good food, substandard service. we were disappointed with our dining experience at tybeeislandsocial club, and i cannot in good faith recommend this restaurant. if you are interested in dining at the tybeeislandsocial club, take the time to read reviews before deciding to dine there.
we arrived at the restaurant just before 8:00 pm on tuesday may 28, 2013. our group consisted of six adults, three hungry children, and two babies. our group had over 67 years of restaurant/ food service experience, and we were looking forward to a great meal.
our drinks were ordered and arrived promptly. at that time, we ordered both appetizers and meals. for our appetizers, we requested hummus and chips and salsa. we began to suspect we would have problems when the appetizers took 25 minutes to arrive. we enjoyed both appetizers, but had to reorder chips and pita to keep the hungry kids calm.
our table did not order anything difficult to prepare, just tacos and hamburgers. however, the delay in getting it to us was unacceptably long. we had one false start when a different table’s food was delivered to our table. our food, at least most of it, finally arrived around 9:15 pm. however, one member of our party did not receive their meal until 9:45 pm. it went straight into a “to go” box, and we paid the bill. we were leaving for the parking lot at 10:00 pm.
as people who have made careers of serving food, we can understand having problems and service failures. things do not always go smoothly. the difference between a “great” restaurant and a mediocre to poor one is how a staff recovers when there are problems.
this staff at the tybeeislandsocial club failed to communicate. our server did not keep us apprised of the delay in service or the reason things were slow. we were not sure if she was hiding from us or spending more time at her other tables. in either case, she was absent. even with one meal being served after everyone else was finished, the management of the restaurant did not stop by to apologize for the service. they did not offer a drink, dessert, or discount for the bad service. in fact, we were charged the full amount plus an already included 15% gratuity. this full amount included being charged two dollars for the extra chips and pita bread to keep the kids satisfied as they waited 1:15 for their meals. it also included the price of the meal that ended up in the “to go” box as we were leaving.
in the interest of full disclosure, i did stop to ask the bartender what had happened this evening. he stated that someone had quit today, three large groups were being served at the same time, and the kitchen is slow. however, we counted less than 20 people in the restaurant when we arrived.
in fairness, we enjoyed the hamburgers. the tacos were excellent. we especially enjoyed the pork and the tuna taco. the two salsas with the chips were tasty. however, i could not in good conscience recommend the tybeeislandsocial club due to the pattern on slow service, the staff’s inability to timely acknowledge that there is a problem, and the staff’s inability to compensate or correct the problem in the restaurant at the time of service. if you take the time to read more reviews, you will see a pattern of complaints being addressed online after the fact instead of in the restaurant at the time of the service failure.