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| - I will never go back to Cowfish based on my experience, and I wasn't even able to try the food. My friend and I were looking for a great patio restaurant to enjoy the warm spring weather. I arrived first and was greeted at the hostess stand with an instant "we're on a forty-five min to an hour wait". Well, ok, I guess I'll just have a seat at the bar and wait. My friend had not arrived yet, so I people watched a bit and noticed that not only were there few guests waiting for tables and an empty bar, but there was also a fairly empty restaurant. The bartender explained that the waitlist was so the kitchen didn't get overwhelmed. So you're going to make me sit in your lobby- not spending money and possibly losing guests, because you don't want me to sit at a table- spending money and possibly very happily waiting with a drink and a spring breeze so the kitchen can keep up? I have worked in the service and hospitality industry for 15 years, I understand how wait times and staffing works, but an hour wait when I can count 20 people in the lobby/bar area and over 10 open tables? My friend arrived about 20 minutes into my wait-time and asked if I had remembered to request the patio. I had not, so he went to the hostess stand to amend our reservation and inquire about the long wait in an empty restaurant. He asked if the wait list applied to the patio and was told that they don't take reservations for the patio. Ok..So we just seat ourselves? Please remove us from the waitlist then, we'll go sit on the patio. We were handed menus in response so we walked back and found a nice table in the shade. We also found a patio of about fifteen tables with only the back section nearest the restaurant seated, the rest empty. Again, we questioned the hour long wait time with so many empty tables. Our server was very sweet and greeted us instantly, taking our drink order. We were then greeted by a gentleman manager who explained that we would have to be moved because he needed our table for a large group. We looked at all the empty tables and asked where he would like us to move. He explained that we would actually be put back on the waitlist, because the patio was full. Ok.. Why is it full with so many empty tables available and an eager and obviously bored server who had greeted us instantly a moment ago? He explained that it was a staffing issue, new restaurant, still working out the kinks of staffing.. blah blah blah.. dinner is on me tonight for the inconvenience. Our server arrived with drinks in hand, confused about why the manager was speaking with us. She then offered to pick up a table, because she had another table about to close out and would be able to take care of us at one of the unstaffed tables nearby. We had no interest in a free dinner, we just wanted to sit somewhere and have dinner. We looked to the manager who brushed off the suggestion, then demanded who had seated us at that table in the first place, the hostesses knew that he had need to seat a large party there. We explained the conversation that we had had with the hostess at the front, and the manager exclaimed that his hostesses never would have said that we could seat ourselves and which one was it, because she's just lost her job. Seriously? Again, you're putting your staffing issues on the guest? Well, she did say it, and I don't think it's necessary for her to lose her job over it. We'll just go across the street to Upstream if you need us to wait any longer. The server again suggested that we would be fine at the table next door, but the manager at this point seemed so focused on being right and disciplining his staff that he ignored her suggestion and we started walking to the exit. By the time we had gathered our things and reached the door, the manager and hostess in question approached, with the hostess in full denial (not to blame her, as the manager had already threatened her job). The manager then called us liars who had seated ourselves. Yes, we already told you we seated ourselves, but how do you think we got our menus? At this point, we were done arguing with this manager because it just seemed to us that he wanted to be right more than he wanted to make the situation amenable and display a little hospitality. Never again will I walk through those doors. I will not give my time and money to a place with exorbitant wait-times and ill-managed staff.
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