Tonight, my wife and I decided to go out to dinner. We went to Bayou Bob's. We have been here several times over the last couple of years, and have always had a good time. Tonight, however, was different. After ordering drinks and an appetizer, my wife decided that she wasn't that hungry, and wanted to order the lunch portion of their seafood pasta. Our waitress informed us that the lunch menu ended at 4:00, and that we could no long order off of it. My wife kindly asked the waitress to talk to the manager, and see if he would let her order off of the lunch menu, as she didn't want such a large portion. The manager came to our table, knelt down on his knees, and proceeded to talk to my wife with his bloodshot, glassy eyes, as though she were a child. "I'm sorry," he said, "I can't let you order off of the lunch menu." This man lied to our face. This was the owner of Bayou Bob's, telling my wife that he was sorry, but he couldn't let her order off of the lunch menu, which by the way, was still $9.99! He could have chosen to let my wife order what she wanted, but instead, he made a conscious choice not to. I guess he really wanted that extra $7.00, which was the price difference between the lunch and the dinner portion. Needless to say, we will never go back there again. After supporting that business for the last few years, we never expected to be treated this way. We were not asking for free food, or for any kind of discount. My wife merely wanted to order a smaller portion of pasta. But it's all about the money, isn't it? In this economy, Bayou Bob's should be thankful for any customer that they get. But sadly, they're not that smart when it comes to PR, and with this terrible attitude, they will surely be out of business soon. And I say good riddance. I think our community would flourish without selfish people like this. In this economy, we should all be helping each other out, not trying to suck any money we can out of eachother's pockets.

We ended up going across the street to Helen Back for dinner and had a really nice time.

Let me get this right. You will never do business with a place again because they didn't bend there established rules for you? The reason restaurants have "lunch" prices is to attract more business during a time where business is very slow and most people are eating fast food. You came at dinner time and felt that you deserved a handout when nothing wrong was done to you. This isn't bad PR, this is not letting cheap customers get over because they're complaining about having to pay the same price as everyone else. I don't know if they'll be out of business soon, but every time I've been there, the service has been fine and they are very friendly people. You think our community will flourish without people like this? Small business is exactly what our community needs to grow. If they gave everyone free handouts for no reason they would already be out of business. In the end, I think you're being unrealistic and I doubt there's too many restaurants that would've done what you were asking for. Which begs the question......did Helen Back give you their "lunch" prices? LOL

I've worked at Bayou Bob's about as long as you've worked at Helen Back! LOL, Actually the last time I was in the food industry was when I worked at McDonalds before I was old enough to drive. I've been in the avionics field for years now. But that's not what this discussion is about.

I do know that during lunch time I like to visit fast food places because its cheaper and quicker. I usually don't have time to sit down at a restaurant as I would like to keep my current job. This is the battle that non fast-food restaurants have to fight. So they offer a smaller amount for lower prices, which is probably just enough to cover the costs of keeping the doors open during the day. Now I have eaten at Bayou Bob's several times, and I've never gone away upset. My only complaint would be that sometimes I've ordered a dish that didn't float my boat. However they've always been a very friendly group, and bashing them on a public forum because they didn't offer you the "lunch" menu at dinner time is petty. I've rolled up to McDonald's 5 mins after breakfast and guess what, they didn't give me breakfast. I just don't understand how you can be upset with them for not bending their rules. You say that your issue wasn't money, it was principal (do yourself a favor and google "principle"). It might have been your principle to not pay for the portion that you didn't want to eat, but it still comes down to money, because if they offered to bring you out half, but couldn't change the price, you would still be bashing them. No one was forcing your wife to eat what was left over, so yes it is clearly a money issue. I also really doubt they would've let someone pay more for a larger helping either. Most chances are they would've asked them to pay for another plate. So in a roundabout way, it was principle for them too. They have a menu for different times of the day, and similar to 90% of food service restaurants in the US of A, they aren't going to change how they do things for one person. One problem with this, is if they change it for you they should change it for everyone. At that point the Lunch menu became the dinner menu and revenue goes down. The service that you are looking for is going to be at your high end restaurants. If money isn't the problem, then they will give you whatever you ask for. I'll bring it up again since you forgot to respond, how was that "lunch" menu from Helen Back? Did they let you order by the slice? Haha, sorry bro, but you're acting like a child over this. If the food is good and the prices aren't bad, why would you wish ill on a local restaurant that is (I'm assuming) privately owned. They didn't wrong you, they didn't treat you bad, false advertise, or give someone else a deal that they wouldn't give you. They just upheld their policy. I think as a community we should always try to support our local establishments, especially small business, since this is very important to helping grow the local economy. I can understand if you feel wronged, but posting this on a public forum and hoping they go out of business seems unfair and excessive.

Why can't people just follow the rules or stay home and cook their own food?

LUNCH MENU is FOR LUNCH.

DINNER MENU is FOR DINNER.

Personally, I don't like Bayou Bob's Restaurant, but I surely would not blast them for adhering to policy clearly notated on their menu "lunch menu is from 11am - 2pm - NO SUBSTITUTIONS"

Your posting makes me want to give them another try now.

BTW - You should have asked for the old Helenback special - FREE BEER WITH PURCHASE of a pizza. And FOUGHT for it!

Where do people get off being so PRIVILEGED?