"1. Upon arriving, there is no clear entrance or welcome sign to indicate whether you should wait to be seated or seat yourself. It’s quite baffling.
2. There’s no hostess in sight. Forget about servers; it appears they are so understaffed that the bartenders are serving patrons in the dining area. Alternatively, they might just have a few servers who don’t seem to care much.
3. When we were finally acknowledged and seated—about 15 minutes later—our food arrived well before our drinks. We made sure to place our entire order at once since we got the feeling we’d need to send out a search party for our server if we wanted to follow up on anything. Interestingly, there’s an automatic 18% tip added to the bill during all this lackluster service. I don’t mind this because it ensures the servers get paid regardless of any additional tip I might leave. It even saves me the hassle of doing the math, as I certainly wouldn’t have tipped more than 15% given the service. I’ve mentioned before how important service is in relation to the quality of the food. The food was decent, but it couldn’t compensate for the long wait times and the lack of attention.
I wonder if we would have received better service sitting at the bar, but since my teenage son was with us, we chose a table instead. As for the food, it ranged from mediocre to below average. My wife said her buffalo wings were subpar, which surprised me since it’s usually an easy dish for bar and grill places to get right. My burger was decent and generously seasoned, which was a pleasant surprise. The fries were enjoyable too, but it’s disappointing that they couldn’t even toast the bun. I’d rate the well-seasoned burger on a soggy bun a 7 out of 10.
We only ended up here because it was late, and we were both tired and hungry, so this place won out in terms of proximity. With three Marriott hotels clustered together, patrons often end up at any restaurant, regardless of its specific location.
Overall, the only way I would consider returning to this restaurant would be to sit at the bar, as the menu had some potential, and I’d be curious to try other items. Still, first impressions matter. Based on my experience, I’m giving Cane Fire Grill in the Marriott a rating of 2 out of 5 for the tasty burgers on soggy buns. It’s a real paradox."
