Pros
-Always does what's best for the customers, even if it is to the detriment of the restaurant and employees -Free meals during shift, discounts the rest of the time -Good money for servers and hosts -Online scheduling makes life easy
Cons
So much favoritism, I don't even know where to start. My car broke down one time and I was 10 minutes late because I had to roll my car into an empty lot, have someone pick me up, and still report for my shift and I got in trouble (I worked there for 3 years, only actually missed one day). Another long-time employee and manager favorite was always scheduled for opening shifts even though she was consistently late by 30 minutes-an hour and the other server had to do her opening work as well as theirs and she was never reprimanded. Favorites get the best tables (and the big tops), the best schedules, and are excluded from rules. Others get bad schedules, short hours, and are stuck to even the most absurd rules (hey, you still have to stay here even though it's raining on the patio and you have zero tables). A lot of the rules implemented are counterproductive. Why should I have to read the wine list to someone at 11AM? Some of it makes us look ridiculous to customers. You can work there forever and NEVER move up. They hire from outside, don't bother. No breaks for most people unless you're a smoker. Smokers seem to take as many breaks as they want and stay outside for however long they want, coming back in smelling like smoke which I'm sure is appetizing to the customers. But if you're there working a double all day, you get about fifteen minutes to eat if you're lucky. Employees are often left to work things out among themselves, which is disastrous for employees and customers. For example, if a server thinks you aren't seating them enough as a host, they come to you and you have to explain the rotation to them. Then they whine and get angry with you. Some servers will come to you and request a certain table ("can I have that 8 top?") or to request you NOT to seat them ("hey, I'm going to go smoke really quick," "that table has kids do NOT seat them here,") and how it works out all depends on whether you're a newbie or not. Host training is awful. You're generally thrown on the phones or to-go without even knowing the menu or the procedures. Managers seem to do whatever they want. My manager said he was opening Christmas Day (he's Jewish) and required people to be available, otherwise he was going to cut your other shifts. I still put down that I wasn't available, I didn't care at the time, but I think to expect ALL your employees to be available for every holiday except the maybe 1 or 2 they are closed is ridiculous. Employees are never backed up. They will throw you under the bus in front of corporate, each other, and customers, even if the employee was following the company policy. Whatever makes them look good is what they will do. They have contests among multiple PF Chang's locations sometimes (who can sell the most wine?) but there is no benefit to the employees, not even a pat on the back for hard work. There is no praise here, just yelling for never doing enough no matter what you do. Don't ask for a raise no matter how long you've been there, you won't get it.