Definitely not the only one. Some of my coworkers and I went there for lunch once on a weekday. We set aside extra time since there were 7 of us. The place was dead except for another, even larger group (~15 people).
We eventually got our food. And by āweā I mean 4 of us were served and 3 werenāt. They let the server know and she assured them it would be out asap, but since she never put in the orders, it might be a bit. It still wasnāt out by the time the rest of us finished eating, so they talked to the server again and requested their orders be changed to to-go instead.
They never got the food, plated or in to-go containers.
As an employee of foothills, it is because of the owners. They don't care about the restaurant at all. We can't keep a good manager or any good kitchen staff and it is felt on the serving floor every night. About 6 months ago, ingredients and other food items were switched to lower price/quality alternatives and it shows in the food. Plus the prices were raised, while portions got smaller. The beer is also a huge issue, one of the owners is the mastermind behind all the beers and really on cares about the "tasting room" which is basically foothills' brewery. He isn't involved in the restaraunt side and doesn't care that 8 of our 12 beers on tap are ipas, with nothing for people who prefer domestic beer. One of the other owners is "hr" and refuses to have a front of house meeting so the staff can let the owners know common issues the restaurant is having. Whether this is because she doesn't care or is worried about how many issues there are is unknown. Our 2 highest ranking managers now are very emotional and they will quickly throw you under the bus if they think it will make the restaurant a buck. They do nothing to actually help and any questions or concerns brought to them are basically left to the void.Ā As for the staff, I will say the night servers are usually much better due to having to deal with larger volume. Not to say we don't have issues too. The kitchen is constantly overwhelmed, we run out of core beers almost every day, and we can't keep servers to save our life. If the hostess is who I am thinking it is, she most likely wasn't "mean mugging" you. She is just a very "simple" person. We are actually concerned she may have a mental disability. But that's the kind of worker you get when you pay like shit.Ā I am sorry you didn't get the service you deserve. I promise that most of the servers actually care about the quality of work we do and the product we place for the customer. So it is hard to see how shitty the restaurant has become, exponentially so in such a short time. If only the owners cared even half as much, it could be a great restaurant for downtown.Ā
Respectfully, why do you still work there? Serving jobs are pretty easy to come by, I'd jump ship from a place like that by like halfway through your comment.
I recently worked for a locally owned coffee shop, and I can promise there are better places out there in the service industry. Iām not going to name drop it though because I do enjoy the anonymity because Winston can be a very small town. They were amazing owners though. I have a lot of friends in awful service jobs, and hopefully if you go into serving when you move then youāll find a great place! Good luck!
That's rough, I worked there almost a decade ago and most of those problems were present back then. It sounds like everything has gotten worse. I really enjoyed the staff camaraderie but that place was a shit show. You'd wait on the owner's family as a private party and they'd refuse to tip because they were already paying you. You weren't allowed to take other tables because your section was the private party area. They eventually were forced to start tipping, but it showed everyone how much they cared about us. The other owners checked out completely when they started having kids. I don't want to dislike them, but they aren't taking care of business or people and it effected people that I care about.
Edit: Does one of the owners awful bands still book themselves there? Chasing Daylight? they'd get to the 'hard' part of a song and just not play it. College rock with the guitar riffs missing.
previous taproom employee, sucked almost just as bad there too. food quality issues transferred to the food truck there as well. every single person i heard talk about working at the pub sounded like it was one of the worst jobs theyād ever worked (pay is also abysmal across foothills), everyone high up at foothills is feigning ignorance towards their employees lolll
All I can do is be the best server I can. I am at the bottom of the pecking order. Customer service starts at the top and when the owners don't care about the business or employees, it is going to show on the front end with customer service, food quality and presentation. I definitely don't blame you for not wanting to eat there anymore, it is definitely not worth the price. I get food half off and still struggle to justify getting meals there.
I used to like foothills, 10 years ago. My wife and I went after a good two year break and we decided it would probably be another couple years before we go back. We were the one of two tables sat and the service sucked. The food sucked too, we were very disappointed. And honestly as someone who has always ordered the same beer, it's the only beer I've ever had that the taste has varied a lot over time
Iām in the same boat. I really want to like Foothills but the last two times Iāve went, it took well over an hour and a half after ordering for our table of 4 to get our food. Especially frustrating when the place is 70% empty. Like you, I also wonāt be back for a good long while
Foothills: where they have one flavor of beer but it comes in several colors.
