Six ladies met for brunch yesterday (not many places have brunch on Saturday, so that was new) and my experience left alot to be desired. I don't go out for breakfast that much and I will ALWAYS order / try Eggs Benedict if they have it on the menu so that was a no brainer.
Our reservation was for 10:30AM; there were only 4 other diners in the restaurant and they were there before we arrived. Water glasses filled by bored, sullen hostess and our waiter came to take our drink order. One of the women asked me what Campari was and I told her it was a bitter-ish Italian syrup; she ordered the Blood Orange cocktail (I told her I'd have a sip and see if I liked hers, as it sounded good). It came, a very pretty color, but one sip and you could taste the bitterness.
When the waiter came back she suggested adding more juice and he said "it wouldn't work, because of the Campari". Whaaat? Made no sense to us, and then he brought back a different glass, and it's Stoli and OJ. We were really confused, and so I went up to the bar where he was chatting with a co-worker and asked if I could have: Vodka, Blood Orange Juice, and about 3 drops of Campari, and a splash of soda.
Well, no wonder we were confused -- maybe it was just US, but we assumed the drink was made WITH blood orange juiice! He told me, no, there's none of that IN the drink -- it's just the NAME of the drink; it's the Campari that makes it look the blood orange color! After hearing that, I ordered a Caipirinha, which I love, and not easy to find anyone serving them unless you're in a Brazilian steakhouse. He made an EXCELLENT drink btw.
Meanwhile our food comes out and as I cut into my Eggs Benedict, I immmediately saw it was overdone, the egg had no runniness. After he'd given everyone else their plates and handed mine to him and said that I was sorry, but the egg was overdone. His reaction, well, let's just say he wasn't happy - and it was obvious. When the 2nd one came out, it was cooked the way it should be and I thanked him and said it was great - he was all smiles and said "no problem".
The next hiccup came about the bill - one of the woman asked for it to be split - now granted, that is a PIA, and someone should have mentioned that when we started ordering, BUT... his response was "it will take me a long time" - well, we're socializing so that's not a problem for us... when THAT didn't work he says "can't you just divide it among yourselves?" and she sweetly says, "can't you just split it for us?" Again, you could tell he was VERY ticked off; I agree it's annoying to be asked after the fact of ordering, BUT the restaurant was pretty much empty except for us - all he was doing was standing around talking with co-workers. My first, and last visit. read more