text: In my opinion the food was good, the venue was excellent, and the service was below par.  A poor testimony to mandatory gratuities.\n\nDon't get me wrong, the food here is above average and within our party of 5, nobody complained about the food.  I had Eggs Benedict and they were very good.  And, I just don't think you can complain about the venue; it is in a fantastic location and well maintained.  We've eaten here twice now & both of those things have been consistent.  And, for the location & quality of food, the price point is fair.\n\nAhh, but there is a catch.  Their service is poor.  The girls up front must be the manager's daughter's friends or something.  I stood there for over 5 minutes after our initial conversation before I got a response & then, only after I asked (for the 2nd time) where my party was going to be seated - and during that time, the only person to even come to the station was a person on the way out to make a quick comment.  I was early and on a mid-week day, so there wasn't a lot of traffic.\n\nTurns out, they don't open the patio until about 9 am.  So the little girls at the front, had me sit at an inside table (even though I requested a patio table & was told it was 1st come / 1st serve & I was there at 8:45 & I told them the rest of my party would not be there until at or after 9 am).\n\nWhen everyone arrived at about 9:05, they asked if we could sit outside, so I asked the bartender who to ask about that & he pointed me to the floor manager who arranged it.  This, of course was an unnecessary move, but whatever.  I left a good tip for the waitress who had served me coffee (only) and moved to the patio table.\n\nLater, after I received my meal, I asked my waitress for a condiment & she seemed pleased to get it.  Later, when it had not arrived and my meal was getting cold, I reminded her again & she acknowledged that she had forgotten.  Yeah, I never got that condiment.\n\nWhen I got the bill, an 18% gratuity was added to the bill.  Now, a couple of comments on that.  1st - the waitress told me the bill included the gratuity & that was fair of her - i've had that before, of course, but I do feel like they're trying to see if you're paying attention if they don't disclose it.  2nd - 18% is less than I typically tip for good service - but in this case, I would have tipped less, our server didn't deserve more, for sure & since I assume they share tips with the greeters, it surely would have been less.\n\nSo, in my opinion the food was good, the venue was excellent, and the service was below par.