Wheatfields Bistro & Wine Bar

Reviews 3

CH

Chazz Trott

Im quite surprised and saddened that I must write this review. This evening my mother and I dined at your Clifton Park location and were quite thoroughly disappointed by the service we received. Before any further remark, I would like to point out that the hostess Ashley conducted herself with exemplary poise, and she should be commended for her service and charm. Our meal began very normally, our waitress Christina had introduced herself and took our order, explaining that bread would be brought out shortly after. Our salads arrived, and shortly thereafter bread, butter and olive oil had been brought out by a young man as well. When I asked the gentleman if he could bring some crack pepper, he looked slightly puzzled by my request and proceeded to head to the kitchen. A few moments later he brought out a small saucer with a smattering of shaker pepper on it. It was a trivial matter, and to his compliment knowing that it obviously was not what I had asked for he tried his best and brought out a whole shaker of pepper, setting it down next to the one already on the table with his apologies. Approximately twenty minutes later, our meals were brought out. My mothers was a pasta dish, meant to be served over a cream sauce, mine was a steak medium well with a substitution of mashed potatoes over the mushroom risotto. Where my steak was adequately cooked, and otherwise quite under seasoned, my mothers plate was barely over room temperature and practically swimming in oil instead of the cream sauce. We did try to make the best of it, however my mother found it inedible and sent it back asking instead for simply a cup of coffee. Our waitress expressed little empathy over the situation, however did oblige and brought out the requested coffee, in a dirty mug. Again, this may not directly be her fault but seems to be a concerted lack of effort by the staff. We asked for a fresh cup, of which we had the pleasured vantage point of watching her pour out the coffee, disdainfully gesture to other wait staff over the cup, clean the cup herself and bring it back to us with the explanation "I checked it myself three times." This was quite disappointing as well as we watched that this was not the case. Ashley did come over to offering to replace the meal, express her apologies and sincerely attempt to make better of the situation. To which my mother did order a plate of cheese ravioli in sauce. However, portions of the plate were also cold, as it was quite evident that it had been rushed out to us. After a bit of time, Christina attempted to make a mens with offering a free desert, but at this point our appetites were quite gone for anything else that Wheatfields would have brought to the table. We paid, we left and we will not be back to this location again. It would be my sincerest wish that your wait staff is trained better in interacting with their customers. Where your hostess Ashley portrayed a genuine desire to make us feel welcome and comfortable at your restaurant, Christina and the other wait staff lacked this quality at times awkwardly going through the motions with little more regard than simply "doing their job." With the exceptions mentioned above, it would strike me that the staff here need a lesson in etiquette, empathy and simple terminology to raise the level of their performance with the expectations set by the Wheatfields brand. 17DEC2014 Update: Thanks to a friendly email from the General Manager I will be giving this location a 2nd chance in the new year.

I

I Eat Saratoga

First, the reason that I frequent this restaurant is because I think the food is great- so kudos to the kitchen staff. However, the reason that it only gets 3 stars (and the "its okay" rating) is because the service is on average, bad. If you do visit this restaurant, the service you will receive is a coin toss. It will either be just okay, or really awful. Ive been to this location 20+ times, and if youre getting okay service its a great night. However, there are several servers that need retraining on how to be efficient and/or what good service means. I have been seated, waited 5 minutes for a greeting (hey- Ill be right back) waited 10 more minutes for them to take a drink order, and 10 more minutes to receive it and place the food order. Really? Twenty five minutes to place a food order? So annoying. Servers disappear after food is brought to the table (even if the entire order is not out yet) and Ive waited 15 minutes after most of the order has been brought out to tell them that were still missing items at the table. Again, so annoying, but good food. If you try to circumvent the service by ordering takeout, good luck! Ive waited inside 30 minutes past the estimated time quoted for pick up, only to be told every 5 minutes that the host will check on it, and that itll be ready "real soon." Tonight I tried ordering 45 minutes in advance of my pick up time on my way home from work. It can best be described as a clusterfuck. I was put on hold for 5 minutes, someone picked up and put me on hold for another 5 minutes, and then a different person actually took the order. Fifteen minutes after placing the order someone else called me back to "confirm" the order and told me it would be a 45 minute wait from that point. What the hell Wheatfields? Anyway, they have good food, but the service is aggravating most of the time.

BE

Bev B

Let me begin by saying I received gift cards/trade cards ($50) during the holidays for Wheatfields. Ive heard good things about the food so when I looked up their menu online, I was pleasantly surprised they had decent kid options. We decided to order take out dinner because we have small children and didnt want to disturb other guests. My husband ordered the lasagna classico and I ordered the eggplant cipriani napoleon and for the children, baked mac and cheese and fries. My kids LOVE mac and cheese and would eat fries every day if I allowed---needless to say, the fries were barely touched because they were hard and cold and after the first bite of the mac and cheese they left that too. Im a vegetarian so I had limited options and as I stated ended up with the appetizer (eggplant napoleon). That too was a disappointment and after a couple of bites I decided to leave mine too. The cheese was fresh (sorta like salmon thats fishy) and the after taste was less than desirable. One good thing was the price was decent because we were feeding a family of four and spent approx. $47.00. Whats disappointing about that you ask? Well, the young woman who took my order never mentioned that they had a "family to go" option (which had more variety) and would feed 4-6 people for about the same $$. Why mention? Because it would mean the difference between good customer service and excellent service as she was well aware I was ordering take out for a family to go (with kids!). Once again, Im not sure why the food was cold (I only live a few minutes away) and arrived only a few minutes after she stated the order would be ready. Im disappointed but wouldve been highly upset if I had spent my own money. Ill chalk this up to an off night but Id be hard-pressed to go there again.