Comments on: Foodie Road Trip: Portland Rules http://www.bostonmagazine.com/chowder/2008/02/29/foodie-road-trip-portland-rules/ Just another www.bostonmagazine.com weblog Sat, 06 Sep 2008 16:39:55 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=wordpress-mu-1.2.1 By: Sharon /chowder/2008/02/29/foodie-road-trip-portland-rules/#comment-75 Sharon Mon, 10 Mar 2008 20:32:43 +0000 /chowder/2008/02/29/foodie-road-trip-portland-rules/#comment-75 My husband and I had a bad experience at Vignola as well. We were finally seated but then apparently completely forgotton. I would like to say we had a long romantic dinner but in actuality we had a long stressful dinner trying to simply order. We finally got someone to pay attention to us so we placed both the food and drink order at once not wanting to take any chances. Glad we did as the next time we saw our waiter was when we left. We had to ask for our check from another waitstaff. Unbelievable! We dine out a lot and usually do not feel we are offensive but will certainly not dine at Vignola again. My husband and I had a bad experience at Vignola as well. We were finally seated but then apparently completely forgotton. I would like to say we had a long romantic dinner but in actuality we had a long stressful dinner trying to simply order. We finally got someone to pay attention to us so we placed both the food and drink order at once not wanting to take any chances. Glad we did as the next time we saw our waiter was when we left. We had to ask for our check from another waitstaff. Unbelievable! We dine out a lot and usually do not feel we are offensive but will certainly not dine at Vignola again.

]]> By: lauren /chowder/2008/02/29/foodie-road-trip-portland-rules/#comment-73 lauren Wed, 05 Mar 2008 21:29:55 +0000 /chowder/2008/02/29/foodie-road-trip-portland-rules/#comment-73 i'd like to give homage to my years (and years and years) of being a server in a high-end restaurant. We had a guy who worked there, nicknamed 'the crop duster'. if you are familiar with the term, you can imagine, "campers" weren't an issue there. Any time a table sat for too long, we would send him walking by the particular table. They were pretty quick to leave. I'm sure i can find his #, and you can take him with you wherever you go. ? In all honesty, i have been in your situation, but i was the other party, going on and on, nursing my coffee, etc. We werent doing it to be impolite at all, we just didnt realize there was a table after us. The host politely told us there was a party waiting for our table, and had been waiting for about a half an hour. We quickly excused ourselves, apologizing to the waiting couple. I think its completely fine for a restaurant to ask a party to leave, assuming they had excellent service, and are done with their meal. (within reason) i mean, ten minutes after their desert might be a little quick, but after thirty minutes, and no one is ordering anything else- they need to focus on the new business walking in the door, getting ready to walk out the door. my two cents. i’d like to give homage to my years (and years and years) of being a server in a high-end restaurant. We had a guy who worked there, nicknamed ‘the crop duster’. if you are familiar with the term, you can imagine, “campers” weren’t an issue there. Any time a table sat for too long, we would send him walking by the particular table. They were pretty quick to leave. I’m sure i can find his #, and you can take him with you wherever you go. ?

In all honesty, i have been in your situation, but i was the other party, going on and on, nursing my coffee, etc. We werent doing it to be impolite at all, we just didnt realize there was a table after us. The host politely told us there was a party waiting for our table, and had been waiting for about a half an hour. We quickly excused ourselves, apologizing to the waiting couple.

I think its completely fine for a restaurant to ask a party to leave, assuming they had excellent service, and are done with their meal. (within reason) i mean, ten minutes after their desert might be a little quick, but after thirty minutes, and no one is ordering anything else- they need to focus on the new business walking in the door, getting ready to walk out the door.

my two cents.

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