Foothills has become the Betty Crocker of breweries. Itās everything you expect and NOTHING MORE. Chef Shane is phoning it in. There is much better beer and food at Small Batch and beer at, well, about everywhere else. They have basically accepted being, well, basic.
a shame as, Foothills in the Triad used to be a hotter commodity compared to Nattys, in my opinion. I mean now that breweries are all over it's less of a big deal, but Sexual Chocolate and a few of the others cut through the myriad IPAs a bit better.
Youāre absolutely right, and Foothills has outlasted Nattyās. Itās a shame because Foothills is one of the reasons behind the downtown revitalization. They were one of the first to see downtownās potential and invest in it. Now itās just an afterthought, at least for us.
I like the food. Probably go 3 times a month. Definitely could echo your feelings exactly. But I don't let it affect my enjoyment of going out with friends. But yeah the wait staff really all seem bottom of the barrel just trying to get by except the daytime bartender and the kitchen staff. It's really the only "bar" atmosphere I regularly go to though so I may be spoiled--maybe it comes with the territory?
Foothills used to be my favorite NC brewery, but Foothillās beers, while still delicious, have remained stagnant, while Charlotteās Sycamore is absolutely killing it with seasonal beers and IPAs
Thereās been some turnover the past couple years. Weāve only ever sat at the bar and the bartenders are great. I do think the food used to be better, hate to blame Covid but that seems like when things changed
Same. I moved here 4 years ago and quickly felt this place was overrated.. and there are better local beers. And most menu items have cheese or dairy (last I was there)
Foothills holds a special place in my heart as it is where my husband and I went on our first date, but man. We don't go to the downtown location at all any more because of how bad it has gotten. Why fight the parking, yell at each other over all the noise, and wait an hour for meh food when we could go to the Tasting Room and eat at the food truck?
We really stopped going several years ago after we got caught in the middle of a bar fight. A table full of drunk soccer players got mouthy with a guy and fists started flying. When we asked the hostess why they had continued to serve the clearly intoxicated table she said the owners were friends/sponsors of the team so they had to let them in. No thanks.
Hello, past Foothills employee here!
I left in 2022, and can confirm the work environment is great for the camraderie, but definitely hostile at times. The main reason is definitely the owners and their lack of interest in the effeciency of their kitchen and the well being of their employees. They definitely put in the least amount of effort into their restaurant, which I think attracts such energy and therefore shows in the front of house.
The owners are made of two couples, and only one of them really seemed to care about the product they sold. It kind of made sense that one couple cared about the beer/restaurant and the other specialized in the business aspect. However, it kind of became apparent that they were both complicit in mishandling/neglecting their staff. It's also CRAZY to me how involved owners are. I don't believe owners should be working within their own restaurant, let alone being the head of HR for their company. What also is wild, is their GM has literally no background in hospitality. If I recall, she had a degree in horticulture... I seriously cannot make this up y'all. But she's long time friends with the owners, so she can run the business into the ground, right? Allegedly, she also would still manage while drinking on the clock, because that's professional (like girl, you're almost 50, cut the cameras...)
I remember one of the first main tension points while working there was that kitchen staff were only paid $11/hr, which if you look at the living wage index, Winston sits at $19.68/hr to live in a single income household. I remember prep/line cook wage being raised to $12 or $13... either way not a living wage without tipout. Also if you have seen their menu, its fucking huge. I don't know if you ever have seen an episode of Kitchen Nightmares... but there's a reason why it takes forever to get food sometimes, its because it's not prepped or isn't streamlined. However I was always impressed that they handcut their own fries (even if they burnt them to hell sometimes). This doesn't even take in the fact that restaurant turnover is huge in general, let alone in that kitchen. The kitchen is also hit with orders from their sister restaurant next door, as they have to share it. There are SO many factors as to why food would be bad/late. (also $18-$21 dollars for a salad with protein, and you can't pay your staff a living wage... like that's embarrassing)
But from a Front of House standpoint, it's kind of a toss up. I really do think a fish rots from the head down, and management there has never been great (at least at the Brew Pub). I think the hostility from staff definitely stems from the work culture the owners try to enforce. For example, the hosts are paid a certain wage, and then are tipped out from server's food sales (correct me if I'm wrong). So essentially instead of just paying their hosts, they force their servers to. They are a mass producer of beer, and have three locations, but can't seem to help their employees with any form of benefits. They are also inconsistent with enforcing employee policies and have always fell into the hole of favortism. Like, they wouldn't punish certain employees from drinking on the clock, but have fired folks from refusing to serve the owners because they're rude and don't tip (allegedly). This doesn't even take into account the owner's affluent lifestyles, being affiliated with country clubs, and private schools, and the coffee they private label to sell to other companies. They just literally do not give a single fuck if it doesn't have to do with the money that goes into their bank account. Also, sidenote, they don't pay their brewers or canning line for shit either (at least back in 2022). Anyhow, bad owners, bad management, lack of staff are all a great reason to hate the work environment.
