Review of Monte Ne Inn (the chicken house)

This starts out as an ordinary review, but stick with it....it has an interesting ending..........

Okay, so if you have lived in Arkansas for a while you have probably heard of the Monte Ne Inn (pronounced mahnta-nay - although some don't pronounce the "t") where you sit and eat the best fried chicken, mashed potatoes & gravy, bread, several sides - all served up family style. We have lived here almost nine years and had never been there. It's located about 7 or 8 miles down New Hope Rd in Rogers (that's the road that goes up between the Promenade and Olive Garden.) Dave and I took the family camping up at Monte Ne campground last night (just before Horseshoe Bend) and decided last minute to make reservations at the chicken house. (You should always have a reservation - they are packed.) The restaurant itself doesn't look like much from the outside, but has a charming interior with table scattered everywhere and the walls are filled with antiqued wrought-iron tools and such. I was instantly in love with it and planned immediately to blog about it. The cost is $9.25 for 11 and over and $4.50 for children 4-10. 3 and under are free. They don't put a menu on the table and the waiters are rather hurried and expect you to know how the chicken house works, but we were first-timers and had no clue. Our waiter quickly took the drink order (we ordered waters - trying to not go into debt for dinner) and then brought out a pot of delicious blended bean soup. It was a light appetizer, but I really wanted more (I think all the kids did). We watched as our server carried huge amounts of food all over the restaurant ( I think they could have been better staffed) and we were curious what to expect yet but didn't want to flag him down as he looked so busy, so I pulled a busgirl over and told her we were new and asked how this all worked. We asked if drinks were included and she told us yes, as were the desserts, which sounded delicious as well. When the waiter finally arrived, we ordered sodas for everyone. The food was brought shortly after and we passed around the fried chicken (which was mostly white meat - you can pay extra for all white meat, when available), the creamy mashed potatoes and gravy (average), corn (again, average), green beans (cooked with bacon, I think, because they were very flavorful), coleslaw (better the KFC), baby bread loaves (average) with apple butter (yummy.) All in all I would say it was like a glorified KFC (unless you factor in the atmostphere - that helped) When our bellies were sufficiently full (it is all you can eat), we were asked about desserts. Dave and I requested cobbler ala mode - he had blackberry, I had peach. Hannah and Megs both had huge bowls with fudge cake and ice cream. Alyssa and Wes had 3 scoops of rainbow sherbet each. The bill arrived while I was in the bathroom washing off a fudge-covered Megan, and Dave showed me that we were charged for drinks and dessert as well. I knew I needed to go talk to the manager (who I realized is actually the owner) as we had been told those things were included, but I wasn't looking forward to it. I shuffled up to the front where I knew he was and tried to quietly explain my situation as there were people everywhere. WARNING: HE WAS VERY UNPROFESSIONAL. Yup, you heard right. He asked me if I thought I hadn't eaten my money's worth and I explained to him that the meal was great, but that given the fact that I have a large family, I would not have ordered drinks and $7.oo desserts had I known they weren't part of the package deal. But his busgirl had told us they were all included. He looked me right in the face and said none of his employees would say that, (he's calling me a liar here) so I had to do the awful task of pointing the poor girl out and he finally agreed to take the desserts off the bill. He then went and brought the girl over to the front desk and made her apologize to me. I felt so bad for her - she was probably new. He put his hand on her shoulder and said in a loud voice , "The next time a customer asks you a question and you are not sure about the answer, what should you do?" She timidly responded that she should ask a server. I apologized quietly to her and I felt just as humiliated as she did. I think that the owner handled the situation so poorly that I will never go back again.
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