We usually eat at the Rose & Crown when we go to Epcot, but I was disappointed when we were there last week. First I was told that the latest ps they would take is 7:30pm, which I thought was kind of odd because Illuminations doesn't start until 9pm. I had concierge book it for me and he noted our request for a patio table. We arrived 15 minutes early as advised and I was very surprised to see how many people were ahead of us as walk in's. They didn't have a ps, yet they were given a shorter wait time than ourselves. No problem though, we weren't in a hurry and I was happy to wait for an outside seat. The host was a bit grumpy when we finally made it to the podium and pretty much barked at us that he did see our request for the patio, but it was first come, first served and we had to take what we got. Putting on my best smile, I told him that we appreciated anything that he could do. Well, 20 minutes later our pager finally went off. We went up to the podium behind a couple that had come in right before us, but without reservations. They were being shown to an outside table, while my husband and I were being taken inside. It really would have been okay, except that our seats were along the back window wall. You know the kind that one side has a long bench and the tables are lined up in front of it with the chairs opposite. There is nothing I hate more than these seats. I cannot get comfortable on the bench and I always feel too short to reach the table. Not to mention the fact that you are practically sitting on top of the people at the table next to you. We declined the seat and were told that we would have to put our names back into the queue. I said that was fine and kept my fingers crossed for something a bit nicer. After only another 20 minute wait, we were seated outside, but back underneath the awning. We had a very cheerful waitress though and only once or twice glared at that other couple seated before us in a perfect viewing spot. We saw an interesting sight as we waited to order. A group of 4 adults were being led into the restaurant when they spied an open table next to us. I don't know if money changed hands, but the next moment, they were all seated at that table. A hostess came along and started yelling at them for sitting there, that the table wasn't open yet and hadn't even been cleaned. They refused to get up and she huffed away. We informed our waitress that as it was after 8pm now, we were going to stay at our table throughout Illuminations. We did order our dinner with her, but also wanted the fruit and cheese platter as an appetizer. I'm not sure what happened but literally within 5 minutes both our meal and appetizer were delivered to the table. We never got bread, water or anything. The waitress was very distressed over this and said that it was because the kitchen wasn't busy at all this evening. Well, you couldn't have told that by the way the host and hostess's were all acting. You'd have thought it was 4th of July. We just ended up setting the fruit and cheese aside for dessert instead.
Not one of our better memories of the Rose & Crown.
