Disaster

Well let me start with, I was kicked out. But wait.... I guess I should start with the fact that I made reservations three weeks ago. No one said there was a time limit. In fact I thought I was being overzealous in making a reservation. Dinner was fine. Food was average at best and certainly not "French bistro" quality. However, when I ordered coffee and was told that my party and I had to leave, I was utterly horrified. I have never, in my life, been asked to leave a restaurant -- even when maybe I should have been. Apparently, Tati is so busy these days that they are offering two seatings on the weekends and there is a time limit.

Unfortunately, no one told me about it -- when I made the reservation or when I showed up this evening. Nor, quite frankly, did they schedule their meal service in such a way that after two hours they had any right to ask me to leave. I had enjoyed the standard three courses and was getting ready for coffee when I was told it was time to go. It is not like my party was loitering after having ordered water and breadsticks. This, to me, is utterly unacceptable. If they want to turn their tables and offer two seatings, then they had better orchestrate their meal service in such a way as to move the evening along so that diners can enjoy a leisurely meal and not acutally be asked to leave because the table is double booked.

To add insult to injury, after the poor clueless waitress was sacrificed to be the bearer of bad tidings, I asked to speak to the manager who actually turned hostile. That was impressive for its sheer gaul. She then said that she would get the owner, but apparently he was too busy to come and discuss the matter -- information that was conveyed by the sacrificial waitress who offered me a business card and told me to call someone named Wayne tomorrow morning. Yeah, I am about to do that. I might call him at home in a few hours and tell him his restaurant is an embarassment, but that's about it.

My advice to anyone who has made it this far in my tale of woe is to avoid this dump like the plague. If there is any justice in the universe it will be gone in a few months and we can all enjoy the falafel place that takes its spot. Seriously, people, it's a recession and you are kicking people out of your restaurant on a Saturday in March....? Well, I will pray for you Wayne. Repeat after me..."would you like fries with that...?" See you in a few months!

Lyne (a Montrealer who knows what French bistro is supposed to look and taste like!)