Last night, we joined another couple for dinner in a new place in Laguna Beach. We arrived on the dot, exactly on time for our reservation, but the table wasn’t ready. Apparently two tables were sitting there, checks paid, no movement. The hostess suggested we wait in the bar.
The bar, however, was packed. And this restaurant’s layout made it so that if you stood behind the people seated at the bar, you were blocking the wait staff. We retreated to the entry and told the hostess that it was too crowded.
I actually wondered why she didn’t offer to help us get a drink at that point; you’d think they’d want to start selling us stuff.
So we stood in the doorway, next to the hostess stand. We were chatting and having fun, but it was a long wait. A half hour, 45 minutes.
Finally, the hostess said, “I am so sorry this is taking so long. Could we get you something from the bar while you wait?”
This is more like it! We ordered three glasses of wine and a club soda with splash of cranberry. The drinks came just as our table was ready, but it really made us happy.
And the dinner was good. Nice waitress, interesting menu, fun night.
When the bill came, we checked. And the drinks we had in the entryway were on there.
We discussed. Because we all thought if they had asked us in the very beginning about the drinks, we would have paid. But they didn’t offer to help us then. They waited until it was really ridiculous that the table wasn’t ready. Then they offered the drink almost as an apology.
It felt a little jerky to make it seem like it was a gift for our patience, but then to charge us.
Then again, they didn’t say “on the house.” So maybe we shouldn’t have assumed.
We weren’t mad or surprised, particularly. But it was interesting in an obscure way, to see what level of customer service they had.
Would you have thought the drinks would be free?
