When you head to the rollercoaster at an amusement park, you know for every dip down you go, there will be an offsetting climb back out of that valley. Unfortunately, for this restaurant, as far as food and service are concerned, you are heading down into the abyss - and then you pursue every possible lower level of the abyss you never imagined. Alright. you are going to tell me they were busy b/c of the Christmas parade - but, seriously folks, this is not their first rodeo. They had more than enough wait staff to handle the size of their dining room. So why the panic? Why the inability to get waited on? We were seated instantly by the thoroughly delightful hostess who welcomed us graciously. At this point, we were at the top of the roller coaster with nowhere to go but down, down, down........ Then we waited 17 minutes - 17 minutes - till we could even get a glass of water. We should have walked. Really. We should have just walked. But we hadn't read the Yelp reviews so we thought - the food sounded interesting. We can wait it out. You know that old saying - no good deed goes unpunished? Before ordering, I notice that the menu has entrees with either mashed potatoes or the potato of the day. When I inquired to the waitree "what is the potato of the day", she replied "mashed potatoes". So much for the potato of the day..... Were there specials of the day? Anything special with the wines? Have no idea. It was never mentioned to us. So I guess there weren't any. So we order - my DSD orders a spinach and pasta dish, my hubs orders the Merlot pot roast and adds a side salad, and I ordered a salad with chicken added. Given the wait, I asked the waitress for the access code for the WiFi, figuring if it took 17 minutes to get a glass of water, there was not much hope for getting our food (what a premonition that was.....but I get ahead of myself here). And what does she say? "It changes every hour and I have no idea, I will see if I can find the manager and get it"......yeah, I am still waiting..... After we wait another 15 minutes, DH's salad finally arrives. It was not a bad side salad - baby greens, bacon, tomato, and cement blocks. Oh, wait, those were croutons? It was hard to tell. I love croutons. I even make my own. But, as my hubs said - and he NEVER complains - they were so hard and crunchy, he could not hear any of our conversation while he tackled them...... Now dinner arrives before he even has time to finish the salad. DSD's pasta is a nice sized portion and she said the garlic EVOO sauce was light and tasty and didn't mask the spinach or tomatoes or basil. DH's pot roast was a sizable portion and was served with mashed potatoes (as opposed to the potato of the day) and a side of veggies (squash, carrots, onions). He said that the potatoes were rather dry but the gravy on the meat was good - although it might have been nice to have some salt and pepper to go with it (we actually had to ask, as that is not standard on the tables - really??). My salad was, to say the least, pitiful. I asked for chicken to be added to the salad - which the server forgot. The salad was presented nicely - but, to be honest, $10 for a cup of baby greens with a few bits of goat cheese and perhaps two tablespoons of pecans and a few roasted grapes? I would have been better off with two side salads. I asked the server to be sure not to charge me for the chicken since it was not delivered - at which point, she said "did you ask for it"? Wait, we aren't done. Having grown up in the business, you learn early on not to reach in front of customers to fill water glasses, etc. Obviously, server slept thru that lesson. As she reaches across DSD's pasta to refill my hubs water glass......she dribbles ice water into my DSC's pasta and then doesn't even notice, just spins on her heels and beats a path back somewhere...... Oh wait - there's more......before I leave, I decide to run to the restrooms where there is a line because the women's room only has two stalls and, of course, one is out of order....while I am waiting patiently, a server comes in to wash her hands and remarks to me something like "as a server, I like to have clean hands" which I thought - how I wish we might have had her rather that the poor excuse of a server that we had.....and then it happens. Most servers would not have opened the door with their bare hands to leave, realizign that is where most of the germs are - but that was nothing compared to the fact that the server took her perfectly clean hands AND BLEW HER NOSE INTO A PAPER TOWEL. OMG. I was completely appalled. Whatever good she thought she did washing those hands was undone by the nose-blowing. This is prime location. I am sure that the wine is what attracts customers. The service was awful - all I kept thinking is that this place is a candidate for Mystery Diners.....
How would this review be described in terms of sentiment?
negative