We were so looking forward to dinner at your beautiful restaurant, which I booked many months in…read moreadvance on my daughter's recommendation.
At first we were thrilled with our server's recommendations and excellent attention, as well as with the cocktails, food, and gorgeous ambiance.
The problem occurred toward the end of the evening. Our server cleared our dishes and asked if we were interested in dessert. We said we would be happy to consider the choices. He left us and got busy with another party, which we understood, so waited for about 20 minutes. One of his colleagues passed by and we mentioned that we were waiting. We saw her tell our server, who still did not make time to check in with us. After waiting even longer, one member of our party--originally from England, which becomes important later--got up, found the server, and asked if we could get the dessert menu.
Finally he came to our table. He did not apologize for the wait (all he needed to say was that he had gotten swamped, and we would have been fine with that small explanation). Instead, he said, "The hardest part is waiting," mentioned there is no actual dessert menu, then left and came back with a board showing us some of the desserts, explaining what they were.
He was obviously irritated with us and so we opted to end the evening and asked for the check. He brought it quickly and pointedly explained that we could tip him. We were uninterested in rewarding his rudeness and did not tip him. Then he insultingly said to our English friend, who was paying: "I didn't think you had an American accent."
This was so unprofessional. We go out of our way to be gracious when we travel, not wanting to be seen as "ugly Americans." We tip almost everyone and generously. Your server's increasing rudeness and growing irritation with us was completely uncalled for, and we are so disappointed to have this memory of an otherwise wonderful few days in your beautiful city.