come across as rude. Like if your all finished and I have all your plates and I continue to ask if you if your ok or if you need anything Im not trying to rush you out I'm just assuming that you made need more since your obviously done and still sitting in my section.
I work at cheddars in the kitchen and those salads come with lemon pepper seasoning on the chicken...but its not like it changes the color of it. you still have grill marks and it looks like theres pepper on them. which is probably why your confused
It's funny that we keep getting people on here defending the inclusion of Lemon Pepper Chicken on the salads; I, personally, HATE Lemon Pepper Chicken. I know what it tastes like, I know what it looks like, and on this particular visit the chicken was literally encrusted with Lemon Pepper. On previous visits (and the last time we ate the salads-less than 2 weeks ago), the chicken tasted like it was just regular, slightly seasoned, grilled chicken.
Now, to be fair, I myself called the local Cheddar's to find out what they had to say. I'm not sure who it was that answered the phone, but she agreed that the salads were NOT supposed to have Lemon Pepper on the chicken. However, not to take one person's word for it, I did a bit more research.
I just got off the phone with Cheddar's, Inc. in Irving, TX (the number is 214-596-6700 in case you would like to verify). I explained that we were confused as to what kind of chicken came on the Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad and the Chicken Pecan Salad. I told her that we thought it was supposed to come with regular grilled chicken breasts, but that on one occasion we were given what was clearly Lemon Pepper Chicken instead. Her answer:
"Those salads are supposed to come with regular chicken breasts, which do have pepper on them. However, they shouldn't have Lemon Pepper. I can see how someone might be confused, since we do have a Lemon Pepper Chicken Dinner."
Hopefully that clears things up-for a minute I started to think I was taking crazy pills.
so looks like the cheddars employees that posted on here might be the ones giving people lemon pepper chicken....what geniuses, lol....you're wrong, ok? get over it
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