Sunday, July 23, 2006

Why we should never veer off the course that works

I meet my friend, Karen, for lunch just about every Sunday. Her favorite restaurant is a place called Houston's and they are known for good food and consistently good service. I can honestly say I have never had a bad experience there. We decided some weeks back to expand our culinary horizons a tad and venture out elsewhere. Yeah, today is like the 4th time we have gone somewhere different and we got the worst service of several bad service experiences in a row. This dude, Josh, took the damn cake. He was either high or still drunk from last night. He did not seem to understand the idea that Karen wanted neither oil or seasoning on her salmon. He brought the kitchen manager out to explain to her that oil was already on the veggies she ordered because apparently explaining that himself was way too taxing. He allowed me to shrivel up and almost die from dehydration before he refilled my drink. He never brought her salad until I about grabbed him by the lapels and made him either (a) bring her a fucking salad or (b) bring her another serving of veggies. He opted for (b). When we finally realized it was not going to get any better, we asked for the check. He asked us if we wanted it divided up according to what each of us ate and we explained that he can leave the bill as is, but that we will give him 2 credit cards and to please just take the full amount and divide it in half. (That sounds like the same thing to anyone who has never waited tables but believe me, our way is easier.) Ten minutes later, he came back with both credit cards and our receipts. No pen. I waited for him to happen by and never found him. I decided to go pee while Karen said she'd hang out to find Josh and get a pen. He never materialized. I came back from the bathroom and decided to go on a hunt for Josh. He was coming around the corner and I very bitchily asked for a pen. He gave one up after looking very put out. It did not write. Seriously at that point, I about flipped the fuck out. It was the one instance that I did not have a pen in my purse. So I went up to the hostess stand and borrowed hers. On our way out, I asked for a comment card but they did not have any. Karen grabbed the business card of one of the managers instead. However, when I got home I went onto their website and emailed them our lovely experience. I am curious to see what they have to say. Anyway, the point of this story is that Karen and I have come to the conclusion that we shall never deviate from Houston's again. We shall go there for every single Sunday until we are like 80. Going off the beaten path just gets us horrible service.

Elizabeth at 4:13 PM

5comments

5 Comments

at 7:50 PM Pissy Britches said...: We have Houston's here too.
I like it there.
The horrible service thing always sucks ass.
at 9:11 AM Monogram Queen said...: I hope you didn't leave Josh a tip! Ass! I hate bad service too but I love-love-love trying out new restaurants!
at 6:57 PM Tammy said...: Tell me you didn't leave his dumb ass a tip.
at 2:03 PM Rhonda said...: Sorry, I am behind and just catching up with you.

I love love love Houstons. It is one of my favorites. Yum, I think I will make BP take me there soon.
at 5:22 PM Melanie said...: I love Houston's! Definately keep going there.

That Josh guy is a moron.