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Charlestown, West Virginia

"On the 5th day the Lord said unto me, "Scott, thou shall lead the assistant servers from thine sinks, brooms and mops. And no more shall thee be laid waste by thine imbibed customers, who run amuck in the Denny's of Charlestown, West Virginia." - written prior to September, 1999
- Scott

"I live in the area of Charlestown, WV and for the last couple of years have been going to the local Denny's (Store # 6167). Up until this pat Sunday my family was very satisfied with the food, service, etc. Yesterday morning we stopped by for breakfast. My wife ordered the Eggs Benedict, with the yolks runny, i.e. sunny side up. When her order came the yolks were rock hard so we sent them back. When the waitress returned she informed us that the cooks couldn't get the yolks any softer. My wife said if I can't get the yolks runny I don't want the order! The waitress called the manager over who listened to our complaint and then said "The cooks can't get them out of the pan if they're runny!" By this time my wife was close to tears and our Sunday was off to a terrible start.
I find it absolutely amazing that a restaurant that advertises 'Breakfast any time' hires cooks that haven't mastered the art of frying eggs sunny side up. One cook I can understand. But a whole staff of cooks, including the manager, who are incapable of 'over easy/sunny side-up' eggs? So much for professional pride! I guess "eggs to order" means, Order what you will but be happy with what the cook gives you!
Disappointed in Denny's. And sad for my 'sunny' Sundays that used to start at Denny's' are now a thing of the past!" - written prior to September, 1999
- Jim Kelleher

Clarksburg, West Virginia

May 4, 2003 - "I am so glad I found this site !! We stopped at Denny's unit # 7759-Clarksburg, WV on 1/23/03 . We were seated pretty quick but that is where the good service stopped. Sat at table for 10 minutes before we received menues, then waited,10 mins. later waitress came back to take drink & dinner orders. We waited again. Noticed alot of employees standing around talking with friends & each other. Even the manager was standing around but he did go & clear off one table so another group could sit down.We were sitting near the counter area so had pretty good view of everything in place. My husbands order came up& was sitting in window (pass thru area from kitchen) .Sat for 15-20 mins. finally waitress brought drinks & then the by now "cold "food (not hot) . Alot of other customers were still waiting to order , guess we were lucky since they came in right behind us. We paid the bill & asked if there was a comment card we could fill out ,The man at register said no but he could pass on our info. (was said in a very nasty tone) . I told them that was ok I would go online. I made a phone call to the toll free number & told them about this place & was told it would be foreworderd to rest.'s owner, which they did & I would hear something back from owner . No such occurence !! Only from main company telling me they passed on my complaint . THIS IS A BRAND NEW DENNY'S & IT IS TERRIBLE . I have worked in several food places & to run properly - 1- keep eveything clean / 2-make sure customer is happy with everything-service & food !! Pay attention this is your job!! thanks for letting me vent ."
- Gimarie67

Keyser, West Virginia

November 24, 2000 - "I use to be a huge Denny's fan until the other week. The following happened is was at the Denny's located in Keyser, West Virginia . Well, I ordered a vanilla coke and so did my mother. AfterÊI finished drinking half of itÊI looked in myÊglass and there was a bug. My mom said "I'm glad there is none in mind", well she was wrong. I looked in herÊglass and there another bug (in fact fire ants). We immediately got the waitress and told her about it, she gave us all newÊglass and said she gave a 100% guarantee bug free(she was so polite and trying to handle a difficult situation very professional). When we looked at the glasses again there was still another but again on the inside of the glass. We both noticed the one waitress spraying bug spray around the drink machines. Mom called the waitress (who was so polite) over and told her I am sorry but there is another bug. This waitress was trying to help us as much as possible.ÊÊMom told her maybe it was in the ice. The manager came over and said is what can I do (there was four of us in our party) and we then suggested he give us milk since it was located at another area in the restaurant.ÊThey immediately startedÊemptying the ice from the bins, I assume it was in the ice.ÊIt seemed like the manager did not really want to help or even see the waitress trying to help. He brought us the milk and when another waitress came to our table she said he would take one meal off the total cost of the bill. The drinks cost was never deducted, we still had to pay for drinks which we returned twice for fire ants. My dad wanted to take my mom and I out to eat the other night to Denny's, but mom and I just could not go yet.ÊÊThe other two people in our party (one a manager at a localÊhair salon and a teacher at Keyser Primary-Middle School)Êcould not believe we did not get the whole mealÊand drinks free.ÊThere were many other people in Denny's that night, how manyÊdrank there ants and did not know, how many drank bug killer and did not know. I really felt mom did all she could to make things right, but did the manager? I know this letter is only coming from a student at Keyser High School but do you realizeÊhow much business Denny's in Keyser gets from HighÊSchool students, especiallyÊbefore and after school functions. Thank you for your attention in this matter. I look forward in hearing from you."
- Laura Shreve

