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Okay, yes, I am a complete sap. I really like Valentine's Day and I always make sure that my husband and I do something special on or around V-Day. This story happened on V-Day 08.
It was our first Valentine's Day together. We'd only been together for a couple of months so we still had the whole "new relationship" adrenaline rush going on. I was visiting him and asked him if he knew of any good romantic places for Valentine's Day. He told me about an Italian restaurant that he'd been to a few times before, that wasn't too expensive but had a nice atmosphere for dinner.
Valentine's Day morning, I called the restaurant to make a reservation, for 5:00. They told me that they were not expecting to be busy then so they would not take my reservation. Okay.
We get there at 5, and the place is PACKED. I mean, PACKED. The line was out the door. The wait was over an hour. But we decided to wait, since we had been so excited about this being our first Valentine's Day dinner together and all, and wanted it to be special. While we were waiting, we saw at least one group come in, go up to the hostess (who I figured out was the owner or the owner's wife), say they had reservations, and get seated right away. This kind of annoyed me, since I had been denied a reservation, but we didn't say anything.
Finally, we get seated. The table was not great -- it was right in the middle of the entrance to the dining room, so people were walking back and forth past us the entire night. Okay, I know they were crammed and trying to get everyone seated as fast as possible, so again, not a big deal.
We never saw a waiter or waitress. NEVER. After sitting there for 10+ minutes, the hostess finally came around and begrudgingly asked us if we wanted anything to drink. 10+ minutes later, we got our drinks, delivered again by the hostess, and she took our order. I asked for cheese ravioli. On their menu, they said to specify either cheese or meat. So I did. Cheese. Italian meats are hit or miss with me, I don't always like the way they're prepared, so I usually stick with cheese dishes which are safe.
The hostess never came back to refill our drinks. A bus boy delivered our meals, and mine was wrong. You guessed it. Meat ravioli. No one ever came to check on us or ask us how the meal was. In fact, after at least another half an hour (at which point we had both long finished our meals) we had to actually go back up to the register to get our check, since no one brought it out to us.
Meanwhile, the entire time we had been seated, the hostess/owner was flitting around chatting with other tables, who I can only guess were regulars who were getting special treatment. At the register, they had a large bunch of balloons and red roses, which I had seen them give to couples on their way out. I don't know if the couples had to pay for them or if they were complimentary, but we never even got offered either on our way out.
In retrospect, we should have talked to someone about our treatment -- but who? The hostess/owner barely acknowledged us, so I felt like she wouldn't have given a damn if we had complained. As it was, we just left without leaving any kind of tip.
I was very sad. I had high expectations and they were totally blown. Fortunately, the day before we had gone out for a very very nice lunch, so we decided to just consider that our Valentine's Day meal. Also, we went to a movie on V-Day evening, and it was the perfect movie ("Enchanted") so that cheered both of us up greatly.
This year, we decided to go to the same place we went for lunch last year, and we went a couple days after Valentine's Day. It was awesome.
It was our first Valentine's Day together. We'd only been together for a couple of months so we still had the whole "new relationship" adrenaline rush going on. I was visiting him and asked him if he knew of any good romantic places for Valentine's Day. He told me about an Italian restaurant that he'd been to a few times before, that wasn't too expensive but had a nice atmosphere for dinner.
Valentine's Day morning, I called the restaurant to make a reservation, for 5:00. They told me that they were not expecting to be busy then so they would not take my reservation. Okay.
We get there at 5, and the place is PACKED. I mean, PACKED. The line was out the door. The wait was over an hour. But we decided to wait, since we had been so excited about this being our first Valentine's Day dinner together and all, and wanted it to be special. While we were waiting, we saw at least one group come in, go up to the hostess (who I figured out was the owner or the owner's wife), say they had reservations, and get seated right away. This kind of annoyed me, since I had been denied a reservation, but we didn't say anything.
Finally, we get seated. The table was not great -- it was right in the middle of the entrance to the dining room, so people were walking back and forth past us the entire night. Okay, I know they were crammed and trying to get everyone seated as fast as possible, so again, not a big deal.
We never saw a waiter or waitress. NEVER. After sitting there for 10+ minutes, the hostess finally came around and begrudgingly asked us if we wanted anything to drink. 10+ minutes later, we got our drinks, delivered again by the hostess, and she took our order. I asked for cheese ravioli. On their menu, they said to specify either cheese or meat. So I did. Cheese. Italian meats are hit or miss with me, I don't always like the way they're prepared, so I usually stick with cheese dishes which are safe.
The hostess never came back to refill our drinks. A bus boy delivered our meals, and mine was wrong. You guessed it. Meat ravioli. No one ever came to check on us or ask us how the meal was. In fact, after at least another half an hour (at which point we had both long finished our meals) we had to actually go back up to the register to get our check, since no one brought it out to us.
Meanwhile, the entire time we had been seated, the hostess/owner was flitting around chatting with other tables, who I can only guess were regulars who were getting special treatment. At the register, they had a large bunch of balloons and red roses, which I had seen them give to couples on their way out. I don't know if the couples had to pay for them or if they were complimentary, but we never even got offered either on our way out.
In retrospect, we should have talked to someone about our treatment -- but who? The hostess/owner barely acknowledged us, so I felt like she wouldn't have given a damn if we had complained. As it was, we just left without leaving any kind of tip.
I was very sad. I had high expectations and they were totally blown. Fortunately, the day before we had gone out for a very very nice lunch, so we decided to just consider that our Valentine's Day meal. Also, we went to a movie on V-Day evening, and it was the perfect movie ("Enchanted") so that cheered both of us up greatly.
This year, we decided to go to the same place we went for lunch last year, and we went a couple days after Valentine's Day. It was awesome.
Glad the night wasn't ruined though~
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