Do you get frustrated when you are ignored by the service staff?

I've dealt with this before, but usually I make it a point to either say something to management or the staff. It's unacceptable when it's not busy, especially if it keeps happening.

As a consumer of many food establishments myself, I totally understand your frustration. The older I get, the less patient I become. 15 minutes of waiting would have been about 10 minutes too long for me. I would've left much sooner. On the flip side, this is right up my alley. I have been earning my "white shirt" (which signifies management) at a Pizza Hut Bistro. I have 28 years in food service (and have owned a restaurant myself). I've been working long hours, learning the paperwork. There are currently similar problems at the store I work at. The servers know that things WILL change when I become a manager. I plan on doing a number of write ups for discipline the first week or two. (you would just fall over if you saw the mass disregard for our guests I have seen in the past 6 months) I know I won't be liked, but oh well. Ignoring guests like you've written about causes unhappy guests, and unhappy guests are not repeat guests. Our guests PAY our paychecks and without them, we have no check!! The position I will hold is technically called shift manager, and although I am not there yet (my shirts/name tag) are ordered and should be in within a week. My fellow employees started treating me as management quite a while back. I receive phone calls from them even on my days off, with them reporting problems. Go figure! What's really ironic is that a few weeks before I applied for the job (I didn't know at the time I would wind up applying there), my husband and one of our sons ate at the store I work at. The server was TWO tables away and didn't even acknowledge that we were sitting in his section. After 10 minutes of not even a greeting from him, I waltzed my little fanny up to the counter and inquired as to when our server would be to our table. I was, of course, tactful and calm. The manager (my current boss) came over to the table and apologized for the oversight (oversight my foot). I made eye contact with the server - he knew we were there. There were only 2 other tables that were occupied, so there was no excuse for the rotten service. Like you said, there weren't busy... Anyway, I just had to put in my 2 cents worth. Hugs!

LOL, my hubby won't tolerate bad service like that. He would rather just walk out and go somewhere else if they can't serve their customers instead of chatting. Since you are limited on where you can go, I would suggest making a call to the business and ask for the manager. Explain what your experiences have been so far and then ask the manager if this is the way they typically run their business. If the manager wasn't aware of the situation, maybe he can make some changes so your next visit is better. Unfortunately, if the employment pool is also limited, the results may not always be as good as you'd expect, but it's worth checking into. :)

You have many things you can do. You can right a complaint on their book of complaints (that they can't ignore at all), you can warn them or you can start going somewhere else. I would give them a warn first, talk with the waitress and ask for an explanation. If they did it again and again I would right a complaint (there are obliged to have a book of complaints, at least where I live they are). Restaurants know that without clients they can't survive and if they don't want to keep their clients, it's their problem. I know it's easier for you to go there because it's near but it's worth giving a try to another restaurant, maybe you won't get out to there bored and angry. I really don't feel sorry for the restaurant and it seems they don't have any problem in loosing a customer, otherwise they would mend their behaviour.