Herman by Jim Unger for July 30, 2023

Must have arrived bit too early.

It could just be that he has a bajillion reservations for 20 minutes from now.

And the kitchen is backed up…quick, run out and hire a fry cook

Everyone else in town knows what THAT restaurant is like.

So true. And the valet parking attendants look like a street gang………no wait. Darn!

Reminds me of the time a friend wanted to go out to an early dinner, 5:30pm on a weekday. She insisted on making reservations two days ahead of time; I didn’t think it would be necessary. We got there and all the tables were empty; we were the only customers for most of the time we were there.

You must have tipped him well.

It was so nice of him to squeeze them in.

Two possibilities: they are very early for the dinner hour or the food is such that there is never anyone there in the evening. Bon appetite

The way things are post-Covid? or are we back to ordinary snobbish maitre d’s?

And the waiter needs a road map too.

The timing is bad, the food is bad, the service is bad, the prices are too high. Nothing looks good here. They might as well leave.

Showing off…..for nothing!

Have you ever gone to the movies and been the only ones at that showing? Weird feeling…My wife and I did when we went to see Dumb And Dumber.

Never eat in an empty restaurant.

If you don’t have reservations, they are obligated to seat you by the kitchen door or the bathrooms.

Not a good sign.

We were once refused a table at an empty restaurant miles from almost anywhere because we didn’t make a reservation. Soon after that the restaurant went out of business.

I recently went to a restaurant where the service has always been great. We had to wait 30 minutes, even though I could see it was over half empty. Is this the new normal?

This is not indicate a good experience ahead.

Given the lack of clientele, I’d have reservations myself.

Our Olive Garden often has more open tables than they can seat people at just because of a lack of servers – even before Covid.