Unhappy with our visit, $38.25 later...

Please handle issues like that at the time of the incident. It does
not help you or the store to postpone and send a letter. Too late
IMO. Ask for help then instead of avoiding the issue and you would
help the company more.

First off, this matter should have been dealt with then and there.
Second, I wouldn't care who Sean was talking to and respectively
interupted to report the error. P.S. A bit of pink meat won't kill
you. Less carconegens (sorry) to worry about.

for food to be cooked to specification, I'm a little confused as you
state the burger was "dry," yet it was apparently undercooked.

All the meats and burgers I have ever cooked have been dry when they
are "well" done.

Was this a very thick burger where the very deepest center might have
stayed a bit pink, even though the burger appeared "crispy" on the
outside?

Sometimes very thick burgers are hard to really cook them well-done.

Sorry but I am one of those "speak up now" people when it comes to my
food and trust me I understand the whole uncooperative/tired/grumpy
child thing too. I am helping parent my grandchildren and they can be
less then ideal when they are in that situation. However, I will not
allow myself to get less then I pay for. If you felt that you were
getting less then steller service then you should have said something
then and there. I agree that you have the right to do it here, but I
am thinking that your comments would have carried more weight at that
moment rather then now.

I hope that all works out for you.

It was a birthday celebration for one of our principals. And the
restaurant's co-owner is a teacher.

The only two things I asked: That my drinks be replenished regularly,
and that my food be cooked through.

I ordered a grilled chicken sandwich. I cut it in half and proceeded
to eat the first half. Then, for some reason, I actually LOOKED AT
the sandwich.

The interior of the "grilled chicken" was, even in the dark of the
bar, definitely uncooked. I did not bother to wait for the server to
come back.

I went straight to the bar and showed my raw chicken sandwich. It was
replaced almost immediately with a properly cooked sandwich, and the
whole thing was comped.

If I'd mentioned this after I'd paid and left, it could have been a he
said/she said issue. It would have been unlikely that I'd have gotten
any type of satisfaction.

I agree with you, the service you received was poor. It sounds like
both the kitchen staff and wait staff both dropped the ball. It is
always annoying when servers make socializing with their coworkers a
higher priority than making themselves available to the guests they
are currently serving.

I agree with the other replies below, the best time to resolve these
issues is on the spot, usually by getting their attention. You
shouldn't have to, however when places are poorly run, sometimes it is
necessary to flag people down.

This is very valuable feedback, and hopefully the restaurant manager
can take action to prevent future occurrence.

Personaly I don't see why you have to wait for the waiter to ask if
everything is okay to speak up. As soon as I realize something is
wrong with my meal I flag down the waiter and say so. If they are with
in sight but not paying attention like you mentioned I have been known
to go up to them and say something nicely. I also tip according to
service and that guy wouldn't have gotten more then a penny based on
your discription.

Why should the woman have spoken up at the restaurant before she left?

how does management know this even happened now? If she speaks up at
the restaurant then management (who might have been in the back at the
time) has a chance to fix the problem and offer a solution at the
time. Now that the customer is home, he has no proof this even
happened. For all he knows the customers ate everything, went home
and are now fishing for a free meal.

Its only fair to bring this up while at the restaurant so something
can be done and the manager can see the uneaten meal.

Speaking up at the time give you a better chance to get a good
resolution. You are there, along with the meal so the manager can see
what is wrong.

And it seems fairer to the resturant as well. Every place makes
mistakes, this gives them a chance to adress it then and there.

it gives management a chance to resolve the issue for the customer
right then and their, most likely with an adjustment on the bill.

The manager also has an opportunity to see where the breakdown
occurred and do something about it.

Perhaps the manager would have immediately brought out two new, fresh,
correctly prepared burgers. He/she also might have done other things
to appease the customer and make her feel like she'd been heard and
that her complaint was justified, like give her a free dessert, or
taken one of the burgers off the bill even after giving her a new
one.

Then she might have written a letter praising the burger place for
rectifying a mistake in a way that made her happy with where she chose
to eat. (We've seen those letters here along with the complaint
letters.)

Of course, the manager might NOT have responded that way. But we'll
never know, since she never gave him that opportunity.

The pub burger doesn't seem to come with onions or mayo:

"Ale-braised onions and mushrooms, creamy peppercorn-ranch, melted
Cheddar and Swiss cheese, and fresh tomatoes. Served on a toasty onion
bun."