May 12, 2001 - "Pros: the ranch dressing
Cons: almost everything
Recommended: No
Want the opinion of somebody who has had the unfortunate opportunity of being employed here? Denny's is a poor excuse for a good restaurant. It is an over-priced ripoff. Pet peeves: People running this franchise are disorganized and rude. The have been waitressing all of their life. Most of them are sooooooo disgustingly fake and overly nice to their customers and then, when asked nicely by their guests to get something for them, they cuss and complain and everything else. They provide BAD service to the young, teenage customers because they think they won't leave a good tip. What makes them think they will get a good tip if they are mean to their customers? I know what servers have to go through and my friends and I leave good tips to good waitresses, and not-so-good tips to other waitresses who provide bad service, who probably believe the stigma that teenagers give bad tips.
I have read most of the opinions on Denny's on this site, and I must agree. One of the most prevalent complaints is the quality of service. And I agree with this, actually. I try my hardest to provide very efficient, quick, and nice service to all of my guests, but it is extremely hard to do when you restaurant is severely UNDER-STAFFED!!!!!
This is not because nobody applies for positions in the restaurant, but it is because the management is too cheap to hire anybody else. FOR EXAMPLE: On our busiest nights which are Friday and Saturday in this fairly large restaurant we are staffed with TWO cooks and five waitresses for the entire restaurant!!!! For example, yesterday night, which was Friday, I worked in the smoking section, which contains SIXTEEN BOOTHS! The smoking section has always only been staffed by one waitress. Sixteen booths means that I am in charge of 64 people at one time. Can I refill drinks, take orders, deliver orders, fix problems, take back food that isn't right, seat others, give guest checks out, get to-go orders for people who want them, get desserts, clear tables, etc all in a timely manner which can satisfy everybody and their needs? Anybody with any common sense knows the answer to this is NO. It is impossible. This is why we cannot provide upstanding service. In other restaurants, one server can only take 3 to four tables at a time (to provide good service) even if there is enough room for other parties. This is a smart idea for smart restaurants, of which Denny's is not.
Police cars are always at Denny's as some of you have pointed out. Have you wondered why? POLICE DISCOUNTS are why. When asking a policeman how his dinner was when I cashed him out, he replied ok, and I joked that he must like it since he keeps coming back. He replied matter-of-factly that the only reason he came was not because of the food or anything, but because he could get it cheap. Even though I do not frequent Denny's as a regular customer, I think it is unfair that policeman can receive a 50% discount when employees must pay full price for a meal. I told you this place isn't managed right.
Concerning the opinions and views that our food is overpriced, I agree here also. On our menu are many types of chicken sandwiches. One of the sandwiches that are ordered on a regular basis is the crispy chicken sandwich, which comes with fries. I was told by the manager that the patty that is on the sandwich costs the company 19 cents. In total, the meal would probably cost upwards of 45 cents. This meal is listed in our menu with a price of about seven dollars. I guess this is why they are still in business - a killer profit.
When you go to the supermarket and buy a two liter of Coke, Mr. Pibb, Sprite or Root Beer, whatever, the cost is around $1.30. Why pay $1.39 for twenty ounces of the same product. Here, they also ripoff customers.
Soda: $1.39 for a glass
Ice cream: Where else besides Denny's would you pay $1.50 for a small scoop of ice cream?
Applesauce/Cottage cheese: If a customer wants cottage cheese or applesauce with something that it cannot come with, such as a dinner or other entree, I am required to charge them $1.00 for a portion that equals about half of a cup. This is ridiculous, considering the whole, two pound container cost only about 1.00! This makes me feel like I am ripping people off when I have to charge this.
When I went for server training, I had to watch videos (or at least pretend like I was watching, as I was told by our manager) concerning racial discrimination and "upselling". We must force desserts, appetizers, salads, and other things on a customer who may not want or need them. We were required to do this. I signed a contract that indicated if we didn't do this, we could be terminated. Also, in the evening, we must have an average guest check of at least $7.00. This is very important, some girls cheat to make their guest check higher by subtracting people from the actual number they have served to make their averages higher. When you have a higher guest check average, this makes you look better to the managers. What happens if a party of four or five people come in and just wants dessert (our desserts are very good, even though they are severely overpriced)? Our guest check average goes down, we look bad to managers, who then cut the days we are allowed to work, and we end up either losing money in the long run or quitting. This is why Denny's hires SIX servers for every ONE they need - FIVE OF THE SIX HATE THE PLACE SO BAD THEY QUIT!!!!!
