| rev:text
| - I've been here several times over the years. In the past, service has been impeccable. Unfortunately that was not the case with my most recent lunch with a client. Things started out OK and I was shown to a table by the hostess. My client joined me a few minutes later. Shortly thereafter, someone approached and asked if I was waiting for [name]. I look at him, a bit puzzled, not knowing who he was (i.e. whether he was a patron or staff), and said no. He apologized and walked away from the table toward, as I noticed, a somewhat nervous looking waiter who was standing a distance away, apparently observing this.
A few minutes later, the maitre d' came over and informed us that we were sitting at the wrong table, and gestured for us to shift to another table. A bit perplexed and somewhat irritated, we obliged and took at seat at another table, while they moved things over. A bit later, he came over and apologized, indicating that the hostess was new and had only been on the job for 3 days, and very kindly offered myself and my client a complimentary glass of wine.
Later, during the course of meal, our waiter came over and asked if I was [my name]. I said yes, and he said, "Oh great, I'm glad I checked as we were going to mark you down as a no-show for your reservation." I looked at him, again slightly perplexed and thanked him, and he went on his way.
Had this happened at a more casual place, I wouldn't have given it a second thought. However, when going somewhere that holds itself out to be of this calibre, it's somewhat disappointing, insofar as none of it should have happened at all. To perhaps explain my disappointment a bit further, these were the thoughts that were going through my head when all of this happened:
- When bringing another guest to the table he thought he should be at and finding me there, what could have possibly prompted the waiter to suggest that the guest approach me to ask, rather than going back and checking with the maitre d' or the hostess? I can only imagine the discomfort felt by the other guest and was myself certainly perplexed. That seems to be what happened (though I can't quite be sure) and if it was, it certainly seemed to be a rather odd course of action to take.
- We were asked to move without any explanation other than the fact that the hostess had limited experience and we were seated at the "wrong" table. The table to which we were moved was of course in a different location, but the exact same size. There was nothing that seemed to be worse than the table we were moved from - it wasn't right beside the bathroom or the kitchen or anything. Which made me wonder - why bother moving us at all, and instead leave us there and show the other guest to another table? They seemed fungible enough, and yet we were offered no explanation. The excuse of lack of experience of the hostess irked me a bit. Surely restaurants like George do offer some basic training before rolling out staff, do they not? Surely such training and three days on the job would have enabled a hostess to know the numbering of the tables, would it not?
- I have no idea why the waiter felt the need to come over to check who I was. I would have thought that after the prior incident with the moving of tables, they would have figured out who I was. Surely the maitre d' or hostess would have known (otherwise how would they have know to ask us to move), so why would the waiter have felt the need to approach me, and mention to both myself and my client, that I almost got blackballed as a no-show?
All things considered, I'm perhaps less bothered by the fact any of this happened and much more bothered by the fact it did happen. In other words, this seemed to happen due to a rather perplexing inability to use common sense, which, for this level of establishment, is what irked me.
That being said, the food was, as usual, impeccable.
I'm certainly not suggesting that anyone avoid George for a nice lunch or dinner out with a friend, but if you're thinking of doing so with an important client, perhaps consider another venue. At least until they manage to figure things out.
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