Gravy

10/10/09

To Whomever waited on Debbie

by shirleysobrano

Dear Server,

I'm so sorry you had to wait on Debbie of "Debbie Party of 4" and were stiffed. Some people just don't understand that while others are paid in full-host, cooks, etc., servers do not make a regular hourly wage. I'm sorry this woman does not understand that because of circumstances beyond your control, you lost money waiting on them and are probably having a hard time getting rent together. While she had a legitimately long wait at your restaurant, she is taking the entire experience out on YOU, while others who contributed to the negative experience do not suffer. Good job sticking up for yourself.

10/05/09

Food Excellent + Service Non-Existent = GRAVY!

by BrssPlayr

"Debbie-Party of Four "

Sunday, October 4, 2009 - we arrive at Gravy and put our name on the list @ approx. 1:14pm - party of 4.

Having been to Gravy before, I was fully expecting a wait. I'm also very familiar with the policy - you will only be seated if/when all of your party is present. This is where my displeasure began, a party of 4 ahead of us was allowed to be seated with only 2 of the party in attendance. About 15-20 minutes after they were seated (the other 2 still had yet to join them) we said something to the young man working the door. His reply was less than customer-service oriented, in my humble opinion. Then a party of 8 that arrived after we did was seated ahead of us, still we did not complain. Maybe it was because they had children with them, who knows. There was a 9 year old in our party, but who knows...

Now, we finally get seated (about 2:10) and after about 10 minutes, we order our food. At 2:50pm we ask the waitress about our order, she tells us that our food is up next. Now we watch 3 additional orders come out of the kitchen, but not to our table, after about 20 more minutes our food arrives.

The food was great, the beverages were great, (had the service been as snappy and apparent as the bad attitudes and excuses, there would be no need for me to feel compelled to write this review) the service was nonexistent in our opinions ,so we leave the money for the meal on the table, with no tip.

We are standing outside discussing what is happening the rest of the day, when our waitress comes out the door and asks "was the service bad?" We reply not really and are trying to explain the difficulties we had, in our opinions, she starts counting the money (the bills only, not the coin that was also a part of it) we left, which is short a dollar and some change. I then say, there was some change also, did you get the change? She is pissed and storms off. We are now standing outside and patrons of the restaurant, and passersby are staring with their mouths open. They ask us what happened. We reply "we didn't leave a tip." Now this other guy comes storming out the door (the cook to the rescue") and lays in to us, saying that it was not her fault about the door guy seating people ahead of us, and the 20 min. wait for food after she told us our order was coming up next... he then told us "Do Not Come Back!"

So we are still standing outside, somewhat surprised and shocked. I now go back inside because I want to ensure that we paid for the food we received. I asked another waitress if our bill was fully paid, she said yes, but by us not tipping the waitress, it cost her about $8 dollars to wait on us because of the 10% in taxes that would come out of her pay. I then explained our total experience, and again this waitress said that is was not her (our waitress) fault. I tried to explained that all of these things were a part of the service. So I'm guessing that service is not a part of the deal here.

All of the things we experienced were the reason we did not feel compelled to leave a tip. I'm going to pay you a premium to treat me bad? Not today!!!

So rest assured Mr. Cook on the afternoon of October 4, 2009, I, nor any member of my party, will grace your establishment again. Rest assured, that every person I know will hear this story and I promise to post on all Portland area food rating sites.

I'm hoping that this is/was not a typical day at Gravy. The food is good, but not worth being bullied over... Your service SUCKED BIG TIME on this day.

- Debbie of "Debbie Party of Four!"

• Pros: Excellent Food
• Cons: Service Non-Existent on this Day!

10/02/09

Yum!

by Happy123

Sorry you had a bad experience LizBelle. This was my first time going to Gravy but I had been warned the wait on a Sunday morning could be long. We put our name in, walked up the street and shopped a bit and came back just in time to hear it called. The service was super friendly. They kept the coffee coming. Cheap! Yummy!

• Pros: Food, ambiance, service
• Cons: Be prepared to wait

08/20/09

Distain is the default attitude here... 3 times, 3 failures.

by LizBelle1080

I guess if you are into waiting for 2 hours to get a table on the weekend this is your place. The real treat comes once you are seated, and your server ignores you for another 20 minutes. Then if you are really lucky they will bring you tea, without a tea bag, or a seive, and tell you that is how it is supposed to be served, while another server looks on in horror. By the time your food arrives it is cold, and you would have to walk yourself back to the kitchen micorwave to get it heated up, because you know they aren't interested in helping in anyway. Luckily they are prompt when it comes to the bill.

