Unpleasant Dining

We had received a gift certificate for Christmas to Texas Roadhouse steakhouse. Due to limited capacity in restaurants here in North Carolina, we have been putting it off.  It had been a long week. I was tired and hungry, so I suggested we use that gift certificate and have a nice steak dinner for a change. 

We thought it would be a pleasant and deserving dinner out. Well, not so much. 

We both worked until five. We rushed home from each of our jobs and got dressed to go out. But first, I wanted to call and make sure there was not a long wait. I learned from the call that this is what I had to do....call and get on a waiting list.

I called and talked with a hostess. She took our name and asked us what our expected time of arrival would be. I told her 6:00. “Great”, she said, “Just drive to the booth at the bottom of the parking lot and give them your name when you arrive”

We arrived in the parking lot at 6 sharp and there was a long line that lead up to the road from the booth she was talking about. 

After about a 10 minute wait in line to get to the booth we had to put in our name again. The hostess then instructed us to park and wait until we receive a text letting us know our table is ready.  

We waited in our car for 20 more minutes. It was nearing 7:00. We were hungry and we do not like to eat this late (I think getting old does that to ya). 

Once we were texted letting us know we could come in, the hostess walked us to our table. It was so crowed, I felt like we were sitting on top of each other. 

Our luck has it, (mommas don't hate me, I’m a mom too) but next to us was a young couple with two little children. Every couple minutes, one of the little kids would let out a shrill scream. It was ear piercing and doesn't sound good when your half def in one ear. It can be painful. The mother knew her kids were getting on our nerves while we tried to enjoy a meal. She did not seem to care and looked at us as if she dared us to say anything. (Nope, I was hungry and too old to fight). 

They brought out our salads and they had deviled eggs chopped and mixed in. I do not like egg in my salad but I ate it. Nick on the other hand is allergic to eggs. He ate around it best he could. 

After another 25 minutes, our steaks arrived. My medium well steak was medium (it was bleeding a little). I ate around it. Nick ordered the kabobs and they were fine. We never complained. We finished our meal, graciously tipped the waiter and left. 

This is what’s happening. Businesses are cutting back their help and the remaining employees can’t keep up. I see this, not only in restaurants, but also in department stores. Times are tuff for everyone. People are losing their jobs. Places can’t keep up the inventory and customer service just plain sucks.

I do not hold the bad experience against the wait staff or cooks, but to poor management. I happens though. We could go back the next week and it could be perfect. We just picked a bad night to have a steak.