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This was, without question, the worst dining experience I’ve ever had.
I took my parents to dinner to celebrate my mother’s 86th birthday, and unfortunately the evening was disappointing from start to finish.
I realized we were in for a difficult experience almost immediately when our waiter demonstrated that he was unfamiliar with the menu. He seemed unable to distinguish between appetizers and entrées or between cocktails and wines. As we placed our order, I repeatedly had to point to the specific menu items because he appeared unsure of what we were requesting.
When our cocktails arrived, they were filled to the brim and spilling over the sides of the glasses. As the waiter set them on the table, the drinks dripped onto our laps.
My parents each ordered a glass of red wine—one Malbec and one Edwin’s Bordeaux (which, unfortunately, was not very good). When the waiter returned, he brought one white wine and one red wine. We explained that we had ordered two red wines and asked which glass was the Malbec and which was the Bordeaux. He had no idea.
He then disappeared for roughly 20 minutes. By the time he returned, my parents had already finished their meals. When my mother asked what had taken so long, he said he had been having trouble finding the wine bottles.
The confusion continued through the end of the meal. When the bill arrived, he gave us only the customer copy of the receipt. When we asked for the merchant copy, he replied, “This is what they told me to give you.”
To make matters worse, the food itself was average at best.
I don’t blame the waiter. He was clearly set up to fail and appeared to have received little, if any, training. We genuinely support the mission of Edwin’s and appreciate what the organization is trying to accomplish. However, if you’re going to charge full-service fine dining prices and compete with restaurants like L’Albatros, the overall experience needs to reflect those prices. Guests should not feel like they’re responsible for training the staff.