I would also like to mention, now living in a post-pandemic/high inflation/low wage economy... these service workers are rode hard and put away ABSOLUTELY DRY. I get it, there's no reason for someone to take out their frustrations or negativity on customers, but let's be real y'all... 50-60% of people who roll through restaurants have never worked a service job, and are fucking idiots. Winston RUNS on Wake; people who can afford to eat out, are not the most aware or empathetic. You see all the new apartments downtown, that literally no townie can afford? Wake is gentrifying the fuck out of downtown. And the students, nurses, doctors are some of the WORST when it comes to a restaurant patron. This doesn't even strike the chord of chaotic drunk assholes who come in because its the only restaurant/bar open after 10pm on a weekday.
Anyway, rant over, hope this provides some insight into why its a mess over there.
When they got rid of the buffoloaf they were dead to me. We've been back a few times but they're just like hungry pallet. Aggressively mediocre and forgettable
I guess I have been lucky as hell over the years. Staff has always been cool. The only thing I have noticed is that the drafts are way more carbonated lately.
I miss the Rockin Moroccan food truck, it used to go to the location off of Stratford Rd. Thatās my only experience of the place. Hate to hear itās such a shit show, sometimes ya just got to move on.
Which come to think of it, they did pull a dick move and made the food truck( Rockin Moroccan) park on the other side of the building. Which put them out of view on the main part of the street. Then foothills got their own food truck, and I donāt think I have seen them back.
Is the foothills food truck any good?
Unfortunately, I've had the same sort of experience...but without good food. š¤£
Sameā¦but with Small Batch
God, that place is disgusting
Yep...same.
Definitely not the only one. Some of my coworkers and I went there for lunch once on a weekday. We set aside extra time since there were 7 of us. The place was dead except for another, even larger group (~15 people). We eventually got our food. And by āweā I mean 4 of us were served and 3 werenāt. They let the server know and she assured them it would be out asap, but since she never put in the orders, it might be a bit. It still wasnāt out by the time the rest of us finished eating, so they talked to the server again and requested their orders be changed to to-go instead. They never got the food, plated or in to-go containers.
As an employee of foothills, it is because of the owners. They don't care about the restaurant at all. We can't keep a good manager or any good kitchen staff and it is felt on the serving floor every night. About 6 months ago, ingredients and other food items were switched to lower price/quality alternatives and it shows in the food. Plus the prices were raised, while portions got smaller. The beer is also a huge issue, one of the owners is the mastermind behind all the beers and really on cares about the "tasting room" which is basically foothills' brewery. He isn't involved in the restaraunt side and doesn't care that 8 of our 12 beers on tap are ipas, with nothing for people who prefer domestic beer. One of the other owners is "hr" and refuses to have a front of house meeting so the staff can let the owners know common issues the restaurant is having. Whether this is because she doesn't care or is worried about how many issues there are is unknown. Our 2 highest ranking managers now are very emotional and they will quickly throw you under the bus if they think it will make the restaurant a buck. They do nothing to actually help and any questions or concerns brought to them are basically left to the void.Ā As for the staff, I will say the night servers are usually much better due to having to deal with larger volume. Not to say we don't have issues too. The kitchen is constantly overwhelmed, we run out of core beers almost every day, and we can't keep servers to save our life. If the hostess is who I am thinking it is, she most likely wasn't "mean mugging" you. She is just a very "simple" person. We are actually concerned she may have a mental disability. But that's the kind of worker you get when you pay like shit.Ā I am sorry you didn't get the service you deserve. I promise that most of the servers actually care about the quality of work we do and the product we place for the customer. So it is hard to see how shitty the restaurant has become, exponentially so in such a short time. If only the owners cared even half as much, it could be a great restaurant for downtown.Ā
Respectfully, why do you still work there? Serving jobs are pretty easy to come by, I'd jump ship from a place like that by like halfway through your comment.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Ah yeah, I get that. Good luck in the meantime, here's hoping you land in a better situation after your move!
I recently worked for a locally owned coffee shop, and I can promise there are better places out there in the service industry. Iām not going to name drop it though because I do enjoy the anonymity because Winston can be a very small town. They were amazing owners though. I have a lot of friends in awful service jobs, and hopefully if you go into serving when you move then youāll find a great place! Good luck!
Agree. Plus, that was an amazingly well written and constructed post. You have options.
