Sunday, August 21, 2005

A Whiny Foodie Post

S's parents took us to a very nice restaurant last night to celebrate my birthday and S's dad's birthday which were both a while ago, but this is how long it took us to get around to celebrating them. The restaurant was very nice. Elegant and expensive and Italian. My ricotta-stuffed zucchini flowers were delicious and my swordfish with caponata and cipollini was the best swordfish I'd ever eaten. But the thing is, if you're paying that much for dinner at such a very nice restaurant, you expect everything to be perfect. And it wasn't, quite.

The menu had an antipasti section, a primi section, and a secondi section. So they expect you to do the Italian three-course thing, though I'd guess few people do. Still, there were so many delicious looking dishes, and I couldn't resist a pasta, but I also couldn't bear to give up the appetizers. So I suggested to S that we share an antipasto (the zucchini flowers) and then share a primi (risotto with corn and lobster--the lobster was perfect but the dish didn't quite work) and then have our main courses. S's parent's decided to do the same (except that they were sharing the porcini soufle and the lasagna with Vidalia onions and other yummy stuff).

I said to the waitress, "we'll share the zucchini flowers and then we'll share the risotto." I know that's what I said, and it seems to me it should be a perfectly normal thing to say. And she should bring us the zucchini flowers, and then when we're done, she should bring us the risotto. But she didn't. She brought the zucchini flowers and the risotto (and the souffle and the lasagna) all at once, along with a bunch of extra plates, and it didn't all fit on the table, and it made the risotto a bit cold by the time we got to it, and it was just not right.

My god, is that whiny or what?!

2 comments:

thatgirl said...

I have the exact same post in my head. Composed and everything. Part of my trip report. Just so you know I'm not a big fat copycat. (Well, I am, but not about this.)

No, not whiny. You pay the price, you expect the service. You do. You should. We DO.

jackie said...

this is exactly why I never attempted waiting tables at fine dining restaurants-- I'm simply not good enough as a waitress to give people the kind of service you deserve when you spend that kind of money on a fine dining experience.