When it comes to writing off a restaurant, it takes remarkably little to put most diners in a vindictive mood. A cold greeting, a bad seat, a less-than-sparkling restroom: Any of a hundred such oversights can ruin a restaurant visit for deservedly picky guests.
As for myself, though, I’m usually more tolerant – jaded, perhaps, by constant restaurant going, to the point that I often shrug off the “small stuff,” focusing instead on the big pictures of food quality and service. …
This article appears in Feb 27 – Mar 4, 2008.
Went there for a company Xmas party and boy did it suck. The catered food was cold, the drinks mixed were foul (c’mon what self-respecting bartender can’t make a cosmo), and the bathrooms were located on the other side of the building (not easy to traverse 20,000 ft. when your stomach’s churning from the aforementioned).Totally bombed out.
I went to 100th Bomb Group for a completely different reason–to spend an evening dancing to the 17-piece big band that comes by on Tuesdays. The first time I went everything was fine, but when I came back and brought a few friends we were quickly kicked out because we weren’t of age. Of age? We were paying cover and the floor was empty save for a few octogenarians. For a downtown club or some place that requires booze sales for its business this could be understandable, but for a restaurant at which I was paying cover I thought that this was absurd. In addition the manager or whoever the nasty gentleman was that kicked us out was not at all polite to us, even though we had bothered to make the drive out to patronize his restuarant. Not impressed.
General comment—crummy table? MOVE—I’m paying and if I can’t get a decent table I’m gone. Bad food? LEAVE–never send food back with negative comments. And now there are places like this to let the rest of us know when to be wary. Great article, but don’t ever take a poor table selection from a hostess. The BOMBER is not a chic restaurant where you have to bribe your way to a seat.