Everyday Is Better Than The Next

In a classic example of how everyday is better than the next my favorite restaurant of all time, Grant Street Bar and Grill, has been marked off the love list.

Last night at 6:30 My wife, sister-in-law, her boyfriend, and myself all went out to eat.  We get there and right off the bat the waitress is driving me nuts.  When I go out to eat I just want to be left alone, I don’t want the waitress stopping by every two minutes asking if everything is ok, if we need anything, if there is anything she can get for us, etc.  This girl was doing just that.

We ordered our food, got an appetizer, and a salad.  At this point everything is going pretty smooth.  When she brought our appetizer she says “Steaks that are well done take a little longer to cook, so I’m going to take my time with your salads and everything.  Is that ok?”  Yeah, that’s fine.  We weren’t in any big hurry.  I mean, I don’t know why it would take any longer and it never has taken any longer in the past, but I really don’t care.  Just quit bothering me.  We eat the appetizer and our salads and then we wait… and wait… and wait…

At roughly 8:10 our steaks show up.  That is about an hour and twenty minutes after we ordered them.  Now, I get the same thing every time.  It’s called the seared fillet of beef.  My wife and I call it the chocolate steak because it’s so tender and awesome.  You can usually cut it with your fork.  What I got was not the fabled chocolate steak.  It was tough, chewy, and just generally didn’t taste as good.  I asked my wife how her’s was.  They didn’t cook it right.  She said medium rare, they gave here well done.

Then I look down the table at my sister-in-law’s New York strip.  It is not even really a steak.  It’s very fatty, and just disgusting.  She eats a few bites of it, and then we debate whether or not she should complain about it.  She decides to do that, and since the waitress was coming around every 2 minutes we had the opportunity.  She tells the waitress about how the steak is really fatty and the waitress starts explaining to us about how a New York strip is “supposed” to be.  She then asks if we would like it taken off the bill.  Well yes, I mean it’s not like you complain about food just to let them know that it sucks right?  She tells us that she has to go talk to the chef about this.  She goes to the back and returns a few minutes later and says sorry and then starts explaining to us again how a steak is “supposed” to be.  At this point I’m about ready to snap, and then the waitress takes it over the top.  She says “I’m really sorry, do you maybe have a dog you could take it home to?”  Are you kidding me?  How are you going to ask somebody if they have a dog that they could take their 25 dollar steak home to?

So I’m ready to leave, bring me the check.  But the check ends up bringing me something, a surprise.  My wife and I have been eating at this place for probably around four or five years.  We get the same thing every time, and it’s normally around 65 bucks.  That normally includes a drink or two.  On this trip I didn’t even get a drink and the bill was around $75.  So not only did I get screwed on some shitty food, but they stuck it to me on the bill as well.

I won’t be back.