Harrah's Lake Tahoe Highlander Bar's heavily promoted "11pm-6am food service" ends at 5:30

Really odd situation.

Harrah's Lake Tahoe is heavily promoting the food service in the Highlander Bar on the 18th floor. At 11pm, they start serving quick meals, including a "full breakfast" (two eggs, meat, hash browns, toast) for $4.99, which is a great deal.

This is advertised throughout Harrah's and Harvey's, as well as various places in town. There is a huge electronic sign on the front of Harvey's promoting this, as well.

Here is one of the signs within Harrah's:




They are basically going for the old school Vegas "cheap meal while you gamble" model, and apparently it's been successful.

EXCEPT...

It closes 30 minutes early every day.

Why?

"The cook wants to clean up and get to his next job at 6."

Say what?

So this heavily promoted late night meal ends 30 minutes early EVERY DAY, simply because the cook feels like cutting out early.

Just in case you are wondering, there is nothing on any sign (even in the fine print) stating that you have to order by 5:30. In fact, you probably can't order by 5:30, as that's the time the cook wants to start cleaning everything.

I got there at 5:40 and the cook was long gone.

The bartender said there have been "many complaints" about this. The front desk told me the same.

Why not just promote it as 11pm-5:30am then?

I assume because the cook is doing something he's not supposed to.

Let's just say that "someone" made the CET Tahoe Food and Beverage Manager aware of this, via e-mail.

It actually really frustrated me, because I was really tired, wanted to grab food, and go to sleep. Now I'm stuck staying up another hour until 6:30 when the American River Cafe opens.

As it stands, there are zero food options open at Harrah's or Harvey's between 5:30am and 6:30am -- an hour gap, which is only supposed to be half an hour.

I have a feeling this might be changing after today...

Definitely worth a Dan Druff Class Action Lawsuit.

Admit it, Alan.

You would also be annoyed if this happened to you, and you were informed that this was an every day occurrence and not due to some emergency.

UPDATE:

I have been informed that this practice is going to end, and they will be serving food until 6am from now on.

Props to food & beverage manager in Tahoe for taking care of this and one other restaurant's issue (which was actually a lot worse than this -- I'll post about it later) promptly.

Dan I give things the "newsroom test." That means, if a consumer called the newsroom with a complaint would anyone care to put a reporter on it, and the story on the news.

Sorry, closing up a half hour early and not changing the signs doesn't make the 6 o'clock news.

Getting your hand sliced by a malfunctioning door does.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dan Druff

UPDATE:

I have been informed that this practice is going to end, and they will be serving food until 6am from now on.

Props to food & beverage manager in Tahoe for taking care of this and one other restaurant's issue (which was actually a lot worse than this -- I'll post about it later) promptly.

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Hi Dan:

I know that Alan does not visit Lake Tahoe but I do so I do care about this issue. Sometimes I like to get an early bite to eat then hit the highway back to California before the traffic backs up so I do appreciate the update on the Highlander bar breakfast.

I am looking forward to the more complete report on your trip as you referenced.

BTW, may the variance ever be in your favor.

FAB

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Alan Mendelson

Dan I give things the "newsroom test." That means, if a consumer called the newsroom with a complaint would anyone care to put a reporter on it, and the story on the news.

Sorry, closing up a half hour early and not changing the signs doesn't make the 6 o'clock news.

Getting your hand sliced by a malfunctioning door does.

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The 6:00 news has half an hour to tell all the stories, so they have to pick and choose what they cover.

Forums have unlimited space to post as many stories as people want. Poor comparison.

I'm not saying this is as big of a deal as a door at Caesars slamming into your hand. (I agreed with you there that they were likely negligent in that one, BTW.)

I am saying that no business, let alone a major hotel/casino, heavily promotes a late-night restaurant with hours of 11pm-6am, and then actually closes at 5:30 EVERY DAY.

If this were a one-time occurrence (say, the cook had to rush home early because his wife was sick), I would be ok with it.

However, I was told that this was an EVERY DAY thing, simply because the cook took another job and needed to cut out of this time early to get to it. That's a crap reason, and if they're going to allow that, they need to fix the hours posted all over town.

In reality, it appears that the cook was doing this without permission, and that's why the situation has changed once I reported it to the F&B manager.

I'm sure there were some points in your life, Alan, where you worked a job with set hours. What would your boss have done if you just decided you were leaving 30 minutes early every day?

In general it is very important for a large business to adhere to its posted hours. Mom and pop places are a bit different, but large corporate places attract customers due to their brand and consistency, and their customers need to be confident that, barring an unusual situation, the place will be open if they show up during posted hours.

I actually had a similar incident (though not as bad) at In n Out Burger back in the 1990s. I didn't live close to it, but I really liked In N Out, so I would drive approximately 15 minutes to get there (30 minutes round trip).

Their posted closing hour was 1am. I got there at 12:50 and they were already shut down "because it was slow". That is 100% against In N Out rules, and in fact every store is corporate-owned with VERY strict standards and rules (they also pay their employees way more than standard fast food places). I told them that I wanted to be served anyway, and they told me they had "already cleaned up 10 minutes ago" and refused. I called the corporate hotline (the only number you can call for In N Out), and reported it. They told me I was 100% in the right, sent me a certificate for 2 free burger combos, and corporate told the store that they absolutely never can pull such a thing again.

I have seen fast food places close early before and not complained, but in this case I was pissed because I had driven so far AND I knew In N Out had such strict standards that I wasn't in danger of being refused at 12:50. I wouldn't have chanced such a drive for a mom-and-pop place which claimed to close at 1, but I went to In N Out because I thought it was a safe assumption.

I will say that I've never seen any other In N Out do this. Every other location will take your order if you come in at 12:59, no matter how slow they were that night.

Dan I'm glad you won this battle. I know it was important for you. Frankly there are a lot of businesses which alter their hours without notice and for strange reasons.

You're lucky. What if they decided to make the official close 5:30 after your complaint?

Anyway... another "win" for Dan.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Alan Mendelson

Dan I'm glad you won this battle. I know it was important for you. Frankly there are a lot of businesses which alter their hours without notice and for strange reasons.

You're lucky. What if they decided to make the official close 5:30 after your complaint?

Anyway... another "win" for Dan.

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I would have been fine if they altered their hours to 5:30.

I just wanted the actual hours to match the posted hours.

I did this for future guests, not me. I was told by both the bartender and the front desk that there were "a lot of complaints" about the matter, but apparently nobody took it to the F&B director like I did.

You cannot name one large business which closes 30 minutes earlier than their posted hours on a regular basis. I am not talking about emergency/unusual situations which dictate an early closure on an occasional basis.

Had I known the hours ended at 5:30, I would have come before that. I came at 5:40 because there should have been plenty of time left.