According to Hillgartner, her family and her had sat down just a few minutes before a staff altercation broke out. She said the assistant manager swore and shoved employees. After this, "service quickly degraded," the mother continued in her post.
She claimed that the food came cold and a long-delayed side order arrived "ridiculously portioned." Hillgartner said she asked the manager for the side order to be removed from her bill.
While they were talking, Hillgartner's husband suggested that the manager should apologize to the staff.
That's when the woman claims things escalated even further.
"He then picked up the cheese sauce and chucked it at my husband's chest!" Hillgartner wrote in her review. "And proceeded to attack him in our booth! Pushing him into my 10-year-old daughter."
She apparently tried intervening and two other people came to assist.
"I was able to exit the restaurant with my very traumatized children," the review reads. "Now I know everyone has bad days. But from the state of the staff there I don't think this was his first one!"
Hillgartner and her family have stated they won't be returning to that restaurant, and others chimed in to agree in the replies.
"We were there also! My 8-year-old had a severe panic attack and we left also. We will not be going there again," Victoria Clare wrote. "This was his second assault on someone that day."
After Hillgartner got in touch with the folks at Red Robin, vice president Brian Crawford released a statement condoning the manager's behaviour and outlining the steps they're taking to support the staff and the customer's family.
Statement from Brian Crawford, VP at Red Robin Canada.Red Robin | Facebook
According to the statement, the manager in question is no longer an employee at Red Robin, and the company is bringing in counsellors for team members.
Hillgartner says she won't be pressing charges.
"I don’t know many people who are helped by legal action," she wrote. "Also, to be clear, the wait staff, the kitchen, hosts, etc., were all very pleasant and doing their best."
This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.
