Very poor training for host staff. Bad policies for seating larger parties. Absent management.
Butterfield's refused to make a reservation for 11 am on a Tuesday for our party of eight.(Our group of 10 or so meets for lunch every Tuesday and spend about $15 pp.) When five of us arrived at 11 am promptly, four of us were seated in a booth, while the remainder of the party was given a pager. We were told to let the "host staff" know when the others arrived and we would be seated. Our party was complete less than 5 minutes later. We were then put on the bottom of the wait list. Tick... tick... tick. Empty booths near the first half of our party were filled. Tick... tick... tick. We made several inquiries to the host staff. Tick... tick... tick. Our first four had coffee and juice at the table and we remained standing. Tick... tick... tick. At 11:20 we walked out of Butterfield's in favor of Eggstacy - just down the street - where we were welcomed warmly, seated immediately, and had a lovely lunch. Butterfield's is off our list!