19 April 2011

Breakfast: cheerios and coffee

Lunch: I finished this note on the 20th and I can't remember what I had for lunch...

Dinner: We went to the Boot Hill Casino for dinner and had:

• salad
• small cup of noddle and chicken soup
• large steak (I took about 40% of it home)
• large "loaded" baked potatoe (which I took most of home)
• two rolls with butter and
• split a slice of chocolate cake with my wife

The service was very poor. We were seated and began waiting for a waitress. After about 6 minutes of seeing other "wait staff" in the distance, I suggested to Kathie that we wait for 15 minutes and then leave. I had planned on that 15 minute wait before I went looking for a manager. If I could not get the restaurant manager, I was going to ask to speak with the Casino's duty manager. However, Kathie lost her patience and yelled at a waitress some 15 feet away: "is there a waitress for this table"? This waitress offered to send "our" waitress over. Several minutes later, an eager looking young woman came over, introduced herself and asked what we wanted.

This restaurant has a salad/soup bar and we served ourselves. We wee about done with the salads when "our" waitress brought over rolls and butter. That mollified us a bit and we started feeling better about "our" waitress. Dinner came out and was fine. I ordered a desert ("Death by Chocolate" or chocolate cake with fudge drizzled on it.)

Then, we began waiting for the desert.

I can see it taking 10-15 minutes for a steak to be prepared but to wait about 10 minutes for a simple slice of cake seems excessive.

The food was fine and I hate to admit it but the desert was worth the wait. I will admit "our" waitress came around a couple of times during the meal and refilled our water glasses quickly. Kathie had a glass of red wine and "our" waitress did not ask if she wanted a refill...

In one of his books, Anthony Bourdain wrote that a "restaurant owner must have worried feet" [or words to that effect]. The owner must be walking around asking his guests how the meal is going and if they are pleased. The duty manager of the Boot Hill Casino restaurant was not doing this.

He should have been!