My husband and I spent our honeymoon over Christmas in London a few years ago. We had heard Christmas tea at the Ritz was (while of course a bit touristy) a special thing to do in London around the holidays. So I booked a champagne tea for two months in advance and swallowed our sticker shock at the price – it was $2 to the pound back then but we knew it would be a memorable treat.
Well, the tea was memorable, but for a different reason than we anticipated. The decorations were lovely, I do remember that. The service was mildly attentive but not what you’d expect from a hotel of this caliber. What we both vividly remember was the two year old at the table squarely in the center of the tearoom, behaving in a manner not suitable at any family-friendly restaurant, let alone the Ritz tearoom, where all men are expected to be in coat and tie and ladies in their smartest afternoon dress.
This child was not only screaming, he was climbing over his chair and pulling the hair of the lady behind him, messing with the delicately adorned Christmas tree, and I repeat, screaming at the top of his lungs repeatedly through the meal. The parents made no effort to remove him from the tearoom, there were no visible disciplinary measures taken other than “shushing,” which did not have any affect whatsoever. I felt for this kid, who was receiving his fair share of ugly looks thanks to his lack of parenting and need for attention.
I glared down the waiters, who appeared unfazed as the toddler continued to scream in the middle of the tearoom. Surely they will do something! Any place with a strict dress code should know that this is far more offensive than any jeans or trainers would be to one’s fellow diners, who are paying a high price for the privilege of being there. All the other patrons were visibly shocked and irritated as well – and the poor lady who was most affected deserved a medal for her patience (or perhaps should have been the one to say something on all of our behalf?). I don’t care if little Prince William is sitting in that chair, it was intolerably inconsiderate.
Shame on his parents for taking him to an expensive restaurant and expecting him to behave, and shame on the Ritz for not doing anything about the situation. Looking back, shame on us for not fighting them on the bill. I can’t believe we paid £100 to sit at TGI Fridays!
Tagged as:
babies & children,
holiday,
hotel
Last Valentines Day, my boyfriend and I went to a fancy steak house in Charleston, South Carolina. I am a native of the city and I personally knew the chef for a long time. We entered the restaurant and were immediately seated in the Bar area. This is probably one of the busiest nights of the year and I was not going to be seated in the bar for a romantic meal and watch people get drunk all night especially since I made the reservations three weeks in advance.
So, the snooty hostess told us that she had the perfect table for us. She also said that it was the most romantic table in the restaurant. We were ushered to the second floor and then to the third floor and seated outside the seating area at the top of the stairs right by the bathroom in the hallway. I asked the hostess if this was a joke and I told her that I felt like I was at the kids table on holidays.
Our waiter was nice but not helpful. My boyfriend and I decided to spilt a steak because they were apparently so large and suggested that we spilt the steak. When our food arrived, it literally looked like a big eye staring back at us on the plate. It was gone in one bite for both of us. I was so livid at this time and I complained to our waiter.
No one came out and apologized nor did they deduct anything from our meal. They brought us a piece of complimentary chocolate cake and a big tall glass of milk for our dessert. I told the waiter that I did not like chocolate and asked him if the milk was a joke. He said the cake is so rich that the milk will help with the dessert. The last thing that I wanted was milk especially after drinking a bottle of wine.
I really felt like I was in the VISA commercial where the couple found the perfect restaurant, the perfect food and then ended up going to the convenience store afterwards and munched out on junk food which I must admit that we did also…
Tagged as:
food & beverage issues,
holiday,
romance,
server,
snooty
Not long ago I went to a restaurant to celebrate Oktoberfest with my boyfriend and a friend. We ordered few beers and some appetizers. Fifteen long minutes later we received our drinks, and it took an additional half hour for the food. Apparently there are two calamari dishes, the appetizer and a sandwich. We thought we had ordered the appetizer, but were given a large sandwich. Explaining the confusion, the waiter took back the sandwich and offered to bring the calamari appetizer. We decided this would be a good time to order another round. We got the calamari fairly promptly, but apparently they had run out of clean glasses, so we had to wait for other patrons to finish their drinks before we could receive ours. Due to this extremely slow service, we asked for the check…which was given to us…$35 dollars on beer and appetizers. I paid with my check card and we were just about ready to go when I received my receipt… I had been charged $651! How does that even happen?! I ran over to the waiter and showed him the receipt. He fixed it, but needless to say, I won’t be returning there any time soon!
Slow and Overcharged
Tagged as:
food & beverage issues,
holiday,
overcharged,
server
This is a combo: dinner AND holiday from hell story. When I was 11 years old we went to a restaurant for Thanksgiving dinner. This was in New Jersey and we went to a famous inn with roots back to the revolutionary war. My parents, grandmother, and three siblings were seated in the “ballroom” at a round table for 8 (like the kind at a wedding). We ordered and soon enough our food arrived. About 2 minutes after the food was served, I heard screams from a nearby table. Almost instantly, a giant iron chandelier crashed onto our table! The amazing thing was that the huge arms of the chandelier landed between all the people at our table. It had fallen from a 20-25 foot high ceiling and landed just right on the table so that none of us were hit. People all around us were taking pictures and the management hustled us out to the lobby to see if we were alright. Then they actually asked us if we wanted to be reseated! Needless to say, we went home. Scrambled eggs and toast was the entree that year. We never went back to that “historic inn.” This was back in the day when lawsuits were not as prevalent as they are today, and we just considered ourselves lucky not to have been brained by the chandelier!
Tagged as:
accident,
holiday,
owner/manager
