They will be back open on Tuesday

Anonymous wrote:

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It is good to see the Depot open again. We need them to do very well. We must have downtown restaruants that are attractive to many customers.

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My wife and I are from Chicago and we came to this area with Jeep Jamboree and wanted to eat dinner at a really nice place with excellent food and equal reputaion. We searched this site and found that 'The Depot' was 'the place to go' and even highly recommended by our local friends. We had a horrible experience!!

Out of the four in our party THREE order's were cooked incorrectly and sent back. One at a time they would return back to our table.One of our parties order was just cooked wrong and was sent back for the second time. The manager came to the table and explained that it was always cooked that way. (WRONG!) She is a local and a regular there and she knew that it was not what was prepared 'as normal'. It had no flavor or zest what so ever. (I tried it!) It went back again. They were kindly asked to please re-cook the order instead of dressing the top up again and presenting it again as 'new' with more garnish minutes after sending it back. Obviously there was a problem to re-cook the order so the order was then changed to THE ONLY order on our table that was correct from the beginning. Keeping in mind that our party was already eating as she waited

The crowd, which wasn't heavy when we arrived, was now a lot thinner.... We still were waiting for 45 minutes...she selection was 'pre-cooked' meal that simply needed to be thrown on the grill and spiced up. Where was it!? Finally we asked for the check, no food had yet to arrive. THEN it appeared. It was in a carry out box and a bag, NOT on a plate! She went to speak to the management but got the cold shoulder. Management was totally aware of what we were dealing with, as were some of the customer's that kept asking if we'd got all of our order yet. If even the customer's knew I wondered why THEY, the management, didn't come to us!?? They never once even apologized to for the horrible service, inconvenience and total delay of the order. We were not even offered a 'free' desert for our 2 1/2 hour ordeal... Nothing!! A sincere apology would have been nice instead of being totally ignored, after all, we are all human and do make mistakes. (Not that many in one situation though!)

Upon arriving to their home where she could finally eat dinner that she'd waited on for almost 3 hours now... It was also incorrect! Not at all what was ordered again! Now I wondered if the server could hear or write or could the cook read the order taken!! They sure were fast to give us the bill though! Still... No satisfaction from the management at all, in fact she seemed mad that we had the nerve to complain and say that our food was WRONG!! (some people skills are needed there as well!)

You can, by no means, compare this type of customer relation and satisfaction to a restaurant in Chicago. If the order is wrong it is not dressed up and brought directly back. It is fixed by re-cooking it. Perhaps this is because it is a privately owned business but don't dare compare their 'people skills' to the fine restaurants in my area. We just don't do business THAT way. The customer is always right and they get explanations and appologies, normal compensation, if things are wrong. This is the only way it should be anywhere!!

Suggestion: If you go to the Depot and want a ' better' dining experience maybe ask for a 'seasoned' waitress if you want hopefully better service. (We had to ask two different employees for silverware even.) Our waitress was in total avoidance of our table, as was the management. The cook needs to take constructive criticism as does the management.

I'm not knocking new servers as they all have to learn but our experience was so bad and embarrassing that I will never recommend to eat there again unless we ask for a waitress that is recommended and we know has been there a long time and knows how to treat paying customers. Everyone needs a chance but don't put them out on the floor until they are ready to be there. We were asking the waitress about the specials and she could answer not one question. You better believe that our bill came in full though... Too bad the food didn't arrive that fast and that accurate.

David and JennyJeglum
Chicago IL

Anonymous wrote:

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My wife and I are from Chicago and we came to this area with Jeep Jamboree and wanted to eat dinner at a really nice place with excellent food and equal reputaion. We searched this site and found that 'The Depot' was 'the place to go' and even highly recommended by our local friends. We had a horrible experience!!

