We have something of a tradition of going out for dinner at least every other week or so. This is something we’ve done pretty much since we got married. We like to go on dates despite having been married for six and a half years. I have previously mentioned, we’ve made a policy of going to non-chain restaurants. For the first time, this pretty much backfired.
One of the reasons we like indie places is because the service is usually really, really good. Tonight was a pretty stunning exception. We tried three restaurants in St. Catharines and one in Jordan. In the first (a fairly upscale Italian place), there was straight-up nobody there. No one was sitting at any table, nobody was behind the bar. We could hear somebody rustling in the kitchen but nothing further was forthcoming so we left.
We went into an Asian place next. I have never actually seen anybody in this particular restaurant at any time. They’ve had a chalkboard out front with the words “New Menu†written on it for about a month and a half despite having only been open for about five months. The decor is really nice though the BLARING PRINCE MUSIC was a bit much. The single waiter (possibly manager) looked at us blankly for a moment and then motioned us to a table, presented us with menus (new ones apparently, though mine had hoisin sauce or something all over the back). There was nothing particularly appetizing so we left.
Attempt the third was to a pub to which we have gone before and really enjoyed. It is a seat-yourself sort of thing and the bartender (single waitstaff again) noticed us and said hello as we sat. Then continued to sit. And sat a bit more. We were there for a solid five minutes (and perhaps more) and he made two trips to the only other occupied table in the place without dropping us off a menu or two or even making a token ‘be with you in a moment’ so we left. He sort of waved menus at us as we left but our minds were already made up and one of the 200,000 words that describes me is ‘steadfast in meaningless decisions.’
We went and did a bit of shopping and decided to try a place a bit closer to home. Sat ourselves again after making eye contact with one of the waitstaff. Nothing at all for another five minutes. We began to wonder if perhaps we had died and were condemned to forever wander restaurants in search of a server with Whoopi Goldberg-esque medium powers. I am starting to think that Niagara’s reputation as a tourism based economy is unjustly founded.