OcalaMom.com

ok....So here comes another venting session from me.

We were in town running errands today and decided to eat out for lunch. DH and I used to eat at HOPS all of the time when I was in college in Orlando.

I was craving their baked potato soup and yummy house salad w/ the crunchy pic-nics on top, so we decided to go there.

Well, big mistake. We walked in and there was dirt and grass on the floor where you wait to be seated....as we were walking to our table, we passed by a table in which DH saw a roach crawling across. We should've gotten the clue to leave then. We didn't see a waiter for like 10 min. after we were seated (and there was hardly anyone else there). She didn't bring out of crecent roll things, we had to remind her. They were out of 3 of the items that go on the house salad and the service was sooooo slow.

We haven't EVER done this before; but we asked to speak to the manager (who was like 18 yrs. old) and told him about our experience. We told him that we would pay for our drinks, but weren't interested in staying for the meal. He said "I wish there was something I could say to make it better". Ummm, how 'bout "I'm sorry". I am sooo disappointed that HOPS has gone so down hill

So...we left and headed to Logan's Steak House and had the OPPOSITE experience. DH said that the place seemed cleaner even w/ peanut shells all over the floor. The service was awesome. The kids food came out early and the manager stopped to see how everything was. The food was great (got my baked potato soup...YUM!)

I believe that is our new favorite place to dine. Oh and BTW...the 4 of us each had our own meal for under 30$!!!! And...kids meals are only 2.99 on Mon. and Tues.!!! They also have like 10 items on a list for Mon. and Tues. that are 2 for 14.99$. Peanuts on the table, yummy, warm yeast rolls while you wait!!! We were stuffed and happy when we left!

We will definatly be returning there! I told the manager we had such a great experience I would post something on here. It really is worth the trip

Yes, HOPS is terrible. I used to love that place but now I haven't been there in ages. Logan's is nice, despise Applebee's. I won't go there again after waiting 45 minutes on my lunch hour for soup and salad. This happened not once - but TWO DIFFERENT TIMES! It is hard to find a restaurant with good service anymore.

We used to love Applebees, too. But the last time we were there, the food wasn't that great! Will def. choose Logan's right next door from now on!

We have never had a bad experience w/ Logan's. They are great and very friendly. Food is delicious and inexpensive. I think their steak is better than even Outback. We actually had to go last night from Logan's.
Applebee's I have always disliked. I think their food just doesn't taste good and I have a personal boycott going on after what happened last year w/ the breastfeeding/blanket issue.
Hops. So sad. I didn't realize they had gone so downhill.
We always went there in college, too, in Gainesville. The rolls and salad were the best. Last time we went, though, here we never got our rolls (well, eventually we did. We had to keep asking.) That's gross it was so dirty.
Our neighbors recommended a Chinese restaurant once and we went to get food to go and I saw a rat run across by the door and I think I threw up a little in my mouth. We went elsewhere that night.
I actually think, at least this was my first impression when we moved here, that we were treated better at restaurants here b/c they were used to middle-aged and older residents vs. Gainesville where we were just more college kids and they didn't care.

What happened w/ the breastfeeding/blanket? Never heard about that.

Back in Sept. a woman in KY was nursing her hungry baby in the restaurant discretely. Another person complained and instead of moving the complaining table, they asked her to cover up.
She told them that violated her state's laws (which it did and would here, too). She left without a meal w/ her kids (she had more) and I think had been there for her anniversary meal.
My peeve is the franchise owner and corporate never got it. At one point they offered some idea of keeping blankets in the restaurants to give to nursing moms. How disgusting would those be after a while?
There were national nurse-outs going on every where after this. (None in Ocala that I know of, though.)

