HEY, I'M DINING HERE!

This post could also have been titled: 'HEY, I'M PAYING GOOD MONEY HERE SUNSHINE!' 

I'm well over the dining out experience especially when the establishment and its staff think that they are owed something merely for existing.

When we lived in Toronto there was a swanky wanky place that we went to a couple of times before tiring of the silly staffing hierarchy. See: HERE

A couple of months back we went to a swanky wanky eatery in our street (Richard and Shelley were with us) where we were sold an over-priced and, as it turned out, an illegally labelled bottle of wine that in no way met the glowing description on the wine list. I went back the next day and had it out with the manager - a supercilious - wank and obtained a $75 credit. Poor old Richard still has nightmares over this and fills his blogs and comments on other blogs with his experience of a chilled red wine.

Last night we went to a wanky Italian restaurant with ordinary but overpriced food, an ordinary wine list and some staff who thought it better to chat with their friends rather than do any actual order taking.

Afterwards we went to The Library which is a rare and wonderful find being a late night bar and eatery with live music. It's named The Library because there are stacked bookshelves galore in the place. Old comfortable sofas with tables are hidden away in alcoves in a maze-like setting. It's reminiscent of the cafes of the 1970s that I frequented as a student and has a Prohibition era speakeasy or opium den quality about it. It is neat but ...... the joker who showed us to a table and gave us a wine list let the place down. He went away and left us there for too long. I had to stand up and wave my hands around at him and a waitress for a while before he deigned to come over.

"Can I help you" he asked.

"Well, yes" I replied "We want to order some wine"

Fearing that he would wander away again I quickly ordered a couple of glasses of (overpriced) pinot noir that I'd seen on the wine list. He went away and fetched it (very small servings). The wine was good but I've seen the bottle price in wineshops hence the 'overpriced' comment. On paying before leaving (Geoff paid) this guy - I don't know if he was the owner, the manger or simply a waiter - had an "I'm too good to be here doing this shit' manner about him.

As much as I liked this place, and the music, I doubt if I'll go back.

As I said in the opening to this post I'm over fancy restaurants and now prefer cheap and cheerful (ideally) cafes manned by people who want to be there and respect the fact that you, as the customer are paying for a pleasant time.