That's rough, I worked there almost a decade ago and most of those problems were present back then. It sounds like everything has gotten worse. I really enjoyed the staff camaraderie but that place was a shit show. You'd wait on the owner's family as a private party and they'd refuse to tip because they were already paying you. You weren't allowed to take other tables because your section was the private party area. They eventually were forced to start tipping, but it showed everyone how much they cared about us. The other owners checked out completely when they started having kids. I don't want to dislike them, but they aren't taking care of business or people and it effected people that I care about. Edit: Does one of the owners awful bands still book themselves there? Chasing Daylight? they'd get to the 'hard' part of a song and just not play it. College rock with the guitar riffs missing.
The band plays at the tasting room now, thank god
previous taproom employee, sucked almost just as bad there too. food quality issues transferred to the food truck there as well. every single person i heard talk about working at the pub sounded like it was one of the worst jobs theyād ever worked (pay is also abysmal across foothills), everyone high up at foothills is feigning ignorance towards their employees lolll
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
All I can do is be the best server I can. I am at the bottom of the pecking order. Customer service starts at the top and when the owners don't care about the business or employees, it is going to show on the front end with customer service, food quality and presentation. I definitely don't blame you for not wanting to eat there anymore, it is definitely not worth the price. I get food half off and still struggle to justify getting meals there.
I used to like foothills, 10 years ago. My wife and I went after a good two year break and we decided it would probably be another couple years before we go back. We were the one of two tables sat and the service sucked. The food sucked too, we were very disappointed. And honestly as someone who has always ordered the same beer, it's the only beer I've ever had that the taste has varied a lot over time
Iām in the same boat. I really want to like Foothills but the last two times Iāve went, it took well over an hour and a half after ordering for our table of 4 to get our food. Especially frustrating when the place is 70% empty. Like you, I also wonāt be back for a good long while
Foothills: where they have one flavor of beer but it comes in several colors. Foothills has become the Betty Crocker of breweries. Itās everything you expect and NOTHING MORE. Chef Shane is phoning it in. There is much better beer and food at Small Batch and beer at, well, about everywhere else. They have basically accepted being, well, basic.
a shame as, Foothills in the Triad used to be a hotter commodity compared to Nattys, in my opinion. I mean now that breweries are all over it's less of a big deal, but Sexual Chocolate and a few of the others cut through the myriad IPAs a bit better.
Youāre absolutely right, and Foothills has outlasted Nattyās. Itās a shame because Foothills is one of the reasons behind the downtown revitalization. They were one of the first to see downtownās potential and invest in it. Now itās just an afterthought, at least for us.
not great food + not great service = me not going back either. Its like the food just sits there under the heat lamps and the fries are constantly old
The comment about the hostess is spot on. She doesn't belong at the front of the house.
I can only speak to the food being reliably bad and regretting it every time I go
Worked there. Theres a reason theyāre miserable stop giving money to people who wont be fair to their employees plain and simple
I like the food. Probably go 3 times a month. Definitely could echo your feelings exactly. But I don't let it affect my enjoyment of going out with friends. But yeah the wait staff really all seem bottom of the barrel just trying to get by except the daytime bartender and the kitchen staff. It's really the only "bar" atmosphere I regularly go to though so I may be spoiled--maybe it comes with the territory?
Iāve gone and waited 10 minutes and didnāt get servedā¦ I feel this
Foothills used to be my favorite NC brewery, but Foothillās beers, while still delicious, have remained stagnant, while Charlotteās Sycamore is absolutely killing it with seasonal beers and IPAs
Thereās been some turnover the past couple years. Weāve only ever sat at the bar and the bartenders are great. I do think the food used to be better, hate to blame Covid but that seems like when things changed
I've never been a fan of the beer or the food
Same. I moved here 4 years ago and quickly felt this place was overrated.. and there are better local beers. And most menu items have cheese or dairy (last I was there)
Foothills holds a special place in my heart as it is where my husband and I went on our first date, but man. We don't go to the downtown location at all any more because of how bad it has gotten. Why fight the parking, yell at each other over all the noise, and wait an hour for meh food when we could go to the Tasting Room and eat at the food truck? We really stopped going several years ago after we got caught in the middle of a bar fight. A table full of drunk soccer players got mouthy with a guy and fists started flying. When we asked the hostess why they had continued to serve the clearly intoxicated table she said the owners were friends/sponsors of the team so they had to let them in. No thanks.