• Pros: Try another restaurant like Muddy's or Francis's.
• Cons: 2 hour wait for bad service, worse food

05/26/09

Great job Jessica!

by RossBryan

We had breakfast today at Gravy and it was great.

But the best part was our witress - Jessica.

She was totally fantastic - fun, friendly, and attentive.

We have been going to gravy for a long time and she is the best waitress we have ever had. Keep it up!

03/01/09

wonderful breakfast!

by foodstalker

We ate here about a week ago. It was not at all crowded and we got seated immediately. Our waitress was terrific and the atmosphere is warm and homey. I love the vintage glasswear they use to decorate the restaurant. The omelettes are monstrous and filled with loads of whatever you want on the inside. The B & G is good but a little bland, I like mine with more sausage flavor. But the biscuits are fluffy and huge and well smothered with the gravy....no skimping here! I had the oatmeal brulee with berries. It was also a very large portion, the oats cooked perfectly, not at all mushy and the caramelized sugar on top was such a treat...yummy! The french toast is made with challah giving it a nice texture and sweeter taste. Overall, a great experience and reasonably priced.

• Pros: Great atmosphere. Excellent food. Good prices.
• Cons: Gravy a little bland

01/19/09

terrible service

by foodeating

waited for an hour after being told it would be about 25 min. went to check how far down the list we were and noticed my name was crossed off and five people had been seated since. waited another 15 min for the server/hostess to show up and she insisted she had called us several times (though we were sitting in the lobby the whole time - perhaps she had called us outside as she had been doing earlier?). when we informed her we had been sitting in the lobby the whole time and must not have heard her, she rudely snapped "I don't want to argue with you." my friend who also serves at a very busy breakfast restaurant assured her the we did not want to argue either and that we would not be needing the table after all. spoke to a friend later that morning and he said the previous week he had been skipped over also with no apology and walked out without eating too!! seems the same had happened to the guy listed below us as he pointed out to her as we were leaving that he was still waiting. wow, will NEVER go here again.

12/30/08

no gravy unless you put up a fight

by petmyhippie

At a time this was my favorite morning restaurant I use to recommend to everyone until today. I would order the corn beef and hash and instead of a side of pancakes that it comes with, swap it for a biscuit and gravy. Both items are the same price so this would seem like a simple swap and was in fact initially introduced to me by a friendly server here. However this superb breakfast was ruined today by a server, her bad energy and her inability to accept a simple sub on the menu. She refused to make any substitutions and put up a fight . When she finally agreed to accommodate this simple request my morning had been ruined by her attitude. Whose heard of a place that calls themselves gravy and then makes it so difficult to order what it. i use to dream about this breakfast combo and thanked the original server who suggested it to me, but found my service today totally distasteful.

11/09/08

Top notch breakfast and THE BEST BLOODY MARY YOU'VE EVER HAD

by Muchell

I practically live at this place. It rules. Everything on the menu is awesome. My favorite are the tofu scrambles.The portions are so big that it is best to split a plate,which is fantastic because two people can eat for under ten bucks.Go hungry,and go hungover. They make a bloody mary so good that you may have to have 2.

• Pros: Bloody marys, hearty portions,Awesome food
• Cons: long waits,average service

10/11/08

Great place for breakfast!

by mdishner

My wife and I enjoy going out to breakfast on Friday mornings, so we've been to quite a few places around Portland. Gravy was a terrific little place, good service, clean tables and large portions. I tried one of the oatmeal brulees - apple, raisin and cinnamon. It was VERY sweet, but also very good (the kind of oatmeal a kid would eat). Not mushy. And they sprinkle raw sugar on the top and fire it up so there's a sugar crust - very cool! My wife did a traditional bacon, eggs, hash browns. All good, but we both thought the hash browns tasted a bit sweet?!? We also split one biscuit with gravy - it filled a whole plate. The gravy was good, but had an ingredient I couldn't place. All in all, we're going back!

• Pros: Good food, big portions, friendly service
• Cons: Pretty cold under the ceiling fans. Brr? Dress warm!