A diner from Boca Raton, FL
Aug 27, 2009
Upon arrival we were handed drink menus, and placed drink orders with our server. I selected a pineapple drink, however my server insisted that I wouldn't like it (how would he know what I like?) and repeatedly tried to steer me towards other drinks that I knew I wouldn't like. At $14 a drink, I wanted to get the drink I wanted - not the ones the waiter thought I should have. Since the waiter wouldn’t take an order of my choice of, I wound up drinking water.
Once the drinks arrived the waiter brought us dinner menus, and told us we would need to order quickly because the show would start in a half hour. However, it was so dark in the restaurant that I couldn't read the menu - even with glasses on. I certainly couldn’t make a dinner selection without being able to read the menu, so I brought the menu to the reception area and asked if I could take it outside for a moment to read it.
The host said I could not take the menu outside, but led me to a table with a lamp on it in the center of the reception area and told me I could read the menu there. That would have been fine if he had then left me alone to quickly make my dinner selection and return to my table. However, he hovered over me, tried to read the menu to me, tried to tell me what I should order, and even asked to try on my glasses to see if they worked. His behavior was not only out of line, it was rude, condescending and humiliating, and it completely made it impossible for me to make a dinner selection. When I asked him to please allow me to read the menu by myself, he stood at the entry way and loudly told everyone else on their way into the restaurant to make sure they asked for a flashlight so they could read their menus.
After 10 minutes in the reception area, I still hadn’t had a chance to read the first page of the menu. I couldn’t make a dinner selection under those circumstances, and I wanted more than anything to get away from that host as quickly as possible. I don’t mind paying a premium price for an entertaining evening, but I’m not going to pay any price to be abused. I returned to the table, asked the server to bring me a check for the drinks we ordered, paid the tab and took my party elsewhere to dine. The food and show may have been spectacular, but the service was so poor and the staff was so rude that our party certainly didn’t have an opportunity to experience it.
Once the drinks arrived the waiter brought us dinner menus, and told us we would need to order quickly because the show would start in a half hour. However, it was so dark in the restaurant that I couldn't read the menu - even with glasses on. I certainly couldn’t make a dinner selection without being able to read the menu, so I brought the menu to the reception area and asked if I could take it outside for a moment to read it.
The host said I could not take the menu outside, but led me to a table with a lamp on it in the center of the reception area and told me I could read the menu there. That would have been fine if he had then left me alone to quickly make my dinner selection and return to my table. However, he hovered over me, tried to read the menu to me, tried to tell me what I should order, and even asked to try on my glasses to see if they worked. His behavior was not only out of line, it was rude, condescending and humiliating, and it completely made it impossible for me to make a dinner selection. When I asked him to please allow me to read the menu by myself, he stood at the entry way and loudly told everyone else on their way into the restaurant to make sure they asked for a flashlight so they could read their menus.
After 10 minutes in the reception area, I still hadn’t had a chance to read the first page of the menu. I couldn’t make a dinner selection under those circumstances, and I wanted more than anything to get away from that host as quickly as possible. I don’t mind paying a premium price for an entertaining evening, but I’m not going to pay any price to be abused. I returned to the table, asked the server to bring me a check for the drinks we ordered, paid the tab and took my party elsewhere to dine. The food and show may have been spectacular, but the service was so poor and the staff was so rude that our party certainly didn’t have an opportunity to experience it.