Another of my pet peeves is running out of thiings in this restaurant. On a daily basis, we always run out of tea bags for our hot tea. (Oh yeah, a tea bag costs about two to three cents: why do we charge $1.49 for hot tea?) We also run out of rolls, childrens's paper cups, children's menus, pies (which sometimes have been sitting in our display cases soooo long that they either dry up or start to mold). We have a list called the "86 list" which lists everything that we cannot serve, because we do have it. Why put the T-Bone steak on dinner feature for the night shift (which lasts from 3-12 pm) when we only have 40-50 steaks? Why put spagetti on our "ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT" special when we only have enough to give the customer one, small portion. This is an embarrasment to the servers when they must deny the requests of their guests pertaining to more spagetti when we don't have any, and they get angry at the fact they have just paid $8.00 for a small portion of spagetti. Another thing: we only have running water from two of the four faucets in the front of the restaurant. This is ridiculous when we have to run to the other end of the restaurant to get water. What makes you think we are gonna wash our hands when we are incredibly busy and don't have time to think, we surely aren't gonna run to the other end of the restaurant to do it, at the risk of our customers getting angry with us for taking so long. Sometimes our dishwashers are so inefficient that we can't serve people drinks because we don't have glasses to serve them in, either that or they are filthy and I will not serve coffee in a dirty coffee cup. Watch our lettuce for the salads, most of the time it is prepared two days before, packaged tightly with water, which makes it decompose and turn brown very fast. We always have complaints about that.
The only good thing I can think of in our restaurant is the ranch dressing. I'll agree with everybody on that. But did you know we make it ourselves with two packets of cheap seasoning, two liters of water, and almost two gallons of mayonnaise? That is why it is chunky; pure fat and water do not mix well. Makes for clogged arteries. Whatever for the money, right?
Recently, I was working on the late-shift, as i had beenÊfor the past 2 months. For some reasonÊunknown to me, i was taken off of the swing shift and put on the late night shift (11pm-6am or 6pm-4am). During this time, I was repeatedly grabbed, fondled, and touched by dirty, old men. I was threatened to be shot, and one man even came up from behind and began licking my neck. I WAS FURIOUS!!! To solve this problem, I wrote a letter to the general manager or our store, whose name is Tim Pratt, and requested toÊbe taken off of night shift. I told him what all had went on. The next week that I came in at 11:00 pm, Mr. Tim Pratt (in all of his infinite wisdom, Please notice the sarcasm...) decided to have another manager who had nothing to do with the situation, terminate my employment. WHY? I was fired because I felt that working the late-night shift, with all of the rude, inconsiderate, sexually-harassing drunks, was dangerous to my well-being. The reason I was fired was because it was inconvenient to the manager that I didn't let the men touch me.ÊÊÊ What kind of work environment is that??? Would anybody feel safe if they had to deal with this situation constantly? i felt that writing that letter would bring the situation to light, but apparently Tim Pratt doesn't care about anybody's well-being.Ê (Hmmm......Isn't Denny's supposed to be aÊ family resturant, also; I do not believe this is an equivalent to Hooters!)Ê I will never eat there again, by the way. Watch out for the pies, whichÊtend to become moldy.Ê Please, never take your view from the corners of your tables. The Denny's inÊKeyser, WV has about the worst ant problem I have ever seen. Watch your drinks for ants, also. They tend to be attracted to the ice bins from which we retrieve the ice to add to your drinks.ÊÊÊ Do not order vanilla or chocolate cokes, because we all know that ants are atttracted to sweet substances, of wh ich these 2 syrups are. Don't get milk, because alot of the time it is past the expiration date.Ê
Just a few warnings from:
An "ex- employee""
- Ashley Miller

Martinsburg, West Virginia

July 19, 2000 - "Yes, we were at the Denny's on Saturday,July 15, in Martinsburg, WV, it was the worse breakfast we ever had. We waited for over an hour for our breakfast, when it finally came, my husbands grits were full of lumps, my son and I got a skillet, it was terrible, you use to get so much that you couldn't even eat it all, now you are lucky to even get full, the english muffins were hardly even warm let alone being toasted. It was a terrible breakfast, and I would not go back. "
- Debbie Leatherman

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