Shorty Small?s Short on Service (Business Lunch)

Shorty Small’s
3722 Front St.
Fayetteville

We were glad to hear Shorty Small’s had opened a restaurant in Fayetteville. We were even happier to learn that they began serving lunch a couple of months ago (in addition to dinner).

But maybe we just picked the wrong day to go there. Or there were just too darned many of us.

As part of a birthday celebration, 11 people from our office recently descended on Shorty Small’s for lunch.

After it took 15 minutes for them to push two tables together to accommodate us, we sat down and started examining the menu.

We ordered drinks and they arrived promptly. Things went downhill from there.

One diner ordered the pulled pork sandwich ($6) and water. He told the waitress he didn’t want the slaw that normally comes with the sandwich. She suggested baked beans instead, and he said fine.

The sandwich arrived and was pretty good, he said. The beans, however, didn’t arrive until after he had finished the sandwich. Besides being late, the beans were too hot to eat and tasted as sweet as a dessert.

Another office mate ordered the barbecue brisket sandwich ($6) and also thought it was good. He later wound up tracking down a pitcher of tea to pour drinks for the table when our waitress disappeared for 15 minutes or so.

“It’s a shame that the service was so poor because the food was good,” he said. “Shorty’s was big on taste but very short on service.”

A third member of our group ordered the lunch ribs ($11). He said they were “Pretty good for a chain restaurant’s ribs.”

An appetizer of “torpedos” ($7), a.k.a. fried jalapeño peppers stuffed with cheddar cheese, were also described as “pretty good.”

When the bills came, there was a bit of confusion on one end of the table. The person who ordered only a $6 pork sandwich and water received a bill for $14. He told the waitress he received the wrong bill. She left and returned telling him he owed about $10 instead. When he asked if he could see the bill, she said she didn’t have one but $10 was what he owed.

In the future, if we go to Shorty Small’s, it will be in groups of four or fewer.