Negative Review for:
Royal Family Restaurant
1320 Sheridan Drive, Tonawanda, NY
873-0056
Today, my husband and i decided to go to the Royal for a late lunch / early dinner. Although we look through the menu every time and always check out the specials, we tend to order the same thing -- Souvlaki. Being vegetarian, i always go for the Vegetable Souvlaki. My husband is not vegetarian and he almost always orders the Pork Souvlaki. Today was no different. Vegetable Souvlaki for me, Pork Souvlaki for my husband.
It was off peak time since it was about half way between lunch and dinner. Service was very prompt, as it usually is. Not overdone, a bit more informal, shouting across the room, rather than walking towards us. Comfortable, family oriented, content. Our waitress, Melissa we later discovered, was no exception; she was friendly, attentive, prompt, polite and smiling.
I posed the same question and/or suggestion i always do when i am at the Royal. "Do you have / will you please get a veggie burger? Your competitor across the street, hint, hint, has one." Our waitress stated they do have one from time to time as a special. We then proceeded, since the veggie burger was not a special that day, to place our order.
Surprisingly, since it was off peak, a bit longer than the usual very prompt service, we received our meals. The vegetable Souvlaki was particularly large and i gave her a "wow" when it was put in front of me. The portions of the dinner sized Vegetable Souvlaki has 2 skewers of assorted vegetables, rice, Greek potatoes, a Greek salad and a half a pita cut into quarters (they offer a smaller one, called something else, but i would rather take home the leftovers). Today, i had 4 huge pieces of broccoli, along with eggplant, mushrooms, peppers, zucchini and carrots. Disappointingly, the carrots were practically raw and difficult to remove from the skewer (don't get me wrong, i love raw carrots -- but in salads), the eggplant was uncooked, the broccoli was steamed but not grilled so the florets were not crunchy (which i understand is more of a preference thing), and the peppers were only cooked around the edges. Luckily, the vegetables on the skewers were all safe to eat raw or undercooked, so i didn't fuss about it.
My husband, however, did not feel comfortable eating his undercooked pork. Sliding the pork off the skewers, he saw some pink and decided to cut the pork open to make sure it was cooked. It was not. Our waitress was by the bar near the front, engaged in conversation with other wait staff and had her back to us, so i got up to let her know my husband's pork was slightly undercooked. Which, in our humble opinion, it was. Not red and bloody, but enough to cast doubt and want it to be fired for just a touch longer. She apologized profusely and took the pork away on a smaller plate she was kind enough to give us for our overflowing plates a few minutes earlier. Laughing was heard from the kitchen, but i didn't pay it any attention until our waitress returned with the pork, untouched by heat, to tell us that the cooks say it is "always like this" and "it's ok, it does not need to be cooked any more". What we understood from her is that the kitchen says it is ok and they are refusing to reheat or refire the pork. My husband pushed it around the plate a bit, told me he could just eat around it, but the waitress saw his discomfort and came to his rescue, offering to replace his pork with something else. It was replaced by fully cooked chicken.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time this same situation has presented itself at the Royal. He has been served undercooked pork twice and raw, practically cold pork, at another time. I have also been served raw and undercooked vegetables. Raw carrots being the most offensive to me, and i don't even like eggplant when it is fully cooked. On all occasions, it was during off peak times, when the restaurant was not busy. A time in which those of us that do not work in a restaurant would think it would be easier to fully cook a plate of food.
Traditionally, when dinning at the Royal, and older man with darker hair and/or a younger one who bears a resemblance to the older man come over and ask how our meal is. Despite both men being at the restaurant today, neither came to inquire, apologize or try to at least placate us and both men avoided eye contact.
Sadly, my husband and i will not be returning to the Royal Family Restaurant.
Their Gyro just grosses me out. Everywhere else it's a beer/lamb hybrid there it is just pure Pork which is kind of weird and nasty looking at the same time.
ahh, the Royal. My first job was in that shit-hole. I realize it's all done up now, but it was for sure a shit-hole. That's where I learned to properly apply vulgar language in order to communicate with people. Remember that summer, Paul? That's when we met Maria. Good times.
i remember my uncle telling me a bad story about he got a burger and the cheese on it was like moldy (not blue cheese just moldy american) and the waitress was just like oh that's how it is sometimes...um yeah sometimes when it is no longer good. THey had been there many times before but after that experience never went back