A friend and I recently had a delicious dinner at an Atlanta restaurant.  While there, we noticed that the restaurant was beginning a Monday night dinner at their community table.  16 seatings, $35 for  a “three-course, family style dinner featuring paired wine and beer.”

Before we even left the restaurant we made reservations for the community dinner, which took place last night.  We included 2 others who had never been to this restaurant before, excitedly telling them about the place.

The dinner was supposed to begin at 7p.  Apparently other parties were running late, so service was to begin late.  Mistake #1: Don’t make me wait for food!

The server offered drink menus, which we initially declined… but after another several minute wait we caved and ordered drinks.  The server – clueless about the wine list – tried to tell me a Moscato d’Asti would be dry, btw.

By the time they arrived, the restaurant had decided to go ahead with the dinner.  Fine… but that meant suddenly I had 2 full glasses of wine.  It would have been nice if they’d warned us of their decision to begin the first course/pairing – I wouldn’t have ordered the wine.  No biggie though… you know I drank both!

Unfortunately, that was just the beginning of the service problems.

Chef came out to introduce Course #1: a salad of frisée, asparagus, radishes, and pistachio encrusted goat cheese.  Good.  Nothing spectacular, but well-executed.

No one introduced the first wine pairing.  When I asked the server what we were tasting, she had to go ask the bartender.  (It was an Italian chardonnay.) She offered to write down the name.  I accepted (very nice of her to offer)… but apparently she forgot and I never received the name card.

Course #2 was a duck confit served over a delicious white bean and ham mixture.  The runners borough it out before we had plates.  Upon receiving plates, we realized the family-style food had not come with serving utensils.  We almost helped ourselves regardless.  Luckily, the server appeared with tongs and spoons just in time (reaching over everyone to lay them on the table).

This course was never introduced.  Unsure if the chef would be coming out again after staring at the food for another several mins, my friend inquired as to whether we should wait to eat.  With more than a touch of ‘tude, our server told my friend that she supposed she could go ahead if she didn’t want to wait for the chef.  Welll… no one wanted to wait and it’s a good thing we didn’t since he never came out.

Of course, the wine was not introduced either.  It was red and actually quite good.  That’s all I know.

As mentioned above, the beans with ham was delicious.  The duck confit notsomuch. I don’t know how, but it was dry.  Not that anyone asked me how my meal was.

Course #3 was a dessert course. We were brought key lime pie squares topped with a toasted marshmallow.  The marshmallow was the best part.

Ok. When you attend a “three-course, family style dinner featuring paired wine and beer”… do you not infer that each course has a pairing?

No pairing. When I asked our server about it, she said she would have to check.  When she returned, she unapologeticlly informed me a pairing was not included because if they did that they would be losing money.  Super.  Excuse me for asking.

At this point I’m really unhappy with the way the night has gone.  My dining companions (my friends and the others around the community table) were also disappointed.  So I said something.

The chef came out to address the issue with me.  I – very nicely – mentioned the short-comings and the sub-par service.

They comped our meal – NOT my goal – asking that we pay for drinks and tip the server.

Then they apologized for my misunderstanding of what the dinner would be.  Uh-huh.

It’s unlikely I’ll return. Not because the food was so-so (my first trip was quite good) or because of a “misunderstanding” (I get that they’re new and appreciate the meal being comped).  No, I won’t go back because of the poor service and being made to feel like anything unsatisfactory was my fault.

In the end,  restaurants are in the service business.  If you don’t deliver quality service at a higher-end establishment, I’ll not be spending my time or money there.  There are too many fantastic places to eat in Atlanta.

On a happy note, we met some awesome people through the community seating format.  We hope to dine with that crew again soon!

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The other issue was that it wasn’t enough food.  So I made a pit stop on the way home.

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Due to a misunderstanding with my computer, I can’t post the cookie recipe I had planned this morning… so that’s coming tonight.  I’ll give you the recipe free-of-charge if you promise to tip though!

Since I can’t have a photo-less post and I do like to share good finds…

My friend and softball teammate Kelly made the carrot cake for the wedding shower.  Literally everyone was raving about it.  I’m going to beg her for the recipe.

I may have told my mother this is the best carrot cake I’ve ever had… sorry, Mom.

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I feel a little bad about the restaurant comping our meals…

Have you ever been made to feel  like poor service was your fault? 

Do you speak up or just let it go?