Despite the perception that restaurant critics are all super-picky snobs, I'm a pretty laid-back guy when it comes to dining out, probably because I spent so much time working at restaurants. Waitress forgot my water? No big deal. Steak a little overdone? It happens.
All that tolerance comes to a screeching halt when I'm confronted with the one annoyance that bothers me above all else -- treating me and my guests differently than you treat someone else. Sometimes, that consists of preferential coddling for another table, while we sit and stew. Other times it might mean putting us at a booth back by the bathrooms when many others were obviously available.
The latest example of this inequity came at (of all places), the purposely homey and decidedly unfussy dining room of Nicola Pizza, home of the legendary Rehoboth Beach treat called the "Nic-O-Boli." One recent weekend evening found us stranded outside on the sidewalk, waiting for a table for three, which we were told would be available in "45 minutes to an hour."
Well, they were right about the wait (which is fine -- we we fairly warned), but what they failed to tell us was that they would proceed to seat every single party that came after us, while we cooled our heels. Table for four? Come right this way. Table for six? No problem. Yet our pathetic little table of three was passed by time after time, my blood pressure rising all the while. We asked the hostess what what happening ("Your table is nearly ready, sir"), but it became apparent that the procedure at Nicola is thus -- a table for three means one empty seat, and one empty seat means less money for the owners. The rule is clear: Only seat tables of three when all the 4-tops are taken care of.
To that I say to the folks at Nicola: Take your Nic-O-Bolis and get 'em stuffed. If I've been waiting 45 minutes, and a table for six opens up, you'd better damn well seat me before the six top that just arrived, or risk alienating me forever.
So my advice is thus -- if you and two guests go to Nicola on a weekend (a venture I would not recommend), tell them you are a party of four. Heck, go ahead and tell them you're a table of ten. You'll be seated faster, and you'll be able to sit back and enjoy all that extra room.
And be sure to bring your Alka Seltzer.
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3 comments:
Based on this, I will never eat at Nicola Pizza again. Their food is not good enough for a long wait for a table and obviously the owners are greedy!!!
You're a bitter little man.
No you won't get a seat if you overstate your party size. YOu brought up this subject and it brings up what I hate about dining down there. If you go out to eat and you state you have a party of three, yet one person is parking the car, they will make you wait until everyone is there before they seat you. There could be one table open for three, two of you show and wait 5 minutes and if another party of three shows up after you, they will seat them first and make you wait till your third comes. That absolutely makes my blood boil and I will not go back to a place that does that. Thanks for the heads up.
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