I went to Rafferty's in Jackson, TN for lunch today. I had never been there and it was offered as a suggestion by one of the people in our lunch party. The wait for a table at the height of lunch time wasn't bad. They accommodated a party of seven within 10 minutes. Our drink orders were taken pretty promptly, as well. That was where the enjoyment of the ended for me and the enjoyment of the entertainment began for everyone else at the table. I ordered the Cowboy Cut steak, cooked medium, with garlic mashed potatoes. One of the other guys in our lunch party ordered the same thing, but requested his to be cooked medium well. About 15 minutes later lunch arrived.
This is where the entertainment portion of lunch began for everyone else. My first impression of my steak was not exactly a good impression. I asked for medium and it looked like it had passed medium about 20 minutes ago. I looked at the steak the other guy ordered and his looked beautiful. It looked thick and juicy with the just right amount of pink in the middle. It reminded me of how I would cook a steak on the grill at home. Mine, however, could have been folded over and been pretty close to meeting the thickness of his steak. It was pathetic. I think a Nike shoe had more texture than this steak. We discovered at that point that we believe our steaks got switched. The other guy ordered his steak medium well. Although, mine was way past medium well and entering the new territory of over cooked roadkill, there was no way I could have given him this steak. I sent it back to be remade.
While I waited, the rest of the crew finished their lunches. We talked about their past experiences at Rafferty's and most of them had a good story about poor service. One told a story of how he had actually back handed a waitress and laid her out flat on her back. Of course, this was not on purpose, she just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The ironic part is the waitress he hit was his waitress and he was looking for the manager to talk about her bad service. The story was that he had gotten up to talk to go and find the manager. He was talking to a waiter who pointed him in the direction of the manager. He swung his arm around to gesture in the same direction and his waitress happened to be walking up at that point and caught her right in her face. She went straight down to the ground. She was okay.
My food returned shortly after that story finished. my steak looked much better on the outside. It looked nice and thick and juicy. It felt a little too juicy, though. I cut into it and the steak was raw in the center. It still needed about another 5 minutes on the grill. I sent it back again and decided not to eat there. Everyone else was already done with their food and I wasn't going to make them wait on me. The punch line occurred when the food destined for the table next to us came to our table. We were getting asked who had ordered what. Then one of the plates had the wrong sides on it. They had to send their food back. It was quite the experience to be had.
Finally, the manager informed me that he would comp my meal and that I wouldn't have to pay for anything. The first response that came to mind for the manager was "No, $#!T, Sherlock!", but I didn't say that. Instead, I thanked him and informed him I would just eat lunch somewhere else.
So, this was my first experience at a Rafferty's. I don't think I would hold all Rafferty's locations to this type of experience, but it will certainly make me think twice about what I order at one. I cannot recommend this Rafferty's to anyone, because of the inability to bring out the correct food, let alone cook it correctly. To the waiter's defense, he offered pretty good service, but had some difficulties with his cooking staff and the expediter. His food runner had difficulty keeping track where people were sitting. The fault for this visit lies squarely with the management team of this location.
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