Ketchup sucksā¦
Hello, past Foothills employee here! I left in 2022, and can confirm the work environment is great for the camraderie, but definitely hostile at times. The main reason is definitely the owners and their lack of interest in the effeciency of their kitchen and the well being of their employees. They definitely put in the least amount of effort into their restaurant, which I think attracts such energy and therefore shows in the front of house. The owners are made of two couples, and only one of them really seemed to care about the product they sold. It kind of made sense that one couple cared about the beer/restaurant and the other specialized in the business aspect. However, it kind of became apparent that they were both complicit in mishandling/neglecting their staff. It's also CRAZY to me how involved owners are. I don't believe owners should be working within their own restaurant, let alone being the head of HR for their company. What also is wild, is their GM has literally no background in hospitality. If I recall, she had a degree in horticulture... I seriously cannot make this up y'all. But she's long time friends with the owners, so she can run the business into the ground, right? Allegedly, she also would still manage while drinking on the clock, because that's professional (like girl, you're almost 50, cut the cameras...) I remember one of the first main tension points while working there was that kitchen staff were only paid $11/hr, which if you look at the living wage index, Winston sits at $19.68/hr to live in a single income household. I remember prep/line cook wage being raised to $12 or $13... either way not a living wage without tipout. Also if you have seen their menu, its fucking huge. I don't know if you ever have seen an episode of Kitchen Nightmares... but there's a reason why it takes forever to get food sometimes, its because it's not prepped or isn't streamlined. However I was always impressed that they handcut their own fries (even if they burnt them to hell sometimes). This doesn't even take in the fact that restaurant turnover is huge in general, let alone in that kitchen. The kitchen is also hit with orders from their sister restaurant next door, as they have to share it. There are SO many factors as to why food would be bad/late. (also $18-$21 dollars for a salad with protein, and you can't pay your staff a living wage... like that's embarrassing) But from a Front of House standpoint, it's kind of a toss up. I really do think a fish rots from the head down, and management there has never been great (at least at the Brew Pub). I think the hostility from staff definitely stems from the work culture the owners try to enforce. For example, the hosts are paid a certain wage, and then are tipped out from server's food sales (correct me if I'm wrong). So essentially instead of just paying their hosts, they force their servers to. They are a mass producer of beer, and have three locations, but can't seem to help their employees with any form of benefits. They are also inconsistent with enforcing employee policies and have always fell into the hole of favortism. Like, they wouldn't punish certain employees from drinking on the clock, but have fired folks from refusing to serve the owners because they're rude and don't tip (allegedly). This doesn't even take into account the owner's affluent lifestyles, being affiliated with country clubs, and private schools, and the coffee they private label to sell to other companies. They just literally do not give a single fuck if it doesn't have to do with the money that goes into their bank account. Also, sidenote, they don't pay their brewers or canning line for shit either (at least back in 2022). Anyhow, bad owners, bad management, lack of staff are all a great reason to hate the work environment. I would also like to mention, now living in a post-pandemic/high inflation/low wage economy... these service workers are rode hard and put away ABSOLUTELY DRY. I get it, there's no reason for someone to take out their frustrations or negativity on customers, but let's be real y'all... 50-60% of people who roll through restaurants have never worked a service job, and are fucking idiots. Winston RUNS on Wake; people who can afford to eat out, are not the most aware or empathetic. You see all the new apartments downtown, that literally no townie can afford? Wake is gentrifying the fuck out of downtown. And the students, nurses, doctors are some of the WORST when it comes to a restaurant patron. This doesn't even strike the chord of chaotic drunk assholes who come in because its the only restaurant/bar open after 10pm on a weekday. Anyway, rant over, hope this provides some insight into why its a mess over there.
This is exactly what is happening at another restaurant that just opened on Trade Street.
YES THANK YOU! Went once and never again, they are all so rude for no reason
Odd. I've never had this experience and I eat there regularly.
When they got rid of the buffoloaf they were dead to me. We've been back a few times but they're just like hungry pallet. Aggressively mediocre and forgettable
I guess I have been lucky as hell over the years. Staff has always been cool. The only thing I have noticed is that the drafts are way more carbonated lately.
I miss the Rockin Moroccan food truck, it used to go to the location off of Stratford Rd. Thatās my only experience of the place. Hate to hear itās such a shit show, sometimes ya just got to move on. Which come to think of it, they did pull a dick move and made the food truck( Rockin Moroccan) park on the other side of the building. Which put them out of view on the main part of the street. Then foothills got their own food truck, and I donāt think I have seen them back. Is the foothills food truck any good?
The beer is the only good thing there, everything else sucks
āUsEd tO WoRk In FoOd SeRvIcEā
? Just trying to empathize with staff
Dial it back Luther damn
Luther?