i am a native charlottean and have always known about landmark but had never eaten there till a couple months ago. my husband and i were there twice and enjoyed the food and the excellent service. although the wait it long at times, it is worth it just to stand there and salivate over the dessert cooler.
we stopped in around 8pm two weeks ago, saturday, january 2, 2016, for our third visit. it was not packed and we waited about 3-5 minutes to be seated. when our waitress appeared we gave her drink orders then i asked about the "potato boat" listed in the appetizer section of their vast menu. i had asked about it on a previous occasion and was told both the first time and this time that it is like "a warm potato salad". i was interested the first time we were there but chose the chef salad instead. this time i chose to order jalapeno poppers and a potato boat while my husband ordered the beef tips. we were served my tea and my husband's beer and then after waiting about 24 minutes the waitress arrived with plates of food. she put down a plate with fried jalapenos and a plate that i could not tell what the product was and asked the waitress while she was serving my husband's plate what it was because i thought she had brought the wrong order.
my husband and i are pranksters and i thought he was maybe pranking me because the two brown and black lumps appeared to me to be blacked horse shit. i mean, seriously, one was burned to blackness on the top with huge black chunks of material falling off of it onto the plate and the other was very close to the same. they were two very dark brown, oblong masses that appeared to be burned to oblivion. this was not warm, or cold, potato salad or potato salad of any kind.
when the waitress advised these were potato boats i said that this was not warm potato salad and laughingly asked if she was part of the prank my husband was playing. she said no and acted offended when i said i was not interested in eating that, that it was not what she described, and further, it was burnt to oblivion. when i asked her if she would eat that she said "no!". she huffed at me and said she would "take care of it", however, she left the plate of burnt horse shit or burnt shoes, whatever it was, on the table and walked off. she came back in less than 7 minutes and picked the plate up and said "i can take this away and you do not have to eat it but the manager said since you ordered it you have to pay for it". i just stood up and said i was not paying for that because it was nothing as described and it was burnt to oblivion and then walked out, asking the cashier if i could please pay for the food except for the burnt horse shit / burnt shoes. he was clueless and just stood there with his mouth hanging open. my husband was grabbing his jacket and coming out behind me. i got to the vehicle and looked up and saw a short and chubby hispanic or greek looking teenager or young adult chasing him. he got to their entryway and she blocked him from leaving by standing in front of him while he was calling me. he said that she refused to let him out of the building and i advised him to turn around there was a door right behind him and if she touched him to protect himself. my husband is a large man and could have seriously hurt this attacker. i advised him i was about to call 911 because no restaurant can hold him against his will because i would not pay for burnt horse shit / burnt shoes that was supposed to be "warm potato salad". when she realized that he was walking out she ran out behind him yelling and screaming, then behind my vehicle, while i engaged my firearm anticipating being physically attacked, and she collected my tag number and said she was calling the police. she was smart enough not to stand behind my vehicle in an attempt to impede my exit.
this manager made a poor decision to behave this way. not only did i not pay for the burnt horse shit / burnt shoes, i also was not allowed to pay for anything else we ordered so they lost all of that money that night. if that really was warm potato salad it seems to me that it would have been easier and more cost effective for them to take the alleged food back and save a customer. we eat out more times than we eat at home and we really loved landmark. it could have easily been a very regular spot for us. their loss. this is not the kind of restaurant i want to be a parton of. what happened to the customer is always right? i hope the manager enjoyed eating the burnt horse shit / burnt shoes. no wait, i bet she didn't eat it. in fact, i will bet no one ate it, whatever it was.
we waited for police when we arrived home but none showed. i am appalled at the treatment andservicewe received at landmark. not only did they serve me shit and treat me like shit, the manager could have very easily been physically hurt or killed when trying to kidnap my husband and then by chasing us in such a menacing way.