I realize that trying to find a place to eat dinner on a Friday night that does not involve a period of waiting is next to impossible. What I wasn’t prepared for was the way in which the hostess announced the wait time. She told us that currently the average wait for a seat would be between 110 and 145 minutes. Um, excuse me?
I’d like to know who came up with this tactic. Some frustrated marketing major is my guess. I don’t know about any of you but I would have preferred to hear the next table will be available in an hour and a half to two hours. Calculating the precise number of minutes was not only mind boggling but it seemed like a much longer time frame. Bad call.
Luckily my friend and I sauntered over to the next eatery which was able to seat us in less than five minutes. In that case, the use of minutes was entirely acceptable. The food was great and the company even better. I have always been more interested in the company I keep versus the type of restaurant I dine in. Seriously, who waits two hours for a table when there is a plethora of restaurants in the vicinity.
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8 comments:
I bet Ruth's Chris had an empty table or two....you could have gone there instead?
We had the same problem at Red Lobster in Silver Springs last night. We were told 20 minutes which was in fact 40 mins, then we had an hour wait for our cheese biscuits. We left after the wife complained to the manager and I don't think we will be going back again as who knows what they will do to the food next time.
You guys are making me home sick for DC.
I always try to avoid the new trendy places, there's always a wait until months later when patrons get bored.
I'm a late eater anyway, I usually won't eat til 9-10pm. Lot of seats then:-)
Hang in there H
The "minutes to wait" thing is a growing trend apparently. All the larger restaurants here are doing the same thing! Outback, Red Lobster, Tahoe Joe's, etc. I'm with you - why not say, "It's about an hour wait."
Personally, I like the vibrating thingies they give you at Cheescake Factory.. Makes waiting fun.. ;-)
The wait probably wasn't that long at all. More likely the hostess didn't like your shoes or the colour of your handbag or something. So you probably didn't miss anything.
Now, if you were anything like me, it'd take you an hour and a half just to figure out what 145 minutes pans out to. This way, the wait doesn't seem so long.
*sigh*
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