Category: Guests

Seriously, if you want to be taken seriously, re-consider wearing the Santa sweater. In my new job, I find I am a little bit off the downtown beaten path. Oh, it’s an upscale, busy spot, alright, and the reputation is sterling. But, people tend to dress a bit more casually here in the almost-but-not-quite suburbs…

The babies were back. They wore hats with reindeer antlers pointing crazily in every direction. They wore hats that were knitted to resemble, in exact detail, a strawberry, an acorn, and an orange. They wore hats with long braids hanging down, jingle-bell accents optional. They wore hats that covered 95 percent of their faces. Babies…

“That’s my car!” shouted the guest, one of six ladies who’d made a late afternoon reservation and then arrived late. Ladies who lunch. I remember my most favorite teacher ever–my 6th grade teacher–who later turned up as a substitute teacher to my kids in elementary school, who turned out to be only nine years older…

At 10:22 p.m., the woman at table 421 bared her breast. She was attempting to not-so-covertly show her friends her “done” breasts by spreading apart the cloth covering said breasts, when one of them simply and completely popped out. I’d love to regale everyone with a tale of debauchery and shock, but by 10:22 p.m.…

I am a sucker for anything that smacks of romance–first date, blind date, 95th date–whatever. But nothing beats a proposal of marriage. So when the notes in one Open Table reservation read: “I am proposing tonight. It’s a surprise,” I had to double check that against another set of reservation notes that stated: “We are…

When Restaurant Gal Daughter and Son were learning to drive, their grandmother–Mr. Restaurant Gal’s mother–counseled them with this advice: “Beware of old men wearing hats.” This surprised me. Our Nana grew up in the era when all men wore hats–old men, young men, every man. You know the hat, at least from the vintage clothing…

“Oh no, don’t look,” said one of our evening hosts a few nights ago. Of course, we all looked where she was looking. And there they were–another romantic couple without a care in the world that the host staff, managers, back wait staff, and pretty much everyone else in the restaurant could see them. Booth…

“You all are open? For lunch?” We only just started our lunch service two weeks ago. “Yes, this is our second full week,” I told the couple. “Would you like to see a menu?” And for the first and what wouldn’t be the last time today, I coaxed guests into accepting our menu concept and…

“I’d like to make a reservation for tonight, please,” said the voice of someone I figured to be a 12- to 14-year-old boy. I was in the office, answering phones, feeling kind of okay because I’d walked an hour-and-a-half to get to work, and I was still in my sweats and not a suit. That…

Yes, on a Monday, of all nights. First there was the food critic–not a foodie posting on a blog–they’ve been coming in since day one. No, this one is an actual widely read restaurant critic. We kind of figured he’d be in this week, since we’ve been open almost a month. And as we all…