by Leah S » Wed Sep 19, 2007 12:32 am
Well, it was a strange evening. DH got a curry chicken rice dish that was too sweet for his tastes, I got the spicy ramen noodles which had no cilantro and no sprouts, but shredded carrot instead. It was OK, but different than the last couple of times I've had it there. SIL had a rice and beef dish and DD had Pad Tai. Their's were fine.
It took for-ev-er to get served. It looked like only one server was working the restaurant part (as opposed to the bar). We waited for drinks, finally placed our order. The tea pot took a long time to arrive and then as we were about to slump over in our chairs from hunger the food finally arrived. I do wish I'm noticed the time better, but there were significant delays.
OK, here's the strange/rude/annoying part. At 9:00 p.m. we're half to 2/3 of the way thru our meal. The server starts picking up the chairs from the dining room and taking them to the back room. Then the tables start disappearing. We look around and we're sitting at the only table left in the dining room. I'm still eating. People start arriving and we overhear that there is a swing dancing class scheduled to start at 10:00 p.m. The swing dance music is indeed playing and it seems to get louder and louder, so much so that we're shouting at each other across our lone table to be heard. The dance class is staring us down with the obvious but silent command to get out. Well, I'm hungry, so I keep eating, but chew fast.
We (I) finish eating, thinking that our server will rapidly bring the check since we're an obstruction to the class that isn't starting for 45 minutes. No, we sit and wait. Finally we plop a credit card on the table and I hold cash in my hand and voila the server appears to ask if we're ready for our checks. Uh yeah, since we'd like to escape the stares and loud music.
Sooo, now honestly if a restaurant wants to hold dance lessons in their dining room, that's fine. Just put a notice on the front door that the dining room needs to be cleared out by 9:00 p.m. so that the staff has enough time to move out all the tables and chairs and sweep the floor. It's not really that much different thatn saying "Kitchen Closes at x time."
The way this was handled was absurd. A good host does not make paying customers feel unwelcome and unwanted. We won't be back.