08/18/09

Stay Away from Dunaway's

by MsAlnilam

On a Thursday night we ventured to Dunaway's Restaurant for, what we thought, would be a five star meal.

After waiting an hour and twenty minutes for our food, I decided to seek out the Manager. I told him we had been waiting at our rooftop table for our food with very poor service and that we had run out of bread, water, wine and soft drinks.

I would TRY to understand this poor service if the place were busy, but this was not the case. From what I saw only about a third of the tables were taken despite the fact that our waiter said the kitchen was swamped.

When I approached the Manager, his response was "We expect you to stay here two hours, so waiting an hour and twenty minutes still gives you fourty minutes to eat and have desert".

I said "Is that it?"... He said "yes".

I would encourage everyone reading this to stay away from Dunaway's unless you're not in a hurry and it doesn't matter to you that the management there could care less about your satisfaction.

In this poor economy where a lot of people are watching their money, I would think Dunaway's would want to be "on their toes" trying to make sure customers have an enjoyable experience and WANT to return.

The final straw; the rooftop fire escape stairwell was blocked leaving the only access a slow small elevator.

I gave them one star ONLY because it is required by this site.

• Pros: Rooftop View
• Cons: Everything Else

06/06/09

Three Strikes-Yer Out!

by www111www

Ok, three strikes. I'm done with Dunaway's. I entertained some friends from out of town. They were interested in Dunaway's due to the proximity of Eli Lilly. I had been to the restaurant on two other occasions with similiar poor results.

Simply put, the service from the wait staff was slow and seemingly uncaring. I even pulled our waiter aside and asked him to keep a "close eye on us" because my guests wanted to have a good time. Maybe I wasn't clear enough in my request. Our drinks were slow in coming. Entrees were somewhat cold. For 6 of us the bill was close to $600. The rooftop view is unique, but please put a tablecloth over the cheesy WalMart plastic table. Mr Dunaway, you can do better!

I can do better too. My next dinner with guests will be at some other high end restaurant in downtown Indy. There are others to choose from.

One star for the view. (Insert heavy sigh!)

• Pros: Food was good
• Cons: Slow, marginal service

09/03/08

Exorbitant and arbitrary overpricing

by mary567

Made reservations for 20 to order off of the menu. No written or verbal contract was requested or made. 17 made it for the birthday party. Bill for 17 people was approx $770.00. We were handed our bill plus a $500.00 "extra charge" because our table had not ordered 20 entrees (by the way they were out of the Amish chicken) The owner Jeff Dunaway told that us that he had planned that the table was to have 20 people ordering $60.00 each. Without a contract he had absolutely no right to demand that we pay this charge. Mr. Dunaway then refused to let us leave without paying his fictional charge. The police were called (I am not kidding). They tried to negotiate that we pay half of this charge to diffuse the situation and we refused. Mr. Dunaway told the police that he was taking us to Small Claims Court. I, by the way, had to be taken by ambulance to the emergency room because my heart rate was 150 when the EMT's measured it. By all accounts Mr. Dunaway found it amusing that I was in distress. THIS IS A TRUE STORY. I have been advised by the Restaurant Association that in order for Dunaway to even attempt to tack on this charge it would have to be stated on a contract (there wasn't one) or posted on his menus or walls. And really who would go to a restaurant that stated that the owner can decide on a whim what the bill will be.

• Cons: owner