great meal, but..... - parismom - Today\r
i was fortunate enough to get a reservation for two at 6:30 last night (1/24/09) with a nice table for two and had a lovely meal. the service was a little slow as there was a party of ten before us, so our order was taken in a ""leisurely"" fashion, which wasn't a problem for us, as we were chatting over drinks. i enjoyed pasta puttanesca and my dearest friend (for whom this was a first visit to deanna's) had the chicken with gorganzola cheese. coffee and dessert followed and then we were pleased to be offered (without having to ask) a second cup of coffee. no sooner than the coffee had been served, than our waiter came by, with apologies, to tell us that the manager had spoken to the head of the wait staff to order our waiter to respectfully ask us to leave as the restaurant was fully booked and they needed our table!\r
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my dining companion explained to the manager, who was wearing the lovely black hat, that she had had plenty of experience dining out and had never been asked to give up a table, especially in the manner that we were asked. the woman started to say that if we wanted to stay later that next time we could book a table for the second seating, but my friend politely excused herself and drew and end to the conversation. \r
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i understand that apporximately two hours are generally allotted for a seating at a restaurant and i found it interesting that it was spot on 8:30 when coffee was served again and we were asked to leave. if they had needed the table, in their own interests wouldn't it have been prudent to take our orders more promptly so we might have actually started our main course earlier and have been out sooner?\r
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my friend found her first experience with deanna's to be both wonderful and disappointing, as i have recounted above. we will both think hard about coming back again. such a shame. \r
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