My PSA for the evening....

[TaraLee4]

If you and 35 of your closest friends decide you're going out to dinner on a Saturday Night CALL THE RESTAURANT FIRST.


AND

don't be rude to the hostess (ahem ahem) when she explains to you that she can't seat you all together because it's busy (saturday, remember?) and because we didn't know you were coming, we didn't clear a spot for you. you know, like we would have, if you had, indeed, CALLED FIRST.


35 people? and you show up and are rude when I can't seat you all together for an hour?! We do have a phone. We answer it when it rings, and we do take reservations. Even a 10 minute heads up would have been nice.

That is all.

 

[ahutton]

This is funny. Tonight is prom night in our town. I can't imagine what the staff at many restaurants are going through tonight trying to balance the prom crowd with the locals who have no idea it is prom night and want to eat out too.

 

[handinpocket]

Can't imagine why 35 people would need to be seated together. Just split up in groups and meet back when you are done. Some people make life too hard.

 

[FireDancer]

What is even worse is the restaurant that you call to make a reservation for 15 and they tell you they don't take them and you just have to show up. Hey, we tried to make it easier for you.

 

[Dismom+two]

If you and 35 of your closest friends decide you're going out to dinner on a Saturday Night CALL THE RESTAURANT FIRST.


AND

don't be rude to the hostess (ahem ahem) when she explains to you that she can't seat you all together because it's busy (saturday, remember?) and because we didn't know you were coming, we didn't clear a spot for you. you know, like we would have, if you had, indeed, CALLED FIRST.


35 people? and you show up and are rude when I can't seat you all together for an hour?! We do have a phone. We answer it when it rings, and we do take reservations. Even a 10 minute heads up would have been nice.

That is all.

OH my gosh...I remember those nights. I used to be a hostess and really disliked when people did that. Don't miss those night!!!

 

[MIGrandma]

Oh, I agree with you a thousand percent!!

I worked as a waitress for 12 years, we had people do that all the time. I could never understand why ONE person didn't think to call ahead for their group. It was just ridiculous.

It was SO much nicer, for everyone involved (customers AND the waitresses!) when people called ahead. We had tables moved together, condiments put on the tables, water glasses and pitchers of ice water, extra napkins, etc. and menus already on the tables.

Sometimes I miss waitressing, for a fleeting moment, then remember the bad parts like people who wouldn't call ahead.

 

[Mrs. Charming]

OMG! As a former waitress, that would have caused a whole lotta chaos!

Yes, definitely call ahead. Please!

 

[scrapquitler]

Like someone else said: in my area, a lot of restaurants WON'T take a reservation, so calling ahead doesn't do any good. That said, If I were in a group of 35 (yikes!) I wouldn't expect the whole group to be seated together. Even on a Tuesday afternoon.

 

[cm8]

true indeed!

 

[minkydog]

What is even worse is the restaurant that you call to make a reservation for 15 and they tell you they don't take them and you just have to show up. Hey, we tried to make it easier for you.

Or how 'bout this? You call 3 WEEKSahead and make a reservation for 30 and when you show up suddenly nobody knows you're coming. And they have the audacity to argue with you even though you have the manager's name and phone number in your notes and they act like you're making this up. You're in the middle of nowhere so there's nowhere else to go. They say they can seat you in 45 minutes. Okay. We'll just walk the kids outside and play some word games or look at the creek out back. An hour later we're seated, but they only have 2 waiters. For 30 people, plus the rest of the locals.

That meal --BBQ--took about 2-1/2 hours. I mean, how complicated is BBQ and baked beans? The kids were absolutely exhausted. In fact, we left early with Christian because he was just falling apart. We found a Quikie Mart and bought him a banana, yogurt, and a Nutrigrain bar and that was supper.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Ughh--that is disappointing.


But funny story--we did call ahead for our very large group back when I got married. We had our rehearsal dinner at Texas Roadhouse--my now-FIL went and set it all up in person as at the time they didn't do call ahead let alone reservations.

Well...we showed....and they had forgot. But let me tell you what, they were apologetic and on top of things and figured out which section would dump out first and then held those tables for us as a priority. I think we had to wait maybe 20 minutes, not too bad for an extremely large group on a Friday night when the wait was an hour. But again--they had erred, and they made it right.

We had 2 dedicated staff...a surprisingly low bill for our group size (we think they comped us some things b/c it really did not make sense) and tipped well!

(our group size was at least 20--but the evening was a blur, so I don't know how many we truly had. FIL had also added some of my relatives (extended) who had stopped in for dinner but didn't want to join us. So he just told the management that he would pay for their dinner anyway. Such a cool FIL!)

 

[jamimb]

Like someone else said: in my area, a lot of restaurants WON'T take a reservation, so calling ahead doesn't do any good. That said, If I were in a group of 35 (yikes!) I wouldn't expect the whole group to be seated together. Even on a Tuesday afternoon.

Even if the restaurant does not take "reservations" we always call if we have a large party just to give them a heads up and we are seated quicker when we do.