Wait Time in the Easley, SC location

Um, the employees of outback do not have magical crystal balls that
predict the future. If they did, servers would give service based on
the tip (or lack thereof) that they would be paid, bussers would be
standing by the exact table that is about to leave, cooks would never
run out of anything because everything would be prepped exactly to
what was sold... and, oh yeah, the hosts would know exactly how long
YOU (or each and every person who walks through the door) would have
to wait for a table. What exactly do you expect them to do when some
40 somethings are reminiscing about their recent vacation for an hour
after they paid the bill? Kick them out? Or that 6-top who is opening
birthday gifts at the table after their meal... say "sorry your time
is up now"? Would you like to have a time slot allotted for your meal?
Even in fine dining with a reservation system, this happens, because
you just never know exactly how long people will sit at the table.
The wait is usually based on an average turn time for a table, but
other than that it is completely beyond anyone's control. I would
suggest that if you don't like to wait, go out to eat on a Monday or
Tuesday. It is generally slower in any restaurant those days, and
most likely you will get more personalised service. Or just cook at
home.

I know people don't want to hear this, but when the hosts tell you
your wait time this is not including the tables that will sit for 50
min after paying the bill, tables that are meeting to catch up and
plan on staying for 3 hours, etc,etc. The "wait list" is based on
tables coming in eating their dinner and leaving. This does not
always happen. We cannot go to a table and ask them to get because
there is a 2 hour wait and they have been finished for an hour. We
just have to wait until they decide to leave. The host staff does not
like dealing with this anymore than you do.
If you eat at Outback once a month you should know and expect a wait,
I assume everything has always been great and this was an
inconveinence. They did not decide to make you wait 1 hour vs. 25
minutes on purpose.
One last thing....why couldn't you stay at the bar and have another
drink, you had a pager - right?

Oh, lighten up.

Logically, don't you think that if they had known *for certain* that
the wait was going to be longer, they would have informed you?

Seriously, think about it.

Why not tell you in advance, and have you wait in the bar and purchase
more drinks, therefore earning more profit for the store?

It's sometimes difficult for restaurants to gauge how long certain
parties are going to linger after their meal.

You chose to wait. Then you, presumably, had a good meal, paid for it,
and left.

Additionally, I find it quite sad that (by your own admission), you
eat there often with great results, only to choose to publicly
complain about a 25 minute extra wait the first time it happens.

See the problem is you have the term wrong. It's not called a "wait
time."

The correct term is an "ESTIMATED wait time"

Problem solved.

When they give you an estimated wait time, it's just their best guess.
If enough parties linger after dinner, order dessert, etc., then that
throws things off.

Also, not only do I agree with p d that you should have spoken with a
manager if it bothered you that much, I don't think that a one-time
incident warrants an email to company headquarters. If it happened
regularly and speaking with a manager didn't resolve things, then
fine, email company headquarters and let them know it's a problem.

Why didn't you speak to a manager instead of writing to PF?

When they tell you the wait time it is just an estimate. They are
averaging how long it will take a party to get in, order, eat and
leave. They cannot rush people out because there are others waiting.
you certainly wouldn't like this if it happened to you.

Why didn't you just stay at the bar until you were called?