Originally Posted By cheesybaby Went to Flo's V-8 Cafe for dinner Saturday night (7/21) and it was a disaster. I have been there for breakfast and then lunch on 2 previous dates in June, but I had never seen anything like this. I'm wondering if this is common for dinner - I sure hope not. Entered the restaurant at about 8PM, immediately after the great Neon Moment. The queue area in the immediate entry was not filled or crowded - we only waited a party or two before being able to walk up to a register and order. This all went smoothly. But then... After ordering we moved up to the service area to collect our food. There were two parties ahead of us there. And then everything just stopped. From that point it took over 30 minutes to get our food. And it wasn't just us - all lines were like this. Through the window into the kitchen you could see frantic activity and food getting put on plates, but the flow out toward the service areas was agonizingly slow. Guests were not happy. Managers were scurrying about, giving the loudest complainers free pies. I even saw a manager give one party one of those front-of-line passes you get when you get walked off of a broken-down ride. I turned around to look at the entrance, and now the entire entry area was filled with queued guests. The registers were at a complete standstill because there was no room for people to move forward from the queue area to place an order. Just gridlock. Looks like they have a serious capacity mismatch between order-taking and food prep. This itself is not unusual - there is usually a short backup after ordering at many places in the park (Hungry Bear comes to mind), but more than 30 minutes?! Giving out front of line passes?! I'd never seen anything like this. This was true at every register. And it was not due to the Neon Moment timing - the restaurant was not crowded when we entered. Again, this was my 3rd meal in 6 weeks at Flo's and every other time has been no problem. Anyone else seen this? Hopefully it was a fluke.
Originally Posted By tashajilek Wow, what a crazy experience. When i vist DL this year there is probably little to no chance that i will be dining in Carsland.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 I would assume it was a fluke if this was the first time you saw it, and it was so bad they were giving out ride passes. They couldn't possibly do that every day, or word would be out.
Originally Posted By gurgitoy2 I wonder if something went wrong in the kitchen? Maybe they were in a panic back there for a reason? Hopefully it was just a fluke. Possible down CM's, or something broke, or...any number of things. I would imagine Disney would have planned for big crowds and quick turnaround in there from the start.
Originally Posted By mawnck >>I wonder if something went wrong in the kitchen?<< This. If there was really a massive capacity fail on the part of the designers of the facility, then I'm sure our buddy Al will be all over it in due course. But I suspect a one-time major operational snafu, if it was as bad as you say.
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA Hey -- you try to make burgers when you have tires for hands. It's not easy!
Originally Posted By FerretAfros While I'm often surprised at how slow the "quick service" locations at DLR can be, I've never had to wait that long after ordering. Perhaps it's because the park really wasn't as crowded in the past, but the especially slow places in my mind (Tomorrowland Terrace, Hungry Bear, Bengal BBQ) tend to be in DL (though I've had some trying experiences at Taste Pilots). Since we haven't heard of this from anybody else, I would guess that your experience at Flo's was a fluke. The chaotic managers make me think that it was unusual for them, since they would have been much more calm if it happened with some frequency.
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA maybe their computers glitched out and they lost all the orders. ???
Originally Posted By DlandDug >>Hey -- you try to make burgers when you have tires for hands...<< Ahem. They do not serve hamburgers at Flo's. It's a classic roadside diner, not a burger joint!
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA LOL! Sorry DlandDug -- I should get better info before I shoot off my one liners!
Originally Posted By DlandDug It's a common mistake. In fact, a friend told me they were there when a woman got positively irate that there weren't hamburgers on the menu. She claimed it was clearly a diner, and therefore should. Serve. BURGERS! (Guess she didn't want to walk over to Taste Pilots...!)
Originally Posted By x Pirate_Princess x Their turkey sandwiches (kids meals) and "Thanksgiving Dinner" (as I call it) is positively delicious!
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA Also, there aren't really cars in the back making the food. So, I messed up that part of the joke too.
Originally Posted By cheesybaby Side note - it is interesting (or not) that the only 2 places in DCA where you can buy a burger are Taste Pilot's Grill and Carthay Circle Theater. Discuss.
Originally Posted By tashajilek ^^ Im happy about that. I am really sick of burgers being everywhere, it really is nice to have other options.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>(Guess she didn't want to walk over to Taste Pilots...!)<< They don't serve burgers there, either.
Originally Posted By mawnck >>I've eaten a burger at Taste Pilots. Was it a fake!?<< Don't ask too many questions about theme park food. ;-)
