Aug
20
Let me preface this by saying...this is my experience...and i am sure that there have been a ton of people that have not had this same experience...however...i did have it and it irritated me.on august 14th i decided to take my almost 12 yr old to her first music concert. we were on track to go see blue october. i had a plan. leave early in order to have a leg up on the parking jam that always seems to manifest as soon as i hit the entrance to the underground parking garage. we arrived early...at least a full hour and ahalf before the show. i checked at the hard rock...which i love but Big K hasn't been to...well a 50 minute wait. so that was a no go. being where we were and what is around the VWT...we had limited choices. a bar/pub not good. i have an underage child with me. and did i mention we are actually dressed up. Big K in her new Miley gear (that was actually ultra cute and priced well), and me in jeans, a dressy black shirt, and some strappy heels. (like a hippo on roller skates people!! i promise).
so here we go. i decided to go see what the wait at Mingalone's was. it is italian food. and from everything i have seen and or heard about ... the food is great.
so we walk in. in the beginning there was a greeter and an older lady (we will call her Sunglasses)...probably the owner's wife. or sister. or something to that effect. so i tell her that i realize it is a friday night and that we don't have a reservation but was there a possibility that we could get a table. so the greeter and Sunglasses proceed to look over the seating chart pointing at different tables and then Sunglasses points to the bar...and the greeter points out that i have a child with me. duh! so the greeter says hold on and walks off. i am assuming to go see what was open. NOW....in the mean time...over to the right of the door there is a small area where some comfy chairs a couch and some 'short' tables are. this area is meant to wait. and drink a little. but mostly wait. w. a. i. t. not eat. wait. keep this in mind.
after the greeter is gone Sunglasses grabs two menus and proceeds to hand them off to BarGuy. (wearing all black and i saw him working behind the bar except for when he was waiting on us) BarGuy sat us directly by the glass entry way by the front door...at the 'short' table. in my mind much like the kids table.
now what this said to me was:
A. yes we have a spot however...you being a single mother with a child have no money and will not spend much or tip well
B. instead of totally losing your business we are going to sit you in a very uncomfortable spot that way you will not take up a good table that we can hand out to a four top that will drop a big tip on us and will be out of here quickly
C. you shouldnt have worn those heels anyways.
once sat i was furious. i mean furious. have enough decency to tell me there will be a blank amount of wait or no its friday night and we dont have a table. at least that way i could have decided whether or not i wanted to leave. and have had the time to go find somewhere else to eat. here i am trying to have a great evening with my daughter. just the two of us. no four yr old Lil K in sight. no noise. just us. enjoying it. and then boom. the italian's had to piss me off.
needless to say i was absolutely pissed off.
a few minutes after being seated and our order taken the little greeter girl passed by again...i very politely asked her if by some chance there was a 'normal' table that we could be moved to. and of course to her surprise she thought they were already preparing a table for us and that we were just sitting and waiting. oh no i reassured her. this is our place to eat. i told her it was unsatisfactory and i was displeased with the seat we had been given. to please see if we could not possibly get another table.
by the time she dropped off what she had in her hand and returned to her little podium what looked like 'the owner' had appeared. and as she was looking over the seating chart pointing out tables you could see his face become a bright red shade of embarassment. Sunglasses seemed to be backtracking and stumbling over her words as he had a frantic look on his face. i could just imagine in his italian streaked english the horror that must have been coming out of his mouth. oh the shame...the agony!
and then the food arrived! the poor guy looked as if he could have had a stroke. now let me tell you...the food was excellent. no problem there. the alfredo sauce tasted awesome. the noodles were perfect and the grilled chicken was superb. food wise they had a 9 our of 10. easy. in the middle of our very tasty meal the greeter girl walked back up and asked if we would like to move and of course 'fat girl was eating' and had no plans to get up and move. no. i would rather sit here and keep eating while steaming in my own pot of rage. much better that way. so i denied and told her we would just stay where we were since our food had come and we were already into eating. she seemed ok and went back and retold my answer to StrokeMan. he did the whole hand to the forehead movement. and then halfheartedly stormed off to the kitchen area.
after we were finished eating and had the bill paid for i walked by the podium and asked for a business card to which sunglasses gladly shoved forward. now before everyone gets all wonky...i am never rude in a public setting. or at least i try to not be. i have been on the waitress end...or the shit rolls downhill end before. for quite a while matteroffactly. and i do not think i am larger than i am. (ok in size of course i do. but in life no. i dont.) i rarely voice to this extent my displeasure. but i just felt like i had to. i hate putting down a restaurant or any place by name. but what i felt at this dinner was overwhelming. i was offended. and hurt. and felt looked down on. i hated it. so i felt like i had to write this. so i did.
what i leave you with was our conversation.
Sunglasses (smiling as she handed over the business card)- how was your dinner?
Me - oh the food was very good thank you.
Sun - is there something i can help you with this evening? have you found everything ok?
Me (with a smile on my face and only as loud as needed for just her to hear it)- i just wanted to let you know that the food was wonderful. and so was the waitstaff. however i was deeply troubled and offended that my daughter and i were seated at a table that was not meant for eating. you could have turned us away or given us an astronomical wait time and we would have left. but instead you saw a single mother and a child so you sat us at a very uncomfortable table where everyone walking in saw us and people waiting to be seated were gawking uncomfortably because we just looked so out of place eating by the front door. i find this a horrible business practice. thank you for your business card. i am a mommyblogger and avid tweeter and i will be giving your restaurant a review.
*ahem* thankyouverymuch.
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