Are you still working on your salads?
June 30th, 2009Recently my wife and I celebrated our 14th anniversary with dinner at a newly opened fine dining establishment.* It was a wonderful evening and a wonderful dinner.
But…
Strike 1: If the fine establishment’s spacious dining area is nearly empty on a Tuesday night, please don’t sit me right next to another couple, and please don’t seat a group of businessmen next to us on the other side.
Strike 2: If I am paying for a fine dining experience, ordered a bottle of wine and appetizer, please wait until we’re at least halfway through with our salads before you bring out our perfectly prepared steaks. The last time that happened to me was at Perkins, and it annoyed me then too.
Foul Ball: When my wife says “can you bring back that back after we have finished our salad?” the wrong answer is “but it will be cold.” We pushed our salads aside and ate our expertly prepared entrees.
Strike 3: “Are you still working on your salads?” is what a young kid trying to finish clearing our table asked after we had dessert, our server had put what remained of our dinner in to-go containers, and I was waiting for the credit card slip to sign. At that point the all we could do was laugh.
I was fore-warned that the food was outstanding, but the service needed some improvement. I found that to be the case. Will we go back? Only if I hear word that I will be served at a level deserving of a $100 dinner for two.
* I will not mention the establishment by name because I don’t want to harm this locally owned restaurant’s reputation in hopes that they improve, because the food was exceptional.


















