How bad can a dining experience be??? This is the first negative restaurant I have ever posted but I just have to share what a terrible experience I had at Grinders.

Our group of 14 waited up to an hour and half for our food. One person in our party got so frustrated after waiting for nearly an hour that he cancelled his order and left. Sure enough, half hour after he left, his order wasn’t cancelled, the food came and the server was surprised.

When I inquired why our food was taking such a long time, the waitress said that I told them our group would be 8 people. Yes, our group grew unexpectedly to a table of 14 but shouldn’t they be prepared to serve food up to their seating capacity? Should it really take more than one hour to make a simple tuna melt sandwich? She also said that because of the Spring Festival holiday, they were left with their two newest cooks.

The menu does advise customers to allow for a 20 minute wait for a grinder sandwich. However, the server did not warn us that it would take more than 20 minutes to make the sandwich and their kitchen staff was not prepared for so many customers. We would’ve changed our orders to something quicker. Some in our group who ordered pasta or hamburger also waited an extraordinarily long time.

What makes me really upset is that Grinders did not offer us anything for waiting up to 1 hour and a half for our food. It would have been a nice gesture for the owner Trevor to have offered free French fries or free round of beers for our patience during our incredibly long wait. Neither the server nor the owner Trevor seemed particularly stressed out nor apologetic. Not once did they acknowledge our patience in waiting (with minimal complaining) or utter an apology. When the check came, I had to ask for a discount and was only given 10% discount which was about 130 RMB.

A restaurant/bar with expat owners catering to the expat community should focus on customer service. Grinders needs vast improvement in customer service and managements. Residents in Shuangjing may be excited for a new addition to their neighborhood but they should look elsewhere. I won’t be returning to Grinders because of its poor service and unapologetic attitude.