A half hour wait turned into about an hour
By Lena Kovadlo
@lovebuglena (43080)
Staten Island, New York
September 6, 2020 12:06am CST
We decided to go to an Italian restaurant for dinner Saturday. It is usually very packed and they do not take reservations for two people. We got there and told them we want a table for two and they took down hubby's name and number and said it will be a half hour wait.
We waited and waited and finally got a text that our table is ready. We went up to the lady and they said our table is almost ready. Unfortunately, that didn't seem to be the case because we had to wait a while before we were told we are good to go and were escorted to our table. By the time we were finally on our way to sit down almost an hour had passed since putting down our name on the wait list. That is just crazy. That's a very long wait and much different than from what we were told. The food was really good though and the dinner was enjoyable, so the wait was worth it.
10 people like this
11 responses
@lovebuglena (43080)
• Staten Island, New York
7 Sep 20
@DianneN Neither do we. But it doesn't always work out, even with a reservation, that your table is available as soon as you get to the place. So wait we must.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (118515)
• Gainesville, Florida
8 Sep 20
In most cases I've found that restaurants under promise and over deliver on wait times. If they tell you it's a 30 minute wait, most places will seat you within 15-20 minutes. It's been on very rare occasions where I've had to wait longer than what they said. But at least in your case the food was worth it.
@moffittjc (118515)
• Gainesville, Florida
13 Sep 20
@lovebuglena That surely worked out in your favor that you decided to stay and wait! Hope the meal was worth it!
@lovebuglena (43080)
• Staten Island, New York
8 Sep 20
And the good thing was we were seated in an upstairs outdoor area. Some tables are on the sidewalk and even on the road itself. Lots of traffic there and some drivers speed because they have no patience. I would not want to sit on the road.
@lovebuglena (43080)
• Staten Island, New York
8 Sep 20
Once we went somewhere to eat without a reservation. We were told it would be a very long wait. Hubby thought of leaving but I wanted to stay and wait. Good thing we did because turned out we didn't have to wait very long.
1 person likes this
@mythociate (21437)
• Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
6 Sep 20
Good to hear.
You do any Yelp-reviews?
https://www.yelp-support.com/article/How-do-I-write-a-review?l=en_US#:~:text=To%20write%20a%20review%20you%27ll%20need%20to%20create,or%20from%20the%20search%20button%20on%20the%20app.
@mythociate (21437)
• Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
7 Sep 20
@lovebuglena Think of it as 'your duty (to help fellow New Yorkers know that the restaurant is worth the wait).'
1 person likes this
@lovebuglena (43080)
• Staten Island, New York
7 Sep 20
@mythociate But from what I remeber Yelp has this thing that unless you're a credible reviewer or whatever that's called your reviews won't even be visible or something like that. Unless I am wrong.
1 person likes this
@lovebuglena (43080)
• Staten Island, New York
6 Sep 20
I don't think I've ever written a yelp review. Maybe once.
1 person likes this
@LindaOHio (156717)
• United States
6 Sep 20
I hate waiting for a table. We usually dine with the other old people at 4 pm. lol
@lovebuglena (43080)
• Staten Island, New York
6 Sep 20
That's too early for dinner. Besides, with hubby's schedule we can't dine that early unless it happens to be his day off.
1 person likes this
@lovebuglena (43080)
• Staten Island, New York
7 Sep 20
@LindaOHio Wow! That's early.
1 person likes this
@LindaOHio (156717)
• United States
6 Sep 20
@lovebuglena We get there in time to get a good handicap spot, eat and be home by 6:30 or so.
@lovebuglena (43080)
• Staten Island, New York
6 Sep 20
Yep. And the time seems to go slower as well. It seems to take forever to finally get a table.
1 person likes this
@happylife1 (13404)
• Karachi, Pakistan
6 Sep 20
SAD ......may be some problem there so you have to wait
@lovebuglena (43080)
• Staten Island, New York
6 Sep 20
I know that the wait time can become slightly longer than what they tell you sometimes but it shouldn't be by a half hour or more.
1 person likes this
@lovebuglena (43080)
• Staten Island, New York
6 Sep 20
@happylife1 Especially when you are very hungry or it is very hot out.
@cherriefic (10400)
• Philippines
6 Sep 20
I hate waiting especially for food. But if it’s worth the wait, I guess thats fine.
@lovebuglena (43080)
• Staten Island, New York
6 Sep 20
Sometimes it is worth the wait, especially if you traveled to a place far away. But waiting for an hour or more for a table is crazy.
@amitkokiladitya (171936)
• Agra, India
6 Sep 20
I hate such waits and now this corona has made it a memory of the past
@lovebuglena (43080)
• Staten Island, New York
6 Sep 20
You do not go out to eat these days at all? We started to go every Saturday, like we used to. This was our 4th Saturday dining out.
@lovebuglena (43080)
• Staten Island, New York
6 Sep 20
This restaurant is always packed and there is always lots of people waiting to sit down and eat. The restaurant next to it, which is Japanese, doesn't have a long line of people waiting for a table and it doesn't seem as packed as this Italian one. Both places are new.
@Butterfingers (66585)
• India
6 Sep 20
I think sometimes the wait is worth and glad you njoyed the meal
@lovebuglena (43080)
• Staten Island, New York
6 Sep 20
True but an hour is way too long a wait, especially when initially the lady said half an hour. While we were waiting for our table that was supposed to be ready already based on the text we got, a guy came up asking for a table and the lady told him about 1 hour and 25 minute wait. That's just crazy! I don't know if he left or decided to wait but I would've left.
@Angels123 (34)
•
7 Sep 20
lovebuglena20860 Well that stinks, but at least you weren't starving and everything was good. I had a similar experience once, but the food and service were both below par. I WAS starving by the time I got served, so I ate it anyway! LOL! I sent the company a complaint, and their response was two coupons for $5 off my next two meals in their restaurant! I said, no thanks, and I never ate there again!
@lovebuglena (43080)
• Staten Island, New York
7 Sep 20
Only two $5 off coupons? They should've done much better than that. I once had to wait way more than an hour to get a table. We decided to go to a hot pot place. New and very popular. Probably the only place like that where live. Can't really make a reservation for two people from what I remember. We came in and it was packed. We put down our name and waited and waited and waited. It took forever. But we were really set on going there so we waited. It was probably 1.5 hours if not more of waiting. And we were hungrier then than when we went out this Saturday. It was close to our house anyway. Never doing that again anywhere,
