a small view into our world

hey guys...
i have probably posted very similar versions of this over the past 5 years or so....
mainly meant as levity, (because you can't be in our biz if you lose your sense of humor), but also trying to always give "perspective".
we did 200 + covers on thurs night, 300 on fri night and 250 ish on derby night.. at least 50% of our reservations were late arriving..
did not really get many complaints... but, here are a few...
"i don't like these smoked bison ribs, they are smokey tasting"
"i can't believe our table isn't ready, we got here on time, we are only 45 minutes late"
oaks night... "not your best effort tonight, andrew, my friend never got his tartar sauce." the guy was eating a house salad for dinner and the server missed that??? oops...
"we are okay to drink outside as long as we keep one foot on the carpet"... don't think so... that is a $500.00 fine for each of you... and for me... and it causes ME major probs when renewing a liquor license... my hostess had already told them they could not drink outside. three times.
"hey... can you bump me up the list... i'll give you $20.00, the owner is a fiend of mine"
just for the record, we might bump robin up the list if he pulled out a crisp, new, untraceable $10.00 bill.
hope some of my"brethren" post about their experiences.

Andrew, keep an eye out for my column on Wednesday in LEO: "Well Done, Good and Faithful Servants"

Maybe they act this way at the homes of friends and family too, so it's no wonder they're coming to restaurants for their meals.

Is this normal stuff or tied directly to the Derby crowd?

Andrew-
The 4 or 5 incidents mentioned account for less than 1% of the covers, so I guess things went smoothly for the house and the customers, eh?
Now, the 50% who showed up late is inexcusable and plain rude, self centered behavior.
Cheers,
Bill

I always thought if you want to see the real character of a person watch how they treat a food server.

Everyone shows up late at Derby time, especially Derby night. It is impossible to predict how long it will take to get from Churchill to your restaurant.

we know the people will be late... and true, there is no predicting traffic.but the person who wants a 7:30 rez... knowing that they are staying for the derby, has little right to complain.
leaving churchill downs??? it was next to impossible to get there!!! i drove my wife and her girlfriend down there on friday. eastern parkway was closed... left on crittenden drive....but NO. you can't turn right onto central ave. gotta wonder who came up with that idea?
most louisvillians could not find c.d. after being routed south of central. imagine how difficult it was for the out of towners? took an hour and a half round trip from alta and bardstown road.
the complaints were few and it was great to be "old school" busy. love the challenge of it all AND making it work.
i do have to give major kudos to my 2 20year old hostesses. they rocked it!!!!

justin.... this is semi-normal stuff for us....everyday in our biz you get a "i thought i had heard it all moment". that is actually part of the fun of it.

I didn't mean to suggest that were right to complain. I was responding to Bill's comments about it being inexcusable. Everyone is late from the Derby b/c of the traffic. It is impossible to predict when people will arrive and they are all drunk to boot. They would no-show if you didn't have their credit card because who wants a big meal after drinking since 8:00 in the morning.

justin.... this is semi-normal stuff for us....everyday in our biz you get a "i thought i had heard it all moment". that is actually part of the fun of it.

I can almost imagine this type of behavior from "Derby Drunks", but can't imagine people acting like this on a daily basis.

Do you have a cut off for late arrivals? I think I would refuse service after being 15-20 minutes late for a reservation, Derby traffic or not.

My chef and I were laughing about our 1st derby experience after work Sat. I told her I thought it was pretty smooth and easy. She started giggling and said she was thinking the same thing!!! If you can still laugh at the end of the shift, it was a good night. So we did a decent business and the air was festive with quite a few hats taking up a LOT of space. lol (I think they are getting a "little" to flambouyant, but hey girls you have fun . Speaking of fun, did anybody else see the pic of the male Olympic skater with his hat in the CJ, (when it finally came out) talk about flamers!!! LOL So it was dead early and then the rezs showed up and "camped out", so not a lot of turnover. I have been in the biz for 30+ yrs and have "been thru the mill" a few derbys, so my experience was good!!

I always thought if you want to see the real character of a person watch how they treat a food server.

Never a better statement made than that.

The skater was Johnny Weir..and I think that was conservative for him he is the true Belle of the Ball!