Name of Restaurant: The Midway
Location of Restaurant: Highway 32, Ste. Genevieve, MO (Weingarten)
Date of Visit: November 18, 2007
This was my second or third visit to The Midway, though the first visit in a while. It’s been long enough for the other visits that I don’t really remember my exact experiences. I guess they weren’t that memorable, and, after this last visit, maybe I’m glad to have forgotten?
The Midway kind-of sits out in the middle of nowhere. It’s approximately 12 miles from Ste. Genevieve city limits and maybe 20 miles from Farmington; on Highway 32. It has a nice atmosphere, but I think that’s about it, and even then, only for those who can deal with dead animals on the walls. It’s decorated like a hunting lodge and equipped with a bar, pool tables and games, televisions, and a private party-room upstairs.
The only benefit of the doubt I give them for this visit, is that we were with a rather large group. However, even with that considered, it was not any different from serving numerous “normal” sized parties, just that we sat close together. The rest of the restaurant was completely empty except for a few men sitting at the bar, watching the football game. So maybe there is no benefit of the doubt with this considered. We also received separate tickets just like we would if we were sitting at different tables. Yet, even though our ticket had only three people on it, we were still charged the “service charge” for groups of eight or more. Needless to say, after our rather bad experience with the food and such, few people, if any, saw fit to leave any additional tip.
I liked the waitress, she was very sweet and did her job well. However, my food and much of the food others around me had ordered, arrived cold. I had ordered the shrimp ka-bobs meal that came with green beans and mashed potatoes. My father-in-law, mother-in-law, and husband all ordered the special: roast beef with slaw, green beans, and mashed potatoes.
As far as my meal was concerned, the green beans were good, but cold. The main course was ice cold. My husband encouraged me to complain but I was so hungry I rathered to just eat it. My husband felt that his roast beef was dry.
My sister-in-law had ordered a cheeseburger meal, and, apparently, they had forgotten about her. While everyone else had their food, she was still sitting there. A second waitress, who appeared to have been a manager, was nearby – not the waitress that was really doing all the work for our table as far as we were concerned – and someone mentioned to her that my sister-in-law had not received her food. She rudely stated that it would be coming soon… with no apology. A few minutes later, she was back and someone else, mentioned the same problem to her. Again she was rude and said it would be coming soon, with no apology. More time passed and several people had even finished eating by now, including myself, when the burger arrived. Our original waitress brought it, set it in front of my sister-in-law and apologized for the wait. It interests me how this older and seemingly more seasoned waitress or maybe even manager was so rude, yet our regular waitress seemed genuinely sorry for the wait.
After our meal was finished, the waitress began cleaning up the tables. Of course, everyone was still sitting around talking. She asked me if I would like her to remove my plate, and I said, “sure.” In one swift move, she lifted the plate and the remaining butter from my shrimp spilled all over me. Stained my good jeans and the right arm of my good shirt. I knew that she did not mean it and she apologized profusely, but it just felt like it added insult to injury.
Then the “service charge” added to our bill just made things worse. Our ticket read that it was for nine people, yet stated three seats. It was obvious that the employees had doctored every ticket so as to receive an 18% tip on every meal when much of nothing was actually deserved.
All-in-all, I think the only thing the Midway has going for it are the pool tables and bar. If you want to sit and watch a game and hang with your buddies, it’s the perfect place to go. However, don’t count on the food being on time or very good at all… or getting out of there without staining your clothing.
Final Rating: 2 Star(s)
This was my first visit to a Frankie G’s, as my husband calls it. We’re closer to this location, so we chose it for a Sunday lunch, out without our four-year-old.
We soon placed our orders but the waitress came back to tell me that she’d told me the wrong kind of cheese that’s in the lasagna. This may be too much information, but I am highly lactose intolerant and can only handle certain kinds of cheeses without pills… pills that I didn’t have. I quickly found out, however, that Frankie G’s was happy to accommodate me, to put whatever kind of cheese I liked into any dish, except the lasagna. But that was okay and I soon enough placed a special order.
