Valentine's Day, after our Menards saga, we went to Jonah's Fish House for dinner. I made reservations several weeks ago using Open Table (I highly suggest). We arrived at 6:45 for our 7:00 reservation to a packed house (well, it is Valentine's Day). I sauntered up to the hostess station to let her know we had arrived. She found my reservation and then proceeded to utter this phrase, "I'll put you down as partially here, come back at 7 to check in." Right then I quickly thought:
- There are only two of us and we are both here
- I don't remember driving my Delorean
- Did I request "snotty hostess" on Open Table?
- I wonder what Joe's Crab Shack's phone number is?
- Am I being punked?
- Is this a Monty Python sketch?
- This is possibly a bad/weird sign
So, I ask her, "Just to clarify, I have told you I'm here but I need to come back at 7 to tell you I'm here again?" Her response, without batting an eyelash but with a heavy does of snide and a dash of unmitigated gall, "Yes",
Ooookaaay then
No seats in the bar so we find some benches to sit on. We did enjoy watching patrons mistake the bathroom signs (that's what happens when you get cute with the names, Whalers and Maidens) and almost run into a column. Promptly at 7 I went up to the hostess and announced, "I checked, and I'm all here". I'm sure she loved that but I could care less. I asked how long the wait was and got "20-25 minutes".
I found a table in the bar and brought Rachel over to possibly get some drinks. HA! No waiter in sight and the bar tender seemed to be on an internship from the Illinois School for the Blind. OK, the waiter was in sight at one point, when I was at the hostess station he came zooming by uttering curse words under his breath. So, in hindsight, probably good he didn't serve us, I like my Jack and Cokes sputum free.
Expecting a long wait we were surprised to hear my name 7 minutes later. NICE! We even got a seat by the window overlooking the Peoria river, not too bad, and the employee parking lot, interesting placement.
The waitress was very nice and took our order promptly. She even had one of those hand-held computers to put the order in. Our salads were tasty and the calamari was very good. The bread was...bread. Now our entrees arrive. I had Marlin and Rachel had Scallops. The Marlin was overcooked and the Scallops were barely plural (just 3). Not too impressed.
I will say the dining room staff were excellent, prompt, courteous, and efficient. But the food is the ultimate sticking point and for the prices they were charging, I will not be back too soon. Afterwards we surmised that we would have been happier at Red Lobster.
Another failed Valentine's Day dinner. But hey, if the relationship is fabulous and the Hallmark Holiday dinners are bad, I'll take that any day.
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