A Rant on Poor Service

Time for a rant—you can skip this post if you'd like.

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Some of the restaurants around here have a funny idea about service. Last night, at the Two Sisters, it was excellent. All the tables were handled by two waiters, who were helpful, attentive, cheerful and really hustled to serve the customers. The other restaurants seem to have been indifferent to their customers, as if they were a burden, not a major source of income in a short season. Both Two Dog Flats, at our campground, and the Park Cafe have a strange way of seating parties.

At Two Dog Flats, we were being seated at a back table, but saw a nice table by the window. We asked if we could take it and the host told us that we could, but we might have to wait five or ten minutes to get served since the waitress could not get to that table yet. This is not a big restaurant with plenty of staff. Who ever heard of a place where a waitress could not handle all of the tables in her station?

The Park Cafe was no better. When we arrived, there were a few people waiting outside. There was a sign saying to go inside to be seated, so we did. There was a table that had just been vacated and four empty stools at a counter. Seeing that the counter was nearly empty, we asked if we could sit there. We were told, rather abruptly, that we could not, as there was a waiting list and we could be put on it. So, against our better judgement, we added our names to the list and went back outside to wait—it was late; we were hungry; the pie was supposed to be good.

Five minutes later, they called a party in for the table. Five minutes after that they called the next party in for two seats at the counter. Five minutes after that, they called us in for the other two seats at the counter, the same seats that were empty when we first went inside, fifteen minutes earlier.

The waiter at the counter was not much better. Maybe he was slow and really couldn't handle eight seats of counter space. It was rather drawn out between noticing us, bringing water, taking our order, and finally getting served our simple order of a chicken burrito (not very tasty and sitting in a watery puddle) and salmon fish and chips (a bit dry, but the sweet potato fries were okay). A good half-hour had elapsed between seating and meal service.

After we finished, and a rather long wait, we wanted to order the vaunted pie. When the waiter finally appeared, we asked what kinds were available. He answered by listing those that were not. When we asked if he could tell us which ones were available, he said he wasn't sure and went off to find out. When he returned, he read the list off the back of his order pad in one breath, so quickly that I wasn't sure that it wasn' t just one long pie flavor.

Finally, we ordered a piece of the pecan pie. Needless to say it was a disappointment, a crumbly heap, nothing on top, a layer of pecans, with an overly sweet gooey gel underneath. Even the crust wasn't anything to write about. So much for the pie.

Restaurant score for the St. Mary area: Two Sisters, good. Johnson's, so so. Two Dog Flats and Park Cafe, don't bother.

End of Rant.