I am a good girl, I am. However, on Friday night, I was thrown out of Frankies at 457 Court Street. What did I do to deserve this treatment? Was I drunk ? Was I loud or behaving badly? Did I refuse to pay? No, nothing like that. So, what was my offense? I lingered a bit too long at the table with some of my friends.
I haven't gone out all that much lately, and getting three of my girlfriends together for a "girls' night out" is becoming increasingly difficult as we all juggle a million things at once. So I was particularly looking forward to the evening. Since Frankies does not accept reservations for less than five, one of my friends showed up half an hour early to make sure that we were going to get a table. As we all trickled in, we had a drink at the bar and another drink at the table once we were seated.
We were having a wonderful time catching up on our busy lives as parents, daughters and wives. The food was good, the company superb and fun was had by all. After we had finished our dinner, the waitress brought the check. We left it sitting there for a little while as we finished our drinks and our conversation. After settling the bill, we dared to stay just a few more minutes. I had already put on my coat and we were all ready to leave momentarily when the young maitre d' who had seated us, came over and told us in no uncertain terms:
"Ladies, you will have to leave now. There are people waiting for the table."
We were stunned. The lovely evening had come to an abrupt end. Like scolded children, we got up and followed him towards the front door. As he let us pass, my friend Martha and I turned to him and told him that this was pretty uncool and that he had been impolite. He didn't flinch.
This is the first time this has ever happened to me, ever. I am sure that in the past, I have occupied a restaurant table longer than the staff would have liked. Usually, simple hints are sufficient to indicate that its time to leave. My friends and I were on our way out. As I mentioned, I had already slipped on my coat. At the most, we would have taken an additional 5 minutes before we would have left on our own. No doubt, it is the maître d's job to keep things moving and to squeeze in as many seatings as possible for maximum profit. But when a restaurant resorts to throwing out their customers (and that was exactly what happened here), that is just plain rude. It also shows poor business judgment. Instead of returning with our husbands in a larger group, that place will never see us again.
Update:
This is an account from one of the other members in our party:
After enjoying a nice dinner at Fankies last Friday night, the maitre d came over and told us flat out that we had to leave because people were waiting for a table. He basically threw us out. Granted that we had been there for awhile, but we had also waited some time for the table ourselves, paid a triple-digit check and were just getting ready to leave. In fact, one member of our group had put on her coat. There are ways to impress on customers that other customers might need a table without being nasty. I suggest that Frankies give some etiquette training to certain members of its staff.
[ where: Court street, Frankie's, 457 Court Street, Brooklyn]
For Home Page, click Pardon Me For Asking
0 comments:
Post a Comment