Port Gamble General Store and Cafe

Reviews 3

VE

Vernon Germano

Sad, really sad how fast this place has gone downhill. I have been going here quite often over the last year. Its pretty pricy for what you get but the food has been generally good and the atmosphere is nice. Unfortunately the last three times have turned me off this place completely. I came in today knowing there would be a wait, not unusual for this place on the weekend. What was unusual was that while the bar area was nearly empty we were told we couldnt sit in there because they didnt have enough staff to serve us despite there being 3 or 4 servers milling about. That was fine with us, were told to return in 20 minutes. Went next door to the general store and purchased a couple of coffees, no problem. Returned and were seated in the bar... strange how we couldnt sit in there 20 minutes earlier but ok, whatever. Server approached after 10 or so minutes to see if we wanted coffee, still working on ours from next door we declined. Waitress was pleasant and all seemed good. Ordered about 5 minutes later, oatmeal, 2 eggs and sausage, bacon and a salad. About as simple an order as one could place at a restaurant really. Shouldnt take but 10 minutes to prepare our food, the place had thinned out and several tables were empty or just had seated people who came in after us. Well that was the last we saw our waitress. Well we did see her but she was busy with other tables or talking at the bar to other employees, she never once returned to our table. After AN HOUR and having watched many people come in order eat and receive their checks we were still sitting there, of course I tried eye contact, yeah the invisibility shield must have enveloped our table. The lack of attention from the wait staff was almost as bad as the feeling when looking at our empty coffee cups. I figured this oatmeal must have to be harvested. Finally i approached the bar and inquired as to how much longer one could expect to wait as we needed to go. I never expected the flurry of ass covering, blame throwing and preverication that followed. First the hostess approaches to explain that she told us it would be 45-60 minutes for food from the time we ordered... My girlfriend and I explained that perhaps she told that to others but we wouldnt have waited for 60 minutes for oatmeal if it had youth serum in it. I asked to speak to the manager, with respect to the young lady that represents this business she was no manager. I explained how i had ordered oatmeal and not one of the more complicated items on the menu. She apologized and attempted to explain how it could possibly take an hour for what could have been prepared at home in 10 minutes. As she was explaining how she was understaffed (isnt that why you have a manager, to prevent that from occuring... ), our food arrived magically and literally 3 minutes after I drew attention to our wait. Perhaps I dont understand the complexities of the professional oatmeal preparation team at this place but to have it magically appear while I was midsentence with the "manager" was astounding. Of course it was cold... honestly how in the heck do you take an hour to prepare oatmeal and have it brought cold to the table... not to mention the burned... not over cocked mind you... burned bacon... how did you bring cold oatmeal, burned bacon and cold eggs to your customer after you already, though neglect, treated them like garbage for the last HOUR. Walked out, never done that before, WALKED OUT. Will spend the next few months telling anybody who will listen to NEVER SET FOOT IN THIS PLACE!!!! Zero Stars.

PA

Patrick Quinn

O.K. So I was visiting some good friends who live on the Hood Canal. They dont have TV and it was the World Cup Soccer Final this last Sunday. We called the General Store & Cafe to see if it was on. "Sure is - come on down." I had breakfast there on a previous visit and it was excellent. Anyway, we get there, had another excellent breakfast, watched the game, but there was no sound. Anyway, we moved to the bar area to watch as we had some loud people next to us. There was a guy sitting at the bar counter also watching the game. Pretty soon a waitress came out from the kitchen area and plonked down a coffee urn right in front of this guys face, blocking his view of the TV. He politely asked the Bar Mistress if she could please move the urn to a different spot. "Sorry, but the coffee takes preference over sports." He couldnt believe what he was hearing, and neither could we. I walked up to the bar and politely said. "Excuse me miss, I cant believe what we have just heard. This is the World Cup Soccer Final that only happens once every four years."Her response was, "If you want to talk to me like that, Ill just go ahead and turn it off." Yeah, we backed off because we wanted to watch the rest of the game. Afterwards, I went to the owners daughter[who happened to serve us breakfast] and asked to have a word with her. She asked what it was about, I told her I was concerned with her Bar Mistresss attitude.She must have been aware of the situation as her response to me was "Look, we are trying to run a business here. We are not interested in sports." So I am the customer, just dropped $100.00 on breakfast, and she is telling me "They are trying to run a business." AND YOUR CUSTOMERS ARE ..WHAT!! I personally will never set foot in there again, neither will my friends, even though it was one of their favorite places, and neither will the the guy sitting at the bar, who also happened to have breakfast and drinks with his wife, two kids and sister. He visits his parents there on a regular basis, and they also like going there. Yes, the food is great, but with that kind of attitude, it gave all of us indigestion.

TH

The Jacque Box

Hello, We travled from Seattle to your establishment and were quite excited about having brunch. Our total bill was around fifty dollars not including tip. The service in the beginning was great. However, when the food arrived it was wrong. I had order the "Standard", two eggs over medium, no toast, not potatoes, bacon , sausage and fruit. When the food runner dropped the food off I advised him that it wasnt what I had ordered. The plate he brought came with potatoes, eggs, fruit and sausage. I advised him that I requested no potatoes and asked for bacon instead. He came back 3 minutes later with the potatoes removed from the plate. Actually, it look like he had scrapped them off the plate because there was a clear oil slick from where they were previously. I advised him that this is still not correct there is no bacon. When I asked him about the bacon he acted like I was overreacting because another mistake had been made on my order. He brought the bacon and apologized. We continued to eat and realized that your kitchen cant even take the time to peel their fruit? Are you kidding me? You will charge 4.75 for a cup of fruit or 8.00 for a bowl and will not make your kitchen peel it.? I have to admit all of this could have been forgiven if I had not seen the following. I witnessed one of your wait staff dump the remains of a plate into a trash been in the kitchen and then dig through it to pull out an item that needed to be placed in recycling. Then the server proceeded to another station where they sliced a piece of cake and put it in a to go container. The server never used a glove, tongs or washed their hands from the previous garbage task. That is DIGUSTING not mention a HUGE health code violation!!. I couldnt finish my meal. We paid the bill and left.