Bakers Square Restaurant & Pies

Wow, where to start? Well I started by waiting a few days to see if I'd feel any different about the experience, nope still the same. FWIW, this review is solely based on the service. The food was just what you'd expect from Baker's Sq.

We walked in and had to stand around a bit, and when we were greeted it was friendly enough, I did ask to sit on the side which is a little quieter, but it wasn't closed as one other table had just been seated. We got a well...okay type of response.

Our server was friendly enough, however when she dropped off the coffee she filled my cup less then halfway, no big deal I can certainly fill my coffee cup. However, after I did there was no coffee left in the carafe, so was this left over from some other table? Who knows, but what I did know was there wasn't much coffee left in it.

Moving onto the meal, and looking forward the line of booths, everything is going swimmingly at the other table, the one customer is making cute small talk with the sever, maybe if I did that things would have been better.

The meal arrives, I'm given an empty ketchup bottle. No extra napkins or water like the other table received. We did get through our meal, and as we sat, waiting and waiting, the other table had their dishes cleared and was working on their pie.

The server finally checked up on us, I asked for a container for my mom's lunch. She brings back the smallest container, which you could see that there was no way the leftovers would fit in there. Perhaps, she then assumed we didn't want pie, because I had to ask to place the order. She then takes off to pickup the check from the other table, (nice because you usually go to the register to pay)

She comes back with the pie, my mom then asks for a glass of water with no ice, she comes back with a glass with ice, my mom wasn't going to say anything, but I piped up and said, "mom, didn't you say no ice?" she then replied yes. She comes back, drops off the water and the check, and tells us we can take it to the register. I look at the check and ask will they give her the senior discount up there? She says, no and takes the check back. Clearly, my mom's a senior, sure she looks good for her age, but she's in her 80's.

Other table, is well on their way out the door, long before us.

During the whole thing, I didn't bitch, I wanted too, but I was with my mom and I didn't want her to have an unpleasant lunch. However, when I went up to pay and they asked, "how was everything?" I thought, here's my chance, "I replied the food was good everything else fair." This is where I expected the person to say, "what was the problem?" instead she just looked right at me and handed me my change. I have to say, on top of the unfair service, because I could see that the server was capable, this interchange bothered me more. Here I'm telling you "fair" and there's no response.

There's a phone # on the receipt, maybe I'll call and tell them to check out this review, because frankly I don't want to repeat it. I know it's Baker's Square, and a chain, however, they do differ. We do go to the one further south on Harlem close to Addison Ave, we're sort of regulars at that one now, but what made us become regulars was the good service and the concern for their customers.

When I came to review this restaurant, I was astounded to see such great reviews. Unfortunately, we had a terrible experience. If I could have given zero stars, I would have. I've always had a good experience in the past at Bakers Squares, not this one. When we arrived on a busy weekday evening, it took more than a minute before anyone acknowledged that we were waiting to be served. Not completely out of the ordinary, but a minor annoyance. Perhaps they were understaffed, because we then had 2 different waitresses try to serve us. And then we waited... and waited... for our food. 15 minutes or so later our waitress came to apologize for the wait, which I appreciated, but then it was still another 10 minutes before our food came. And when it did, it was clear it had been sitting around for at least 10 minutes! I am not a picky person, but the food was completely cold and inedible. My grilled cheese was soggy and the cheese was barely melted and cold, and my SO's turkey was cold. It was obvious the food had been cooked and then sat there waiting for the waitress to pick up the order for several minutes.

We complained to the manager (because our waitress was nowhere to be found), who whisked the food away without even speaking to us! It was bizarre. He only came back a minute later when he was seating another couple, and then meekly said they would start our food over again--inappropriately saying this in front of the guests who he was seating, who probably wondered what was going on, and with no apology to us whatsoever. At that point we told him not to bother and left. I will never return to such an ill-managed restaurant. What a disappointment.

I love this Baker's Square and it scores high on my list as favorite places to go. The staff is so educated, friendly and well mannered. I've gotten to know so many of them from going there for years that  some are like family!
Food is always best quality. I'm always on a diet, so many choices here if I don't choose any pie. I eat many things when I got there and have never been disappointed yet!