My best friend & I came to Cold Spring from NYC for a day trip on Saturday, Oct. 15th. After a great day exploring the town, we decided to have dinner at Cathryn's before heading home. It was chaotic from the start.
When we arrived on the patio, there was a line of people formed at the hostess stand that stretched out the door. We joined the line & soon after the hostess (who we later learned is the owner) came outside, frazzled, asking each party how many people they had, whether they had a reservation or not, & if they preferred an inside or outside table. As we continued to wait our turn, other guests who had arrived after us tried to ask a waiter on the patio how long the wait would be. Without slowing down or even looking at them, he said "I can't help you!" & walked inside.
The owner had tried seating another party of two who arrived after us first, but my friend had interjected & told the owner that we had arrived first. The owner said something to the effect of "Calm down. Everyone forgets sometimes," before seating us.
The service was unbearably slow & unprofessional, but we were enjoying each other's company & didn't let it ruin our day. There was a table of two older couples to my left--they had gotten seated before us & were seated at least 15 minutes before getting water & probably 45 minutes before their orders were taken.
We had ordered oysters as an appetizer. The woman who was a food runner brought them to our table, & as she sat the tray down, it tipped & the water from the melted ice under the oyster shells spilled in large puddle on my friend's side of the table. She didn't apologize or clean it up, but just sat the tray down as if nothing had happened. We had to ask her for silverware & napkins at this point.
Our food was served & was actually very good. That's the only nice thing I can say about this experience. While we were eating our waitress went to the tables on both sides of ours to say there was a computer glitch & she needed to reconfirm what they had ordered. She came back a second time to the table of older couples to say "The chef said that the steak is too fatty to serve" & she proposed an alternative for them to order.
When the waitress delivered our check, I looked at it & saw that in addition to our food & wine, she had added the entrees of the young couple at the table next to ours. When she came back, we politely pointed out the mistake, & she apologized & said she gave us the wrong bill (which wasn't exactly true--it was our bill plus the table next to us). In any case, she returned later with the corrected bill & told us the house was comping the two glasses of wine we had--a gesture which was both appropriate & appreciated. My friend & I each put our cards in the little tin box containing the check, & I went to the restroom (which was out of hand soap at both the beginning & the end of the meal).
When I came back to the table, my friend was smiling. I asked what happened. She said the waitress brought the tin box back with only my card (not hers) & the entire bill had been charged to my card. We waited patiently for the waitress to come back so we could inform her of the mistake. After about 10 minutes, I said "I wonder where your card is. I really hope they didn't charge another table's bill to your card & give it back to them." My friend checked her online banking. That's exactly what had happened. There was a charge of $146 & some change to her card even though the entire balance of our meal had been charged to my card already.
At this point, the laughing off of the mistakes we had done all night was over. The waitress was across the room, taking another table's order, but the owner was setting another table nearby. My friend walked up to her & said sternly, "My card was charged for another table's bill. I need my card & a refund right now." With this, the owner became belligerent. She snapped, "You're abusing my staff!" My friend then began yelling as she walked back to our table, "I want my card now! This is fraud." The owner yelled back "This isn't fraud; this is a mistake! You're abusing my staff." The table of older couples next to ours defended us: "She did not abuse your staff." The owner yelled for my friend to "Shut up!" & yelled to me "Is this the kind of woman you go out with?!"
The waitress finally came & we explained the card mix up. She refunded my friend in cash & told her to cancel her card immediately (we assume another guest took it home). On the walk out, the owner said to me "Real nice girl you got there!" My friend told her to shut up. The owner yelled as we were walking out the door "You shut up! Stupid little c*nt!" My friend yelled back "You're a f*cking c*nt!" My friend & I apologized to the family with young kids on patio who had obviously heard the profanity.
I will never go back there, & I will warn any friends who visit Cold Spring to stay away from Cathryn's as well. read more