Old Carolina

The good news is that the food at the new Old Carolina on Mayfield Road is quite good. The bad news is that they should have waited a few more weeks to open in order to properly train the young staff if something goes wrong, because something happened to our order. We don’t know what, but something happened.

On a previous trip, Michele received her meal in about ten minutes. Other parties around us seemed to also clock in at about ten minutes. The place was only partially filled, so it wasn’t a full house with a run on the kitchen.

After about fifteen minutes, Michele asked the pleasant young lady who worked there, what was going on with our order. She offered to find out and returned telling us, “Your order is up next!” After ten additional minutes and a number of orders around us having been delivered, Michele again asked what was going on. The young lady said, “Sorry! Is there anything I can do for you? Can I offer you a banana pudding?”

A few minutes later, another young lady approached us and said, “Sorry! Is there anything I can do for you? Can I offer you a banana pudding?” Michele asked what has happened with our order. The woman repeated, “We are really sorry! Is there anything I can do for you?” but no explanation.

Another ten minutes past and a more senior person came to our table. He could not explain what happened, but like the others said, “Sorry! Is there anything I can do for you? Can I offer you a banana pudding?” He went a little further and offered to comp the entire meal if we stopped back at the counter as we left. The only thing he could not tell us was when our meal would arrive.

Arrive it finally did, about 45 minutes after ordering. What happened? We’ll never know and that is the problem. If they would have been up-front and honest, we would have understood. We think most people would. “They dropped a whole brisket on the floor. It’s going to take thirty minutes to replace.” “The fry-cook ran off with 300 pounds of raw French Fries. Can we substitute coleslaw?” “There’s not a clean plate in the building. It’s going to take 20 minutes for the dishwasher to complete its cycle.” “All of our pork products have trichinosis. Would you like to try the turkey?” Any of these would be possible and any would have been better than, “Sorry! Is there anything I can do for you? Can I offer you a banana pudding?”

If you’re thinking about trying the latest barbeque in Cleveland, you’ll probably enjoy yourself, but wait another month. Perhaps the bugs will have been worked out and perhaps, the banana pudding will start selling so that it does not become the default gift for operational errors. Maybe then they’ll say, “Sorry! Is there anything I can do for you? Can I offer you some hot apple sauce?”

http://oldcarolina.com/5100 Mayfield Road Lyndhurst,OH 44124 440-605-0227

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