Gus' Last Word - Wood-Ridge

I want to start off by saying I hate leaving *bad* reviews. I’ve worked in the hospitality industry for over 10 years, so I have high hopes in terms of customer service when entering a new venue. The decor was very cute. Came here specifically for the Christmas menu and aesthetics. The holiday cups were worth it. Food/service/dining experience.. not so much.The reservation was for 8:30 PM. The restaurant had two poorly trained, slow, uninterested servers on staff. It was *busy*, but there are very few tables... The waiters bypassed the table many times for about 30 minutes before taking the first drink order. Drinks were bought out by a different server, who did not take our food order. I had to go to the bar and request a server to order dinner. Dinner took about an hour to arrive. (Burgers were overcooked) We ate at 10 PM. As the food hit the table, the server said the kitchen was about to close so if we were going to order something else for dessert, we had to do it right at that moment.The server never checked back to see if we needed anything else for the table after dropping dinner, water, drinks, condiments, napkins, etc. (FYI MORE ITEMS ON CHECK more , good customer service higher tip outs) Every time I needed something I had to go to the bar to get refills water, or even get rid of the dirty glasses. The bus person passed our table multiple times, and I ended up moving cups and plates to other dirty tables around us. (Biggest customer pet peeve dirty cups/plates on table.. BUS YOUR TABLES — Don’t want to sit around other people’s left overs.)There didn’t seem to be any management on staff. Everyone seemed equally lax/confused. I had to go find the server to go get to go containers and the check. It was almost comical see him, sitting down on his phone texting, rather than working. Very on brand for the experience.I would never tip 0…. But this was a one of a kind very special, terrible customer service experience.Get it together, The experience and the service should go hand in hand.

Went to Gus's for the first time yesterday! The Miracle On Valley Christmas celebration is so fun and festive! The staff was friendly and attentive. The cocktails are fun and creative, the food is bar food but elevated yum! The fact that is it also family friendly is a plus! It's not so quiet, making it the perfect place to bring my toddler who can also not be so quiet! The general manager who is apparently new came around ,introduced himself and made sure everything was to our liking! Looking forward to going back!

I really want to love this place because it is so close to my home and I really like the aesthetic. I 've been here a dozen times and far more often than not, there 's a problem, sometimes major.To start, my wife and I take walks around town on nice days and have decided on a few occasions to stop in for a beer and or snack. We decided we wanted to sit outside, so we tried to grab a drink at the bar (to walk out with) and weren 't allowed to. They required us to be seated by a waiter. Ok... Fine. Well we stood there waiting for five minutes and then were told to go sit where we like and the waiter will be right out. Nearly 15 minutes later, I had to go inside to get someone 's attention. Finally, he brings out menus and placemats, silverware etc. we say we are just here for a drink and order two beers. As we sit and talk, we realize it 's been another 15 minutes. I again had to go inside to ask where our drinks were. They were sitting on the bar (there was one other couple sitting at the bar). I grab them myself and walk back. We hurriedly finish, since this has already taken too long and get ready to leave and go home to cook dinner. Well, we need to get the check. Waiter comes out and I signal that we want the check. We have to wait another 10 minutes to get it, my card is ready and I notice he charged us for three beers when we only got two. He now has to change the check. We follow him inside and stand there waiting while him and the bartender talk about it. Finally we get the right check and pay at the bar. WHY COULDN 'T WE DO THIS IN THE FIRST PLACE!? Time to have one casual beer outside on a nice evening: one hour and twenty minutes. If we could order at the bar and go sit outside, time would never have been an issue.Another time, given it was busy and we were there for Trivia, we had a table of 5 in the bar area and everything kept coming out wrong. Wrong drinks, wrong food, eventually entirely wrong check. The table next to us was an older couple and they were very vocal about how bad the service was. It was distracting. I believe they eventually just left without paying and the waitress disappeared for a while. We were done and had to leave and the manager needed to correct our check and split our bill accordingly. It took a while and some of our party had already left and we had to settle everything over venmo between each other. Not a great experience.SEVERAL TIMES we have been turned away because it was too busy even though we could see the bar area was absolutely not crowded through the window. Four of us showed up last night and we saw at least 6 open seats at the bar and nobody standing around. Since we had walked here from my home after having a little holiday get together, I didn 't want to end the night for everyone (it was only coming up on 11pm). We decided to Uber to Blarney Station, which welcomed us. It was crowded, but lively and fun. After a time there we went to Park Tavern and again had another good experience in a crowded bar.I bring up the above because I want Gus 's to get better. I want them to manage the bar, dining area, and quick walk-ins properly. Attention to detail is important in a place that offers an attractive atmosphere and charges a premium for drinks, especially with so many competing establishments nearby.I have had some decent experiences at Gus 's, sure, but I feel there is always a good chance that I will not, so it 's hard for me to recommend it to anyone.I would normally encourage people to stop in and see the Miracle on Valley , because it is super nice. Unfortunately, I can 't be sure that you will leave with a smile. It 's a shame.

Called to make a reservation for a party of 6. They said they aren't busy so we don't need a reservation. We mentioned again it was 6 people in about 30 minutes. We were again told it was not a problem. We arrive 20 min later and were told it's an hour wait. Very disappointed in the communication as they made it seem like we would not have any issues with seating.Update. Went at 11pm for a drink with friends. I saw the bar was basically empty. They said we had to wait. Not sure why since not even all the bar seats were taken. Terrible service. Especially for the price.

Very nicely decorated for Christmas. Didn't live up to the hype!