re: My Red Zepellin experience last night

Oh shite. Im.feeling Roly Poly vibes in here

Same thing has happened to us at Pluckers on Bluebonnet every single time we go. If you go anytime after 8:20 there's a 99% chance they're turning you away with a piss-poor attitude while 6 "workers" huddle around the desk.

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If you go anytime after 8:20 there's a 99% chance they're turning you away with a piss-poor attitude while 6 "workers" huddle around the desk.

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I highly doubt this is accurate.

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if they always close at that same time, what’s the issue?

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But they don't. They close at 9:00PM and OP walked onto the patio at 8:25PM.

As someone who worked in a restaurant that also closed at 9pm, which is an outlier as most places close at 10pm, you typically stick around a few minutes past closing for people that arrived 35 minutes before posted closing. You certainly do not turn them away when they arrived 35 minutes before that.

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I highly doubt this is accurate.

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They have signs up saying they won't seat anyone after 8:30, and they go by their imaginary clock lol

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You certainly do not turn them away when they arrived 35 minutes before that.

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Ehhhh. 8:25/8:30. If they normally stop seating at 8:30, then 8:25 is close enough to stop seating if the place is just about cleared out.

Customers need to do better with understanding the situations when it comes to closing times. You of all people should know since you’ve worked it before. Any respectful service industry or former service industry worker that goes into a place five minutes before last seating is going to gauge the restaurant and see how crowded it is and probably ask what the kitchen looks like at that time. Not just sit down five minutes before and just expect to be seated.

OP should have made himself aware of closing time (9) and went in and asked if it was still fine for them to dine in. OP didn’t know closing was 9 and therefore didn’t know last seating was 8:30 but just so happened to know the exact time to the minute that they sat down lol

OP also pushed back TWICE when two different employees made it apparent that they didn’t want to start another table. Read the room instead of trying to be that guy (“wellllll technically I was here at 8:25”)

If handled differently, OP probably could have gotten a pizza to go, hell they may have even let him dine in, but he was unaware of their closing time and also pushy with the two girls.

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How stupid are people to not realize the money they are losing, because they are lazy?

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The place has been around for a while. And they close at 9 every day of the week. Do you think the owner would extend hours if he would make a ton more money?

Maybe he could make a little bit more by extending the hours. Maybe he doesn’t care and would rather allow his workers to leave an hour or two earlier than if they were working somewhere else. Or maybe 9 is the perfect time for him to maximize his profits.

But sure, props to you for telling someone how to more successfully run their business lol

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Is this posted somewhere or something? I've never heard of Red Zep not seating after 8:30, and while it would be fine if that was their posted policy, it's not on their website.

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Not sure. Several people in the thread have stated it. I assumed it was posted somewhere. I think someone said it’s posted at the restaurant.

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How would OP know that is "what they normally do"?

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He wouldn’t know what they “normally do” but he could have and should have known the 9pm closing time which is posted.

I think it’s any diner’s responsibility to at least be aware of opening/ closing times when going to a restaurant they have never been before, especially after 8pm. Or if you’ve been there before, just to check and see if anything has changed.

Customers always talk about “common courtesy this, common courtesy that” from restaurant workers; guests should also have some common courtesy going the other way. This is a very easy way to do that. It would have taken 30 seconds for OP to find out that they closed at 9 and have a more respectful and also time sensitive approach instead of just lazily sitting down “at 8:25” without being the least bit proactive.

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From what I recall, Coater doesn't even live in this state. Even if he was a local, how or why would he know what a restaurant "usually does" if it isn't posted?

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Closing times are posted.

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If a place closes at 9, why should he have a more respectful and time sensitive approach when sitting down over half an hour before closing?

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Because many many places don’t take new tables within a certain time window of closing.

And also to not be an a-hole customer.

You’re def the type to walk-in somewhere at 9:45 that closes at 10 and not see the problem.