Out of the four in our party THREE order's were cooked incorrectly and sent back. One at a time they would return back to our table.One of our parties order was just cooked wrong and was sent back for the second time. The manager came to the table and explained that it was always cooked that way. (WRONG!) She is a local and a regular there and she knew that it was not what was prepared 'as normal'. It had no flavor or zest what so ever. (I tried it!) It went back again. They were kindly asked to please re-cook the order instead of dressing the top up again and presenting it again as 'new' with more garnish minutes after sending it back. Obviously there was a problem to re-cook the order so the order was then changed to THE ONLY order on our table that was correct from the beginning. Keeping in mind that our party was already eating as she waited

The crowd, which wasn't heavy when we arrived, was now a lot thinner.... We still were waiting for 45 minutes...she selection was 'pre-cooked' meal that simply needed to be thrown on the grill and spiced up. Where was it!? Finally we asked for the check, no food had yet to arrive. THEN it appeared. It was in a carry out box and a bag, NOT on a plate! She went to speak to the management but got the cold shoulder. Management was totally aware of what we were dealing with, as were some of the customer's that kept asking if we'd got all of our order yet. If even the customer's knew I wondered why THEY, the management, didn't come to us!?? They never once even apologized to for the horrible service, inconvenience and total delay of the order. We were not even offered a 'free' desert for our 2 1/2 hour ordeal... Nothing!! A sincere apology would have been nice instead of being totally ignored, after all, we are all human and do make mistakes. (Not that many in one situation though!)

Upon arriving to their home where she could finally eat dinner that she'd waited on for almost 3 hours now... It was also incorrect! Not at all what was ordered again! Now I wondered if the server could hear or write or could the cook read the order taken!! They sure were fast to give us the bill though! Still... No satisfaction from the management at all, in fact she seemed mad that we had the nerve to complain and say that our food was WRONG!! (some people skills are needed there as well!)

You can, by no means, compare this type of customer relation and satisfaction to a restaurant in Chicago. If the order is wrong it is not dressed up and brought directly back. It is fixed by re-cooking it. Perhaps this is because it is a privately owned business but don't dare compare their 'people skills' to the fine restaurants in my area. We just don't do business THAT way. The customer is always right and they get explanations and appologies, normal compensation, if things are wrong. This is the only way it should be anywhere!!

Suggestion: If you go to the Depot and want a ' better' dining experience maybe ask for a 'seasoned' waitress if you want hopefully better service. (We had to ask two different employees for silverware even.) Our waitress was in total avoidance of our table, as was the management. The cook needs to take constructive criticism as does the management.

I'm not knocking new servers as they all have to learn but our experience was so bad and embarrassing that I will never recommend to eat there again unless we ask for a waitress that is recommended and we know has been there a long time and knows how to treat paying customers. Everyone needs a chance but don't put them out on the floor until they are ready to be there. We were asking the waitress about the specials and she could answer not one question. You better believe that our bill came in full though... Too bad the food didn't arrive that fast and that accurate.

David and JennyJeglum
Chicago IL

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First, thanks for informing of this experience you have had. While I am not affiliated with the Restaurant, I believe the owners will be glad to find out things they need to address. Rick Curry recently encountered a serious health problem and as he was recovering the restaurant closed for two weeks. They had only been reopened a few days when you and your friends were there.

We like to know when services in our community are not up to standard. I'm sure they will address these issues.

Chicago is one of our favorite cities. We hope you will stop and see us again on one of your trips. I am a senior citizen with quite a few miles on me and in 1953 I got to play against Loyola University at the old Chicago Stadium. I played with Louisville.

Best wishes to you, your family and friends and thanks for your message.

Bob Terrell, Sr.
Corbin, Kentucky

I think you hit the nail on the head there. We try to have nice places, but sometimes don't have the right type work force to staff these places. I have said that for a while, that not being a college town hurts our ability to hire people to staff the nicer restaurants. Your bigger cities have this group to tap into, and really we don't. It will be interesting to see how Applebee's does, since it is franchised.

Now that you mention it, they do go through a lot of servers and wait staff.

One thing you'll never get a chance to do again is make a first impression.

Maybe next year when they come back to the Jeep Jamboree, we'll have another restaurant or two.

