Look, I get that places are having a hard time finding staff. Maybe some places have just made the…read moredecision to go short on staff. But let me tell you about our experience in this restaurant where wait staff, or the lack thereof, was the issue.
We arrived at 8:10 to a restaurant with around 70 people, but only one waiter. The waiter showed up at 8:20 to give us a menu and to ask if we would like something g to drink. I ordered a beer and my partner a glass of wine. Ok so far, right?;(
At 8:35 he brings us two glasses of wine, no beer, but he took our food order , chicken and roasted potatoes, salad, and pizza for my partner. GHe brought my beer around 10 minutes later. I assumed he got sidetracked as he is very busy. My partner asked for a glass of water because it's warm in the restaurant. It's starting to occur to me that not only are they short on staff, but may not be paying their electric bill, but by this time we feel committed. It's now 8:45 and we have been seated in a restaurant with no discernible a/c for 35 minutes when 6 guys are seated next to us and order pizza. Their pizza arrived 15 minutes later. My partner still has no water, and I briefly considered taking my now empty beer glass to the restroom to get her some water. Mar e Monti, just down the street, which we passed on the way, now looks like a really good option. It looked like they had a/c as we passed, and I'm going out on a limb to assume they had water.. Btw, my partner's water never arrived.
8:50ish...our salad arrived.
My beer is now gone , it's 9:00, our food is no where to be seen and our waiter is elsewhere, but with no interest in us so we flagged him down. I asked for another beer and we asked, very nicely, when we might expect our food as the 6 guys next to us are fully engaged with their pizza eating. His response, swear to god, " they didn't order salad". I thought about asking how long the growing season is in this region, but decided not to put any hopes of a meal before closing in jeopardy. My partner reported that he actually had the gall to shake his head as he walked away when we asked about our food. Maybe he too was wondering about the growing season, but I digress.
It's now 9:20, no food, no water, our waiter came by, willingly, just twice since we arrived one hour and 10 minutes ago. The salad was good., the wine ok, and the water......At this point we felt trapped, so we held out hope that the local farmer would arrive with my chicken, and that he would also bring tomatoes, and broccoli for my partner's pizza. One has to hold out hope in such hostage situations, even when your captors deny you food, water, or a sympathetic "sorry for your wait". We never received a single word of apology or sympathy for our wait, as if we should have expected it.
9:43.....our food arrives, delivered by someone we had not yet seen.
10:12, we finished our meal which was ok. We dared not ask for water, dessert was out of the question. The only decision we faced was whether to wait for our bill or to go find our waiter so we could pay and get our before daybreak. I took the highly risky move in such hostage situations to bypass our captor and simply lay my credit card on the table in hopes that someone might show mercy and help with an early release, which worked. A young man came, took my card, we paid our ransom. All we needed to do was to make it to the front door and our freedom.
10:26, two hours and fourteen minutes since we were taken.....uhhumm, we're seated, we were free. The ransom was €53. As we strolled back to our hotel, rain misting around us, streets deserted, tired, but sated, we reflected on our ordeal and on our captors. Passing Mar e Monti again, seeing the smiling faces of satisfied patrons, we couldn't help but wonder "why us?", and what might the evening been like had the growing season been longer, or how things might have been different had the owners of the restaurant actually hired enough help. We can only wonder.
