The symbol of our country… delegated to keeping my food from being sloppy

Did one of my crazy rounds of driving yesterday and ended up in Centralia, WA. A town somewhere between Portland and Seattle along I-5, it seems to be some sort of touristy, glorified bathroom break… which is weird because I always hit Centralia after being on I-5 for about 10 min.

Anyways, one of the largest and most obvious eateries in the area is Country Cousin which happens to be owned by the Ramblin’ Restaurant Group… did not know this till I went to their website. (Love Mercato, BTW) The menu is the familiar fair that you would expect along a major interstate. The stuff that’s palatable by most American drivers: burgers, sandwiches, most items with a decent amount of meat… their specialty being some sort of pot roast. Tough choices for an ethical eater.

Their yak burger is a standout item though. The meat is harvested in Elma, a town that I pass through on my drive from Hoquiam, where, along the way, you might actually see future burgers out in the field. It’s kind of pricy; 9.99 for a cheeseburger but it’s an excellent price to pay for leaner meat which won’t cause stomach cramps.

Bah, rambling! Trying to get one point across: Food is excellent… atmosphere is unique but… service needs a big boost. I read some reviews where people were complaining about uppity teenagers but it was honestly a diversely aged staff that day. After working in a restaurant, a person becomes more tolerant of waits and frazzled servers; I mean, it was me at one point or another. Sadly, our waitress did a big no-no: bringing the check out with the food.

Ughhhhh… This move pretty much says “My customer relationship is completed. I probably won’t even come check on your water glasses.” (Which was the case) I feel bad since I wanted to like the place because it is locally owned and, in some aspects, locally supplied. Once this happened, though… I started noticing weird things like the ceiling treatment which is faux made from particle board screwed to the old ceiling.

Perhaps it was just the day or something but, it’s really tough for me to say that people were what gloomed my experience at a restaurant.