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Elizabeth Guth,

I agree that HOPS has gone way down hill. We used to eat there and my biggest complaint is that we always get seated way in the back. You pass all these empty tables and just keep going. Why is that necessary? Realize though that I do not like being stuck in the very first booth to be the one that everybody sees while I eat but to have to pass all the way to the back. Thats insane! I also want to offer you all a cautionary warning about all your praises concerning Logan's. They have had their ups and downs since opening up in town. On our first official visit, we had fair service and did not think too much about anything after leaving. But the light bulb came on when our charge slip differed from what was charged to our credit card account. That took some work to get straightened up because the bank told we had to handle it with the restaurant. We did end up doing just that and later on the waitress was fired and legally charged and tried for it. On another time of visiting (quite a while after) we were part of a party of seven and they stuck us at a table out on the porch. Then they gave us a beginning waiter who brought all of our food to the table at one time. Not bread first, appetizer next, soup/salad next, and then the main course! All of it came at one time! Well the thing that bugged me about this was even though we were a party of seven and at a bigger table we did not have room for all the food to sit. We had to use an empty table next to use to sit things on until we got finished with one thing to be able to move on to the next thing! What would we have done without that empty table? I don't know. well its been a while since that outing to Logan's so I guess I'm due for one again to see what you all are talking about. I guess the biggest thing is to keep in mind that all restaurants go through an up & down, good and bad spell, but if we the public don't say anything to the management or even the higher up management above them, things won't change. Look up on the web the restaurant's information as to how to contact the onwers, the managers, etc. Somebody other than the local people will pay attention to you.

I loooove HOPS soup and salad. To my understanding it used to be $5.99 for lunch soup and salad. I had a craving for it last week and when I ordered I noticed it is now $8.99. Not only that, but the smell when you walk in the door is unbearable. It smells like wet carpet or mold. The person I was dining with asked what the smell was and we were told it was the beer that they brew.

Brewing beer smells different than nasty funk, IMO. I don't ever remember the Gainesville one having an offensive odor.

W/r/t your Logan's visit -- I hate when waiters/waitresses bring it all on top of each other. And that always happens at a restaurant after you've been sitting there hungry and thirsty for what feels like forever.

It must've been a man that suggested the whole keeping a blanket there idea.

I spoke to both managers about what we experienced yesterday...good and bad. I also emailed Logan's online about our good experience and heard back very quickly from their PR person w/ a very nice response.

I tried to email HOPS and had everything typed out and then was unable to refer it to our HOPS. The only choices there were was in other states. Imagine that!

I'll keep an open mind, for sure. I know that every waiter is different.

How'd you guess?!

We had a similar experience at El Toreo. We ordered our drinks. When they arrived we went to order our food and a roach walked across the table. THe waiter looked at it and smashed it with our menus! Needless to say, we left after paying for our drinks. We've never returned. Lots of our friends go there and say it has improved but I just can't do it!

I am starting to notice this trend come down a lot more on these restaurants. The problem I think is the staff and management. A group of us went out to Chili's for dinner and someone in our party had a steak cooked way too little. When she called for the manager, we all died!! He didn't even look 18. He did correct the problem and take it off her bill, but I am starting to notice a trend. When you have such a young manager and such young staff, it seems like no one cares anymore about quality. And Roadhouse Grill?? Forget about it!!! That place has gone downhill so fast over the past year it's a shame!! It smells like dirty bleach water the last time we went in there and I got so sick from the smell I couldn't eat my meal. No one came back to the table to check on us and when I did go finally get up and walk around after 20 minutes of waiting, the manager was by the front door on her personal cell phone just talking and laughing away. I think this trend will continue until someone starts to care enough and a lot more restaurants are going to close down besides Perkins and that other steakhouse across the street.

I agree.
I have noticed that customer service is at an all time low as well. We can hardly go to ANY restaurant and not have some kind of issue.
This actually happened to me this weekend. We were at a private pizza place, not a big chain. We ordered our drinks and when the waitress came back she brought all our drinks around and then stood at one end of the table and passed out straws, I guess she didn't want to walk around to the other side of the table again because she threw a straw to my brother at the other end of the table. I couldn't believe she did that. Hmmmm. Nice huh?

The one restaurant I can say we have been to on 3-4 occasions and thoroughly enjoyed the food AND the staff was the new Outback on East 40, I was pleasantly surprised.
Even the fast-food restaurants are terrible as far as service. Unfortunately, I go to a few each week on lunch break and 4 out of 5 times my order will be wrong. I am getting fed up!

HOPS have closed down in many cities. Clearwater doesn't have any left. Tampa has 1 left at this time.