Hefner Grill

I've had to really take a minute before writing about my Hefner Grill experience. I consider the experience to begin from the moment I attempt to make a reservation to the minute we drive away. The reservation process was not good. I called a month in advance to make the reservation for a party of 10. I realize 10 is excessive for a lot of places, but Hefner Grill has a lot of seating areas to accommodate. The phone call was met with an attitude on the other end and a less than enthusiastic tone about our reservation.

On Friday, April 13th I call HG, like I do with every restaurant, to confirm the reservation. It was confirmed, but the person on the other end became huffy again. I have very little patience with huffiness in a hospitality setting. The woman said she was the manager and the conversation involved a bunch of sighing and frustration...from her. She confirmed the reservation and informed me we had a 2 hour limit in the "room." That's fine and everything, but typically something you mention at the time a reservation is made.

On Saturday, April 14th I get a call from HG to confirm my reservation...the same one I just confirmed the night before. Another sassy voice tells me "75% of your party has to be here before you can get seated." I HATE THIS RULE ANYWHERE. I cannot physically get 10-15 individuals to show up on time. You're losing revenue by not seating the party as they come. We like to drink and get started on some apps. I said "this would've been nice to know when I spoke with the manager yesterday." She said, "it must have been miscommunicated." Let me be clear. There is a vast difference between miscommunication and non-communication. It was not communicated. But, brunch was happening in 1 hour, so what do you do?

I show up at 10:30 (yes, 30 minutes early) because this reservation had been giving me anxiety. There are about 5 hostesses relaxing at the front counter Mean Girl style. I check in with my reservation and am told again that 75% of my party needs to be there. I WAS FED UP. The restaurant was empty and regardless if the party was all there at the same time, we're all going to the same table. LET ME SIT SO I CAN PAY YOU. We asked for the manager because, again, I don't do attitudes and sass in a hospitality setting.

Here's where things look up... The manager came out with a smile, greeted us, let me have my rant where I stated, "this has been the worst reservation experience I have ever had in the 11 months I've done Brunch Club. I have a group of education professionals coming who have had a really rough two weeks (Oklahoma Teacher Walk Out of 2018) and this is just supposed to be a good day with no glitches. Brunch shouldn't be this hard." She immediately fixed the entire situation, which is hard to do when I'm pissed and I was pissed. She not only related to me by telling me she has educators in her family, but offered to buy our appetizers. I normally don't prefer things ending in giveaways, because that's not my goal, but I accepted the offer. She let us sit immediately, with only about 14% of our party present.

The rest of brunch was a joyful experience and our server, Kolt, couldn't have been better. We ended up having 14 ladies at brunch and he was on top of it the entire time. Brittany, the manager, stuck to her word and provided free appetizers. We had shrimp cocktail, crab dip, spinach dip, and ahi tuna. The food was delicious! I ventured off the brunch menu and ordered the Pecan Crusted Trout with a side of mashed potatoes and vegetables. It was massive and so tasty. The seating area that they refer to as a "room" was actually more of a separated space, as we could still see the restaurant and lake. The views of the lake are gorgeous, regardless of it being 30 degrees.

Based on how this experience evolved, I would go back. Brittany gave me her card to contact her for my next reservation. While that is so kind and helpful, staff has to be on the same page so everything gets communicated from the very start. If you cannot be kind to people, you shouldn't work in a restaurant. Moral of the story: BE KIND

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