L. Woods Pine Tap & Lodge

10/15/09

Worst Experience Ever

by AndrewsReviewChicago at Citysearch

So I was meeting my friend for lunch at 1 pm on Monday, October 12, 2009. We determined that L Woods was a good place to meet since I was Downtown and she was in the Northern Suburbs. I had been to L Woods a number of years ago, but not recently. When we showed up we were seated toward the back of the restaurant, which was quite full at 1 pm when we arrived. We both looked at the menu and after about 5 minutes a waitress came over to take our order. The waitress that came over was obviously sick with the flu. She had no voice and looked ill. She apologized for her condition. I am not sure why any restaurant would allow or want a sick waitress serving patrons. I should have got up and left at that point, but instead we dealt with it. Both my friend and I asked questions about the menu. I was interested in the Monday special of turkey and stuffing--I asked what came with it other than turkey and stuffing. The waitress said nothing (turns out it also comes with carrots). My friend told the waitress she was a vegetarian. The waitress recommended the vegi burger, which my friend ordered. (This is not a particularly vegitarian friendly restaurant--few menu items and animal heads hug all around the restaurant.) We also ordered the macaroni appetizer and the lemonade flight. Our waitress then disappeared--we did not see her for 30 minutes. We noticed that it looked like all the other tables were getting fresh bread--we got nothing and had no one to ask for it. Finally, the waitress shows up with the food. She has our macaroni appetizer and food at the same time. She then puts in front of me a patty melt and gives my friend the "so called vegi burger". I say, excuse me, I ordered the turkey special. She looks confused and says she will get me the turkey. I also tell her that I would have expected the appetizer to come up before the entrees. She rudely says that the macaroni was a side. I ask her to please bring a menu over. She brings a menu over and I show her that it is an appetizer. She says nothing--not even an apology. My friend bites into her vegi burger and discovers it is actually a turkey burger. I can tell you that vegetarians are not happy when they eat meat. She became very sick and upset. We wait for our waitress to come back. 10 minutes later she appears. She has my turkey and also a vegi burger. She says she realized that she brought the wrong burger out. You would have thought she would have immediately come and taken the food back from my friend. My turkey dinner was generally good--it did take 40 minutes to get. My friend was so sick from eating turkey that she could not eat her vegi burger. (The frozen style fries with the vegi burger tasted like they had been sitting out for hours.) She ended up asking to get the vegi burger to go. Now you would expect that a waitress might be apologetic for this screw up--we get no apology or sorry. No discount, nothing. L Woods has some real service issues. We paid the bill and left. We will never go back. I really hope the management takes some corrective action. This all happened at lunch on Monday, October 12, 2009. Be careful at this place. And if your waitress is sick--ask for another waitress. Both my friend and I feel the flu coming on.

• Pros: Food was ok. Prices were reasonable.
• Cons: Service was terrible. Service staff was rude.

09/06/08

They get to know their regular customers!

by JimPer at Citysearch

As very frequent diners, we have always been made to feel welcome & at home at L' Woods & are always catered to at lunch and dinner, sometimes eating both meals there in one day! Their BBQ Planked Salmon & Pounded Chicken al a Sima are just out of this world. Their burgers, ribs & steaks are superb - right up there with the best. I also like most of their fish dishes, but not the cheddar crusted whitefish which I thought was tasteless and left a bad after taste. Far too many whitefish dishes are on the regular menu. They have great specials that return periodically & we look forward to them. One of them is hot & crunchy tilapia that is mouth watering & should be on the menu everyday to replace 1 of the whitefish dishes. L' Woods offers a large selection of flatbreads that are really tasty! I recommend the BBQ chicken flatbread, but ask them to add goat cheese. It's a real knock out! Their signature tomato bisque soup is fabulous - order the bowl! Their chopped salad is absolutely the best anywhere! Their deserts are to die for! 2 require advance ordering when you sit down - the struddle & a chocolate cake - but they are worth it & are made fresh just for you & serve more than 2 people! Their regular chocolate layer cake & key lime pie are always available & are delicious! Unless you like noise & bustle while eating, I would avoid sitting in the front sports bar area. If you have trouble parking when it's busy, park on Lincoln Avenue! Most people don't know you can do that & often you can get a space right in front! Most of the wait staff is accurate & attentive, though we have had a few who seem to always make mistakes & we try to avoid them. I don't like that someone other than your server brings out the food & has to ask who had what & sometimes forgets ordered odds & ends. Then it usually takes a while for your server to return & check on you, which means you will have to wait for any forgotten items. Make reservations for both lunch and dinner when you can.

• Pros: Ambience, Food, Hospitality
• Cons: The wait when busy, infrequently the servers can be slow

06/25/08

Hmmm...

by CR25 at Citysearch

This was a totally disapointing experience. Usually in the past, "Lettuce Entertain You" places have been an awesome, totally wonderful experience. Very much on-the-ball dining. We could not even believe that this establishment was even a part of this usually great company, or maybe just an off night for the place?? Our server was great, but management, host's, bathrooms, and overall sense of appeal was lacking severely. The manager kept talking really really loud to the hosts about very personal things. So loud that out table could hear the entire conversation thoughout the evening. Completely distracting, do not want to hear the nitty gritty details of the hosts and mangers lives while eating out. Along with constant text messaging at the front desk and ignoring customers as they walked by to leave. There was a certain point when all three (including the manager) were just sitting at a table near us and kept playing with their phones and talking really loud. The bathrooms were disgusting as well. With tp all over the floors.

With all that said, the food was really good.

It was just sad to see such poor restaurant management quality. Seems like it could be a really nice and fun place. If they just kept their customers in mind. And try to keep things in perspective when being in management, or hosting.