February 27, 2010 07:52 PM UTC

Restaurant Week - Not political, just about human decency

by: Whiskey Lima Juliet

Restaurant Week. Every restaurant is packed with diners out to sample Denver’s culinary wares for $52.80 for two people. Good deal, right?

Well sort of….

Owning a restaurant is a great thing, most owners love their customers and love talking and having fun with them. But the customer is not always right and sometimes the customer is beyond rude to staff and managers. Sorry to vent, but I had nowhere else to try and explain that there is an art to being a great customer.

If you come to a restaurant on Friday or Saturday night during Restaurant Week, there will be a wait. It doesn’t matter that you made reservations. Let me explain.

Most restaurants book tables to allow 1 1/2 hours for a party of two, 2 hours for a party of 4 and 2 1/2 to 3 hours for larger parties.

The back up begins…

1. When people show up 15 minutes late or calls to push a reservation back a half hour, the backup begins.

2. When people that sit at a table for 30 minutes after the bill is paid to talk. The backup gets longer. (We call this camping – don’t be a camper on a busy night, nothing good can come of it!)

3. When the party of six that just wants to add one more person when they arrive at 7:15 for their 7:00 seating and are pissed off there are no more seats in a restaurant that is 100% booked. UPDATE: tables are booked by 2s. a table for two can seat no more, most tables for 4 can seat no more, a table of 6 can seat no more. If you add “Just one more person” it usually requires another table to do so.

4. When people show up at 7:15 for an 8PM reservation and are upset that have been waiting an hour to get seated at 8:15. Just because you show up early, does not change my reservation book!!!!! If your reservation is at 8, you will properly not get seated until at least 8:15 on Friday or Saturday night during restaurant week!!!

And no, you cannot have a booth (seated for four people) if there are only two of you on an evening that the restaurant is 100% booked!

The issue is an American one. If you are going to dinner, go to dinner, enjoy the evening, and slow down. In many countries, the meal is the night out.

If you have a special event and you need to get in and out faster, tell the person when you book your table. Our staff will tell you that during restaurant week we will NOT be able to get you in and out in an hour on Friday night.

You can not show up at 7PM, expect a three course meal for four people, 8 Mojitos and be at the Elton John concert during restaurant week at 8PM. It is not going to happen. And it is not the restaurant staff’s fault that your plans are not working.

A better plan would have been to enjoy your drink at the bar, talk to your husband or friends, meet some new people and when you do get seated 30 minutes after your reservation, enjoy your meal.

Yes, we make mistakes. Tables sometimes get over looked. The kitchen will run out of things and burn things, and the bar will forget a drink. But we bend over backwards to fix it when it is brought to out attention.

I am sure about 1000 people from all over the city will get on Yelp and tell everything bad that happened with their reservations this week except, how they showed up 20 minutes late with three extra people and threatened the hostess, berated the server and harassed the bartender.

Please people a little human decency! Servers are people to.

Restaurant Week - Not political, just about human decency

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