This was my first time to Mozelle's and I had brought an out of town guest to show them what a good Winston-Salem West End restaurant was like. We elected to sit on the enclosed patio. The first distraction was a large group that decided that bringing a small child (under 2) to a grownup restaurant in the evening was a good idea. The child proceeded to scream off and on throughout dinner. This is not the restaurant's fault, but poor judgment on the parents...but I have been there so let that slide...just sort of ruined any ambiance that might have been there.
We had ordered a nice bottle of wine to go with dinner and had been there a total of a little over an hour. The food was pleasant. but not exceptional. A lady, don't know if she was a waiter or a manager came over as we were sitting there talking and finishing the bottle (less than a half glass for each of us remained, so we would have been gone in 10 mins anyway) and asked if we would mind moving outside on the sidewalk to finish our wine as they had a large group coming in and they needed our table. I was speechless. I could not believe I was being asked to go out and sit on the sidewalk to finish a $56 bottle of wine! We got up and the lady took us outside, pulled two chairs from a crevice between the buildings and sat them literally on the sidewalk next to the restaurant. No table, just a couple of chairs and then sat our wine on the ledge of a porch of a house next door. The restaurant had apparently overbooked their capacity and made their problem mine. That was rude and unacceptable behavior and business practices. Needless to say my guest was impressed and suggested the next time we bring a brown bag for our wine if we were going to sit on the sidewalk to drink it. We ""chugged"" the remaining wine and left. They apparently have plenty of business and do not need mine.
more