server

line cook

prep cook

cook

host/hostess

Metro Diner

I was really excited to start working here, when I went into the interview I was hired immediately. I took this as me nailing the interview, but later I realized them hiring me that quickly was because they were desperate for people and I later realized why.
In the interview they asked me what I was expecting to make an hour and I said 11 or 12 and they told me that 11 would work. After talking to other new hires that came in during my shift I was told they were making less than me even though they had more experience than me. If you go in there applying for a job you better say a high number an hour because thats how much they will pay you. Do not say anything under 10 dollars because the work you do there is 11/hour work at bare minimum. 
Don't expect the managers to be on your side, they go in to help themselves and only themselves. If you have a problem they don't care and will try to make sure they milk out as much work from you as possible because they know you will want to quit by the end of the week.
As a BOH dishwasher prepare to have your hands absolutely burned off because they will make you bring them the dishes right after they come out of the scorching hot dishwasher. Of course expect to be harassed by your coworkers too if you don't have everything for them on a silver platter. People that have worked there over a year will treat you like trash and make you do all of the hard work while they stand in the back and talk about their first world problems. 
The managers also act like they have an "open-door policy" for the issues you are having, but if you tell the managers anything expect to not hear a response about it ever again.
Along with all of this, they will not care about what you say your availability is or how many hours you request. If you work here you WILL struggle to meet your weekly hours. Im sure that at this point they treat everyone like they are going to quit in a week, and frankly this mentality is what makes people quit within a week. Also if you are there you better pester them about taking your break because if you dont mention it they wont provide it. If you still want to work here after all of this, good luck is all I can say.

I gave this job my full effort and appreciate the opportunity I was given. I received training, learned multiple stations, and even received a raise during my short time there.

I was not a perfect employee and made my share of mistakes while learning a fast-paced diner environment. I take responsibility for that. However, I felt there was often more criticism than coaching when mistakes were made. As a new employee, I would have benefited from more constructive feedback and guidance rather than feeling judged or discouraged. I also found that management styles varied. While some managers were supportive, others seemed to rely on criticism or embarrassment in front of coworkers, which did not create a positive learning environment.

My biggest challenge was not the work itself but fitting into the culture. There was a noticeable amount of workplace gossip, and I often felt like communication could have been more direct and professional. There were periods where I felt I was improving, gaining confidence, and becoming part of the team, which makes my overall experience disappointing because I saw potential for it to be a place I enjoyed working.

This may be a great fit for some people, but it was not the right fit for me. I believe the restaurant would benefit from stronger communication, more consistent coaching for new employees, and a greater focus on helping people succeed rather than simply pointing out mistakes.  

Pros:
• Fast-paced environment
• Opportunity to learn multiple stations
• Raises are possible

Cons:
• Workplace gossip
• Inconsistent communication
• Limited coaching for new employees
• Difficult culture for some newcomers

Workplace was pretty chill and relaxing with awesome coworkers, but they lie to you during interviews. Got sent home 3 times because they didn't have time, then was hired for full time. They let me quit my old job, did not communicate my onboarding and sent me home AGAIN for orientation, and expected me to work 20 hours. Let me quit a full time job for a worse opportunity because they were desperage since their whole previous staff walked out.

Management is a joke here, to where line cooks don't even open the store, you are expected to start your shift in the MIDDLE of a rush. Prep cooks are expected to perfom way above their responsibilities and managers slack off and chat on their phones leaving an undertrained employee alone on the line.

 Clear violations of poor sanitation, no testing on chemicals, no degreaser for flat tops or hoods, and glass in trass cans even after people cut themselves. Managers would rather be a glorified line cook than doing their job since they cut people constantly because the GM doesn't understand how to forecast their sales for labor hours.

If you want a side job, this would be a decent fit since you could care little about this place, but this company does not want to empower its employees to retain anyone. They would rather have 15 part time employees instead of 4 or 5 solid full timers.

Mike Dondero (who has since been fired from the Bonita Springs location) literally ran this diner into the ground. He made me and my team members cry constantly. He would pour HOT SAUCE into peoples cups if they left a drink on the back table, then STICK HIS FINGER into the drink and mix it up so you couldn't tell! He was literally poisoning his staff!
I was offered a corporate training position and filled out all of the paperwork & questionnaires only to have Mike tell me he "didn't have time to read it" over the two month period it sat in his office. 
Mike made cruel nicknames for other managers and team members, and would make fun of/imitate them when they weren't around.
I had a coworker threaten me in front of a manager, and when the manager and I went to mike, his response was "she is my friend i've known her for a while and she is going through a rough time, so I'm not firing her". The manager involved and myself went to mikes boss, Scot, and Scot was so harsh with me on the phone, and told me he basically didn't have time for my drama. I was THREATENED on the job. After Scot did an actual investigation, he apologized to me and the girl was fired. But then hired back a week later...? There is a serious lack of common sense and managerial knowledge within the Metro Diner construct. 
I was treated like trash, yelled at on the floor in front of guests, and constantly subject to bullying from others including managers. Half the staff is on drugs and the other half is actually pretty nice.

