I went for happy hour with a friend who raves about the gnocchi. There was only 1 other person in the place when we arrived a little after 4p but the server (Allison) seemed less than happy to see us. We were waved in and told sit anywhere. We ordered $14 HH Manhattans which were huge (and $3 off the regular menu price). I ordered a HH cesar salad (tiny) and the famous gnocchi. My friend ordered a salad from the regular menu which was like 2X the size for only 2 bucks more (kind of annoying, HH salad worth about 8 bucks) Anyway, I’m a slow drinker and was still nursing the manhattan when the pasta came. Not wanting bourbon with my gnocchi I ordered a glass of white wine. (This is where it gets weird), server says “well are you going to finish your drink???” Me: uh… I think so…. Server: “well…” (insert some long convoluted story about it being illegal to serve me a second drink) HUH?!! Being a lawyer (and former waitress) I was compelled to look it up. Surprise, no such law exists. I kindly inform her. She says she “just took the class” … “2 years ago” 🙄 She then mentions “stacking drinks” and it dawns on me that she assumed I was trying to get another drink for the HH price rather than assuming I just wanted wine with dinner. It was all weird and I tell her calmly that the experience made me uncomfortable. She apologized and to her credit, comps one of the drinks. As I reflect on the experience, I note that her generally unwelcome attitude toward me was strikingly different to her demeanor toward other diners. Piecing it together, I can only surmise that perhaps one of my personal characteristics or attributes influenced her actions since I was the only person who looked like me in the establishment. Or maybe something about me triggered a bad memory for her. I sincerely hope Allison’s day improved. Regardless, since I hate being treated differently than the crowd I won’t soon return to this restaurant - The food was pretty good though. Cheers!
