Black Angus

Saturday we had a delightful afternoon and evening with L and J. J had won free tickets to the theater, through her work, to see Ragtime and invited us. We made reservations for dinner afterward at the Black Angus Steakhouse. When I called to make reservations I specifically asked not to be seated by the kitchen area. The last time we had been there, I had asked the same thing but they took us to the kitchen area to seat us. When they asked if 'this was alright', I replied, "No, we had asked to be seated in a different area other than the kitchen." They assured us it was no problem to seat us in one of the other empty booths. We wanted a nice quiet area so we could fellowship without interruptions. It was so nice of J to supply us with our airfare passes to go see James this past May and we wanted to say, "Thank you!"

Well, when we arrived I made a stop at the Ladies room and when I came out our party was already seated. Jim was waiting to show me where. Yep. Right by the kitchen area. In fact, I sat so all I saw when I looked forward was the kichen doorway. I swallowed and said a quick prayer because I didn't want my attitude to ruin the evening. Our waitress, who was excellent, had already begun taking our drink orders, appetizers etc.

Now, I am NOT a confrontational person. At all. I hate to have to address "issues". But, I leaned over and told Jim I was going to speak to the manager when we were all done. After all, this was the second time, in a very short time, we had had this happen. After we were done I did ask to see the manager. She came out and was very gracious. I explained how I had called to make the reservations and had specifically asked to not be seated in the kitchen area. She told us that she had noticed the request written by our name and she assumed full responsibility since she wasn't out with the hostess to oversee the seating when we had arrived.

We all went on to say how great our waitress had been and how excellent the food was prepared. The manager asked if it was our first time to visit and I assured her it wasn't, in fact, this very same thing had happened just three weeks ago when we brought an out of town guest to dine at their establishment. We did share that it was L and J's first time to eat at the restaurant.

I truly wasn't speaking up to "get anything" but to simply let her know that she needed to make sure the hostess understood when someone asked specificially not to be seated in a certain section to make sure they were not seated there! Well, she went off and came back with two gift cards, each worth $30.00 for us! She asked when we come back to be sure to ask for her when making our reservations, etc.

Yesterday, while Jim and I were driving home from church we decided to use the card for our anniversary dinner next month. Thirty years and a $30.00 dollar gift certificate must mean something!!! :)