I loved it when it first opened in 2017. Felt very welcoming and some head trainers were nice fun and professional. But as time went on, it slowly got worse. Felt like high school at times. Mainly because of several toxic workers that were hired much later after opening. They turned it into a hierarchical environment; if you were like different from them in any other way (like personality and appearance) or if you cross them in any way they will place a target on your back and try to get you fired while turning everyone against you. The job was fast paced. They began to cut corners in order to make the process faster. Began to use the same towel to clean the chair and table despite bussers during opening week were trained to clean tables with wet towel and the chair with dry towel. Work culture was abysmal. Coworkers and management were two faced, making them unapproachable to communicate valid concerns . Management lacked emotional maturity as well. Hardest part of the job was trying to communicate your needs to coworkers and managers. Because they will constantly groan and talk badly about you behind your back. Belittling you too. Favoritism was rampant. Outbursts galore. You were overworked to a pulp, physically emotionally and mentally.
Enjoyable part was maybe the free meal? I hated how artificial it all felt; MD preaches "family" and lauds itself as a gossip free zone but this particular location failed to follow its own guidelines. Very low pay.

Kitchen staff was paid fairly well, but individuals were regularly given a high or unfair workload and short staffing was the norm.  Higher-ups seemed out of touch with day-to-day operations.  The company preached against a hostile work environment, but this diner was highly toxic, gossipy, and chauvinistic.  Some managers were volatile, manipulative, or distant.  Frequent fights or disagreements.  Little to no respect for employees' personal lives or limitations.  Very disorganized and inconsistent.

I will say that there are a few hardworking or kind people there but they are the exception rather than the rule.  Kitchen staff got a free meal per shift and the food was generally good, and kitchen staff pay can be better than average.  You can gain a lot of knowledge here if they decide to like you.  I can't speak for servers, etc experiences but they generally seemed unhappy at work.  I wouldn't recommend this diner over any other restaurant job in particular due to the overall environment.  I'm aware that every restaurant has its issues and drama, but this was unlike any other I've seen in many years' experience.

When I first started with the company I was very impressed... high standards in both food and staff expectations. When I left it was an every man for him/herself, get away with everything, toxic environment. The general staff mentality was "who cares because no one will do anything about it anyway" & that lead to A LOT of negative talk about management and fellow team members. I literally dreaded going to work, which killed me because I used to love being there. Management shows tons of favoritism and more often than not to team members in their ear constantly putting  down others to deflect from their own shortcomings, not the ones who actually deserve it based on performance. They give chance after chance when people should be fired due to being understaffed and that just encourages more slacking off. And food standards is a thing of the past for sure!!! Try to refuse to serve something like almost burnt pancakes for example... management in the kitchen not just hourly kitchen staff will refuse to remake it unless the guest sends it back and even then you catch attitude. It's no wonder sales have declined so much in the last year or so.

Metro diner is the most disgusting place on earth. management is extremely unprofessional, favorites the subordinates they sleep with, try to play good cop bad cop terribly, and expect people to do their jobs for them. i can’t even count the amount of times we’ve been super busy on sat & sun (the only busy days) and the managers won’t be on the floor helping, but in the office on tinder, facebook, or applying to other jobs on their laptops. The staff is full of crackheads and teenagers. There’s nothing but drama, and the managers are always involved. they’ll hire you for full time, then they’ll schedule you the terrible weekday night shifts when you’re lucky to make 20$ in tips. managers will send out a schedule then change it 5 times without consulting you and get mad when you don’t show up because it wasn’t on the schedule you screenshot and made your wallpaper for that week. management is unempathetic towards immediate family death as well as self terminal illness. overall this place is disgusting, the people suck, the manager sucks, and corporate is awful. don’t even apply unless you want to ruin your own life on purpose.

I worked there for a long time and I loved it at times and hated it at others. If you're not part of the in crowd then you might as well forget it. You will never get the same treatment. It wasn't like that in the beginning. There is a sense of family but it doesn't include everyone. The money was great so I overlooked everything else but after covid that all changed. Money was bad and I mean bad. We were short on help so our schedules weren't followed which was frustrating. There were good times and when it's busy it's fast paced I mean you don't stop moving. You can have up to seven tables at a time. If you're a strong server. Training can be good or bad just depends on your trainer and if they actually want to do it that was a big problem a lot of the trainers didn't want to train new servers it was frustrating or servers that had no business training would be training. I didn't understand a lot of managements decisions. 

I went to train for Metro Diner in Jacksonville, Florida for 3 months. I missed SO much time with my family, for example my daughter’s first day of Kindergarten. On returning home to Tennessee, I worked for a total of 3 days before they let me go for reasons they never fully explained. I have tried reaching out to several people to understand why and it is like I don’t exist. No one will return my phone calls, emails, text messages to explain exactly why and what happened. This job is a JOKE! The JVP will lie to you, the people are obnoxious, judgmental in all the wrong ways, and the pay isn’t worth all the stress you WILL go through to work here. DO NOT WORK HERE! If you do, it will only be a matter of time before they make up a reason to let you go. Plus multiple diners management team have gotten caught not paying employees, they choose when and if they will pay you. My advise, find somewhere else to work.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Server 56 salaries reported	$21.81 per hour
Line cook 107 salaries reported	$17.69 per hour
Prep cook 95 salaries reported	$17.63 per hour
Cook 100 salaries reported	$17.67 per hour
Host/hostess 26 salaries reported	$15.38 per hour

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