My husband and I celebrated our anniversary weekend at The Gaylord. We enjoyed ourselves overall with the dining and pool. The exception was our short visit to Cask & Crown. After dinner at one of the hotel restaurants, we headed over to C&C at about 9:20pm. We looked for the "special door". We found it, approached, and walked through two doors and entered C&C. The lights were dimmed to add to the ambiance. At first glance the decor was nice and the vibe was chill. We spotted two vacant tables and a row of vacant seats and tables against the back wall. Just as we were about to seat ourselves we were approached by a lady with a name badge. Unfortunately, I didn't get her name. She went on to ask us to exit C&C and wait outside for her to come and get us. We were basically being kicked out. WTF? There were vacant tables, so what was the issue? We were dressed nice as we just came from dinner, while others were dressed in t-shirts and shorts. We were taken aback, and we walked out questioning what had just happened. As we were standing outside she came out and handed us a couple of menus and she went back inside. Just then, a group of three exited and approached us and jokingly said that we could go inside. Then they said, "I can't believe she kicked you guys out, what the hell? There were tables open, what's her problem. I was shocked!" It was clear that what had just happened was not right. Not just in our opinion, but to others as well. Still don't know what the issue was. There were no signs outside to indicate that we were to wait. No one outside to guide guests. There were some velvet ropes, but they had been pushed completely to the side.
I didn't want to be upset, but those three guests that spoke to us solidified our feelings. The lady came back out to tell us that we could now go inside. We were the only two people standing outside waiting. I decided to hand her the menus, said we were good, and we left to go grab a drink at the lobby bar.
Not sure what the issue was but it was handled poorly. If there was some type of protocol to follow and it failed, she should have seated us, rather than kick us out, and then step back into the flow of things. Wish I could give this place a higher rating. Maybe we'll try again in the future. read more