![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Today for lunch I had a craving for Cora's. No one at work felt like going out, so I went alone. The hostess offered me a nice window seat that was tucked away, and a newspaper to read. Perfect for a solo diner. Point. I sat down, picked my meal, read 2 pages of the paper, and my server came for my order. A minute later she came by to give me a water, while I waited for my smoothie. Two points since I often can't get water when I order it. I read another 2 pages of the paper, and my smoothie appears. I read another page, and I have my crepeomelette. Dang that was fast. Point. She came back to check on me part way through and ask how it was. Delicious. Point. I finish my meal, and she's timely with the bill (not too fast, not too slow). Point. I leave an awesome tip and leave a compliment with the manager for the excellent service. I highly recommend the Cora's on St. Laurent.
For dinner, I decided to go to dinner at Swiss Chalet with James. The hostess was pleasant, and did everything right (offering choice of high chair and booster, and preference of booth or table), unfortunately that's where it ended. The waitress descended upon me before I had a chance to get James set up in his seat. Umm, water I guess? She comes back with a glass for James and tells me there's milk or juice included in the price of the kids meal. Milk then. And she disappears. She comes back 5 minutes later and asks if I'm ready to order. Not really, but sure (you know, since I've been trying to convince James not to stick crayons up his nose - I really can't multitask quite that well). I order my meal - largely by pointing to a picture of the special they have advertised on the first page of the menu. She then asked me "Which one?"... "What do you mean, which one?" after several more exchanges, she figures out that I want the spinach salad depicted in the picture. I then order for James from the children's menu - quarter chicken and vegetables. "The what?" "Vegetables" and then she stands there and looks at me, so maybe it was bad form, but I circled my choices in crayon on the menu/placemat. She got it. More people come in, it starts to get busy. Other people are seated, other, larger, groups are served their meals. James has now eaten half a blue crayon, drank all his milk, and my water is gone. Our meals show up, I order more beverages. I realize I have dark meat, but I didn't say anything, and she didn't ask. Boo. Now, James and I start eating. Admittedly, this is a lengthy process and can take an hour. At no time did our drinks show up, or did she come to check up on us. It also gave me plenty of time to overhear her badmouthing other customers as she walked by, and be out and out rude when customers tried to get her attention. I finished eating, 15 minutes later, she cleared my plate. I asked about the drinks...? She comes back with drinks, and while I was starting to pour James' drink into his cup, she grabbed his plate and walked off with it. This wouldn't have been so bad except James wasn't done, and this prompted a screaming fit. She comes back 15 minutes later with a bill in the amount of $20.38. So I pull out $30 and try to flag her for some change. "Would you just hold on?" she says. She walks past me three times. James is now visibly upset and making quite a fuss. He also grabbed at the $20 on the table and goobered it and I had to wrestle him to get the money out of his mouth. I wiped it off (with a cloth), and still, she was nowhere to be seen. At this point, I said "You have got to be kidding me", I dropped the $20 and all the loose change in my purse ($1.93) on the table, told the server that I had just experienced some of the worst service of my life, and since I've been waiting for 15 minutes to get change from my server, my son is tired and upset, and she's going to have to live with the loose change I had on me. The server again got points for being professional and diplomatic. I got out to the car and realized that dinner had taken just shy of 2 hours. It's doubtful if I'll ever go back to the Swiss Chalet on Bank.
For dinner, I decided to go to dinner at Swiss Chalet with James. The hostess was pleasant, and did everything right (offering choice of high chair and booster, and preference of booth or table), unfortunately that's where it ended. The waitress descended upon me before I had a chance to get James set up in his seat. Umm, water I guess? She comes back with a glass for James and tells me there's milk or juice included in the price of the kids meal. Milk then. And she disappears. She comes back 5 minutes later and asks if I'm ready to order. Not really, but sure (you know, since I've been trying to convince James not to stick crayons up his nose - I really can't multitask quite that well). I order my meal - largely by pointing to a picture of the special they have advertised on the first page of the menu. She then asked me "Which one?"... "What do you mean, which one?" after several more exchanges, she figures out that I want the spinach salad depicted in the picture. I then order for James from the children's menu - quarter chicken and vegetables. "The what?" "Vegetables" and then she stands there and looks at me, so maybe it was bad form, but I circled my choices in crayon on the menu/placemat. She got it. More people come in, it starts to get busy. Other people are seated, other, larger, groups are served their meals. James has now eaten half a blue crayon, drank all his milk, and my water is gone. Our meals show up, I order more beverages. I realize I have dark meat, but I didn't say anything, and she didn't ask. Boo. Now, James and I start eating. Admittedly, this is a lengthy process and can take an hour. At no time did our drinks show up, or did she come to check up on us. It also gave me plenty of time to overhear her badmouthing other customers as she walked by, and be out and out rude when customers tried to get her attention. I finished eating, 15 minutes later, she cleared my plate. I asked about the drinks...? She comes back with drinks, and while I was starting to pour James' drink into his cup, she grabbed his plate and walked off with it. This wouldn't have been so bad except James wasn't done, and this prompted a screaming fit. She comes back 15 minutes later with a bill in the amount of $20.38. So I pull out $30 and try to flag her for some change. "Would you just hold on?" she says. She walks past me three times. James is now visibly upset and making quite a fuss. He also grabbed at the $20 on the table and goobered it and I had to wrestle him to get the money out of his mouth. I wiped it off (with a cloth), and still, she was nowhere to be seen. At this point, I said "You have got to be kidding me", I dropped the $20 and all the loose change in my purse ($1.93) on the table, told the server that I had just experienced some of the worst service of my life, and since I've been waiting for 15 minutes to get change from my server, my son is tired and upset, and she's going to have to live with the loose change I had on me. The server again got points for being professional and diplomatic. I got out to the car and realized that dinner had taken just shy of 2 hours. It's doubtful if I'll ever go back to the Swiss Chalet on Bank.
From:
no subject