There are two colleges within 10 minutes of corbin, Union and Cumberland. You'd think they would recruit from there.

Could the Depot be heading the way of Tuscany Gardens?

Is noodle wrestling next, or Texas Holdem?

Definition of a Manager and an Owner:

MANAGER: They know how to run a business and how to treat the customer's so they will return. Their returns aids on the Manager's job security. This is how the manager gets paid to pay their own bills.

OWNER: They count the money, hire cheap staff and offer no insurance or incentive to keep them wanting to do a good job for them. (No speading of the wealth) They make sure that their staff gets paid when the business closes for the annual 'remodeling' ("Vacation for the owner's") and never miss giving a pay check to the hard working staff that are too busy trying to earn a buck to pay their bills and feed their families. Now that I think about it even pass around a few hard earned bonus'. The staff sure could use it.

Anonymous wrote:

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I wonder if Rick and the wife were even there. Since his illness, she is not there nearly as much as she used to be. And, you can tell. They would walk the room checking on you from time to time.

No excuses, it's just that many times in this type of set up, when the owners are away, the staff drops down a few notches.

I hope they find out about it.

Maybe when Bruce Carpenter surfs the board every hour on the hour, he'll read it and then let them know.

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They were both there that night. I was one of the people that was asking if they'd got their food YET!! Everyone was aware of what was going on. I was shocked to watch them not assist in this situation. They did totally avoid the table. Makes me think that I may be the next one to not get good service and I know this happens but the way they handled it was bad. I over heard her even talking about it to others even. NOT good business!!

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

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Maybe when Bruce Carpenter surfs the board every hour on the hour, he'll read it and then let them know.

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How would anyone know this except for the board owner? 

Maybe "Banned IP" was right and the owner is tracking the IP Address of everyone who looks at his board.

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That's easy enough.. EVERYONE knows that Bruce checks this thing as if he's part owner in the Depot... is he? If so then there are several people on HIS site that are lodging complaints about the service and quality of food.

Someone is always so quick to pin the needle on the donkey, no pun intended here, and they always point the finger at the site owner. Why is that? I guess the 'victim' has to point at someone. Well Momma always said that is someone was talking about you then that gave the day off to someone else. After all, someone is always being talked about.

Back to Bruce though.. this is a little town and everyone knows, or thinks they know, everyone's business... we ALL know how Bruce likes to get involved in things... Hey Bruce, Tell The Depot owner's that there's been someone else that's not happy w/ the service. Thanks Bruce. :)

This Carpenter sounds like an important man.

Anonymous wrote:

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How would anyone know this except for the board owner? 

Maybe "Banned IP" was right and the owner is tracking the IP Address of everyone who looks at his board.

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when you go into someones office for a meeting several times and see this on their computer screen its kind of obvious.

I'm not sure where the info is coming from about business slacking and having to get rid of some of the comedy staff. The Depot always backs away from the Comedy Acts in the Summer months because of low interest with people going to ballgames, the lake, etc.

The only night there is any kind of crowd is on saturday night. The rest of the week it's very sparse. There's a few around the bar, the usual group. But a few beers don't pay the bills in a place like that.

After I read the Jeglum's comments, I expected an onslought of comments condemming them, the customers, for their comments and opinions about their experience at the Depot. I expected something like the comments made on the nibroc thread, when the people were treated very rudely during the concert. But, that hasn't happened. Also, with an apparent witness to the conduct of the restaurant owners and staff, posting here, rebuttal would be meritless. So it did happen, just the way the Jeglum's said it did.

What a shame.


We go to the Depot at least every two weeks, and we've noticed it being less and less crowded. We're there on Friday or Saturday nights, usually one or the other, sometimes both. Sure Rick had his medical problems, but, it seemed to start before that. The comedy acts virtually disappeared, and not due to summer or ball games or the lake, but due to lack of attention. They've had staff turnover, and the food quality seems to change nightly, along with the service.

I hope it gets worked out. Word of mouth advertising is priceless, and can't be bought. But, it also is the most effective.