I've attended 1280 a couple of times now, although I still have not personally eaten any of the food >.< I'm not a huge fan of restaurants to be honest.

The first time was for the rep kick off. The atmosphere was nice, it got a bit hot but nothing huge. Overall it was a positive experience for me, although I wasn't drinking. However, the people who were drinking all had huge complaints about not being served. The bar was understaffed. Andrew Richardson, the VP Admin was there and already made note of that problem. This was their first time staffing an event, to the best of my knowledge, so they are still learning how many servers are needed. The bar also ran out of change at one point, so a few people couldn't buy drinks.

The second time was for a SOCS lunch on the Sunday for first years. There were burgers and hot dogs set out in a buffet type style, so we weren't waiting for service. I didn't actually eat anything, but I didn't hear any complaints? I guess thats a good thing.

The third time was when I was checking for Mac Passes at the Monday night social Dance Party thing. It wasn't as bad as the Rave from my first year that had condensation dripping from the walls, but the heat was much worse. As soon as you walked in it was completely unbearable. A lot of people left after being in for short periods of time. Possibly keeping the patio doors open could help?

Overall I want the place to do well, and am cautiously optimistic. Fingers crossed I guess?

Okay, SO here's a bit more of insider info, to help put perspective on things.

First off, I agree that the service needs work. It seems as if the servers need to shake off a lot of rust and get their routes down well.

However, here are some things that have happened:

-One debit machine has gone down, so the entire staff has to use one machine. Especially frustrating to everyone since just about every patron pays by debit or credit.

-One POS system was locked down all day the past two days, so again, there was a bit more of frustration there.

-The capacity has increased from 80 to 150 on the restaurant side of things. Yet, the kitchen is no bigger and the staff size has not increased, nor has it really changed. This is a huge thing to note as the quality of the food has increased exponentially and they are putting out food for double the amount of people last year in the same amount of time.

The biggest problem in the past has been the kitchen, and I think that the problem has been addressed quite well. They can only get faster as they get used to the new menu, so there are good things in store there.

==

I think that in a couple of weeks everyone will get acclimatized to the place, there wont be whole residences coming through for food and the staff will have some experience under their belt.

Things should look up a lot.

I really hope everyone does give 1280 a try (or another try). The soft opening was YESTERDAY, and there have already been changes happening throughout the week.

Due to the large number of people who have been checking out 1280, they increased the number of staff (so your concerns are being addressed)

There's also only been ONE cook this week (who has been doing an amazing job).

I understand many people won't accept the fact that a "soft opening" isn't an excuse, I'm very happy with the service I've received the 3 times my friends and I have been there. Yes, the first day 4 of us couldn't get a table so we sat at the bar, but that's fine. Today we waited a little bit longer so we could all eat together, but we were a group of like 12.

plus, all of our meals have been hot and delicious (HUGE difference from Q's already). and I really like those mason jar glasses.

I will definitely be happy to give it another shot, I know that the kitchen staff will get better, and I was happy with the quality of food.

I am just really hoping for better (proper) "service" from the waitresses in the future.

Originally Posted by jmbauman

There's also only been ONE cook this week (who has been doing an amazing job).

Who's idea was this?
I'm not trying to be rude or anything. I'm curious who thought it would be a good idea to have ONE cook working during Welcome Week at a campus restaurant/bar that was just renovated and was having its first week in service??

Well I guess I'll have to try the two things I did last year and see if they changed (margarita Pizza and a Regular Beef Burger). The Lattice Fries is the only thing I've tried so far and they were pretty good and bought out in like less then 2-3 minutes! I mean compared to the brown & wierdly bad tasting fries a fellow rep bought from Phoenix!

Originally Posted by jmbauman

Due to the large number of people who have been checking out 1280, they increased the number of staff (so your concerns are being addressed)

Hopefully whoever they are, they remember to decrease the staff once the rush is done.

I understand many people won't accept the fact that a "soft opening" isn't an excuse

They shouldn't accept this as an excuse. This "soft opening" is a bogus, invented idea made up by a terrified management to try and save a little face in the case that things go south during opening (as clearly they have to some degree). Any good restaurant will want to open strong. You know what is said about First Impressions, right? A good manager would know this too and use mostly returning employees the first while. What about hiring outstanding people with previous food service experience? Any other establishment would do this, and thereby avoid the whole "givumabreak, they're new" thing. I'd imagine that with 21 000 students there will be a few awesome people to hire. Also, having more than one cook for a place whose capacity doubled would be terrific and would have shown adequate foresight of the unusually high crowds (coming to look at the new place and try it out - and deciding whether they ever want to come back!)

TwelveEighty's taking everyone's feedback and acting on changes, which is great to see. Keep the feedback coming so they can keep improving the experience for everyone.

I'm going to reserve my review of the new venue until the dust settles. Keep in mind it has only been open a short period of time so kinks still need to be worked out.

Waited an hour and a half for my food. They screwed up my order and then told me if I sent it back it would take another hour and a half so I should just eat anyway. They didn't bring one of my friends her food, so she had nothing after an hour and a half wait. Needless to say , we probably won't be returning anytime soon.

Originally Posted by àlacarte

Waited an hour and a half for my food. They screwed up my order and then told me if I sent it back it would take another hour and a half so I should just eat anyway. They didn't bring one of my friends her food, so she had nothing after an hour and a half wait. Needless to say , we probably won't be returning anytime soon.

They actually said you should just eat it anyways? LOL.

omg LOL.

Originally Posted by àlacarte

Waited an hour and a half for my food. They screwed up my order and then told me if I sent it back it would take another hour and a half so I should just eat anyway. They didn't bring one of my friends her food, so she had nothing after an hour and a half wait. Needless to say , we probably won't be returning anytime soon.

It sounds like some servers need a lesson in customer service.

I'm not saying that the customer is always right, because they're not, but they should have the decency to be nicer to their patrons.

Originally Posted by àlacarte

Waited an hour and a half for my food. They screwed up my order and then told me if I sent it back it would take another hour and a half so I should just eat anyway. They didn't bring one of my friends her food, so she had nothing after an hour and a half wait. Needless to say , we probably won't be returning anytime soon.

WTF. Id be like why dont you eat it *****. Thats some messed up service, you should asked for your money back.

Went there for lunch today. I was in and out in an hour, and the food was great.

I have been eating there ever since it opened up. I love the food there and I really don't have any complaints. The only issue I had was the amount of time it took them to serve me a plate of poutine. Then again, I did go with about twenty other people so it's understandable I guess. I am actually about to go eat there right now!

I dont CARE if the servers are new! They should have served before if 128Q wanted good servers (ie. with experience) and even for a new server, letting people sit there is UNACCEPTABLE!

I would have been fired from that at the old restaurant I worked at!

This is complete bullcrap and exactly what I expected.