Tex and Shirley's in Greensboro, North Carolina - Not Worth the Time

Kay Sharpe, Yahoo! Contributor Network
Sep 5, 2007 "Share your voice on Yahoo! websites. Start Here."

Tex & Shirley's has been a Greensboro, NC icon since 1972. They began at Friendly Center and have since expanded to a second location on Wendover Avenue (which is technically in High Point, but most folks consider that corner of the world to still be Greensboro.)

When I first moved to Greensboro in 1997, I ate at Tex and Shirley's often. My family really enjoys breakfast at dinner time, so we liked to go to Tex and Shirley's. They had the best pancakes I'd ever had, served with a smile by the friendly wait staff.

During the spring of 2005 we had our first bad experience. We'd eaten regularly at Tex and Shirley's for a number of years - we were very aware of the culture and policies of the restaurant. My daughter ordered a coke to drink. She finished it before dinner even arrived - as kids will do. When we asked for a refill, we were informed that we'd have to pay for it. That had never happened before. The waitress was extremely rude and unfriendly about it, so we asked to speak to the manager. He was equally rude, and basically told us if we weren't willing to pay for each refill on sodas, we could get out. We did - and ate elsewhere that night. In fact, it was at one of the hundreds and hundreds of restaurants in Greensboro that offer free refills.

We did try again a few months later. The happy servers we'd always seen before were gone. The people there were cold and distant at best. The food was mediocre and one of our plates was cold. And again, we were charged for every refill.

My family voted to never go back - Greensboro has plenty of restaurants!

When Tex and Shirley's opened a new location off Wendover Avenue, we decided to give them another try. We've eaten there twice, and both times we had problems.

The first time, I'd ordered something very specific and when it came from the kitchen, it was all wrong (despite detailed instructions to the waitress). Because the specificity was due to food allergies, I asked to speak to the manager. (I'm a firm believer that restaurants should make every effort to assist people with food allergies). He didn't care - and would not send the food back to the kitchen. Nor would he give us any consideration on the bill.

Months later, we decided to try them "one last time" - and it was, indeed, the last. We ordered omelets. We've eaten at countless restaurants where the ingredient list leaves off "the obvious" - eggs and cheese. A Denver is ALWAYS listed as ham, eggs, and green pepper...even though it also has egg and cheese. An asparagus omelet's ingredients would be listed on the menu as asparagus - not asparagus and cheese. We'd never seen it otherwise. So when Tex and Shirley's served us cheeseless omelets, we assumed there must be a mistake. "No mistake!" said our waitress. It turns out that cheese is available on omelets - at nearly a dollar. We argued that cheese belongs on omelets. She took the plates back, sprinkled them with cheese, and returned them to us. Our bill had a dollar apiece added to the price. We spoke with the manager again, and he just grunted that omelets don't come with cheese anywhere in the universe.

We paid with a note about duress instead of a signature on the credit card slip.

It's no wonder that they're never busy, and that the servers all appear unhappy - their policies are making the customers unhappy! While Tex and Shirley's used to be a favorite restaurant for many Greensboro natives and visitors, now it's just a shadow of its former self - not worth the time, not worth the money.

Published by Kay Sharpe

Follower of Jesus Christ, wife, mother, church planter, homemaker, ex-witch, food lover, radical, writer. View profile