Boring Long Weekend

When you work in retail, your holidays are often fucked up. For example: I was off on Friday, January 6th for New Years. :) I'm not complaining, though - it happened that my schedule rotation gave me a 3-day weekend this weekend, so I was off Fri, Sat, Sun, and Mon. The downside of this: I had ABSOLUTELY no plans. none. nada. Four days is a LONG time to have nothing to do.

Lynn called me on Saturday and we decided to go out to dinner. I gathered up Holly, Crystal, and Robyn and Lynn brought Dustin and we decided to try a fairly new restaurant on Main and 8th in downtown Lafayette called Spurlock's. We got there at 8:00 and put in our name for a table for 6. It took us about 15 minutes to get a table, but that wasn't bad since it's fairly small space. We sat at the bar and chatted for a while until we were seated. I was very impressed with their menu. Lynn and I ordered Garlic Pepper Pasta with Alfredo Sauce, Robyn got the Shrimp Pasta Alfredo, Dustin ordered a Chicken Sandwich, and Holly and Crystal both got the Tilapia (one grilled, one broiled). Our server was a little off, but pretty attentive. He was quick to bring Holly her water she had requested when ordering her wine and brought me a second glass of water when I asked. (Things that I would have liked him to have picked up on.) Around 9:00 Holly, Crystal, and I went back to the bar to have a cigarette, hoping our food would arrive while we were gone. After my cigarette I used the restroom and came back to the table. Everyone's food was there except Lynn's and mine. As I was asking Lynn what the problem was another server came over and mentioned that it was not fit to serve, so they were making it again. I was a little perturbed. Not that they didn't serve it - I would rather them not serve me something less than appetizing. It kinda pissed me off, though, that they served everyone else's food.

Our only choices were to have everyone start eating without us or have them wait and let their food get cold. Lynn and I insisted that they begin to eat without us...our food shouldn't take long...just pasta, really. As I took a sip of my water I looked across the table at Robyn taking a bite of one of her shrimp. She looked up at me and tried desperately not to spit it out. Her ruling: the shimp were cold and tough...disgusting to eat. I looked over at Crystal's plate. She had ordered smashed potatoes with her fish and I remarked how delicious they looked. "They do look good...if only they were hot - warm, even..." was her response. Holly's fish was good, but steamed vegetables were cold. I finally got around to Dustin. His chicken sandwich was, "probably the best I have ever had...but not worth an hour's wait."

Lynn's and my pasta finally arrived. Hers was piping hot and steaming...mine was, unfortunately, not. You know with alfredo sauce there is a short window of perfect temperature? Often when it is served it is too hot...but it cools rapidly and can soon become gritty and lumpy rather than creamy and delicious. Mine was the former. (I also kind of expected there to be pepper or garlic on my pasta, but none was evident - just angel hair with alfredo and some parsley sprinkled on top.) I ate about 4 bites. Our server had obviously taken note of our dissatisfaction and bravely approached the table. I am always horrible in these situations. Our server had done an adequate job - and it wasn't his fault that the kitchen was fucking up. He was still going to get a tip from me...it's hard not to, lol. He asked, though, what he could do to make us come back another time. (He even promised us gift certificates.) I said, "I'm not really interested in coming back, but thanks for asking." Everyone else kinda echoed my sentiments and Dustin sealed the deal when he said, "At this point, nothing. I think it's a lost cause. We aren't interested in paying, though...Especially for the 2 pasta meals that took over an hour to be served." Our server looked a little terrified when he said that that would be fine, but he would still have to charge us for our drinks. (Indiana state law does not allow for alcoholic drinks to be comped.) *****SEE UPDATE BELOW.

In the end, all of the meals were comped. Dustin took care of paying for the drinks and we did leave the server a hefty tip. Sorry this whole entry has turned into a restaurant review...but this was one of the worst restaurant experiences I have ever had. I probably would go back to Spurlock's...but maybe not with a group of 6 - and maybe for lunch, I guess.

*****UPDATE - I have gotten a lot of Google traffic about the new restaurant downtown, Spurlock's. Some new information came to me about dinner after the weekend. First of all, Lynn and my pasta was not remade. The went to ANOTHER restaurant and got out take-out and put it on a plate. (No wonder it was cold.) What I also didn't realize is that the meal was NOT COMPED. When Lynn and Dustin went to the bar after dinner, they talked to the manager or someone and they were told that the meal would not be comped. And the manager DIDN'T apoligize for the service. (Not to mention, there were no gift certificates given to us.) With this new information, I would have to say that there is ABSOLUTELY no way I will ever return to Spurlock's in downtown Lafayette for a meal. I called the restaurant to complain about our service and asked for the manager. The woman that answered the phone asked what it was in regard to and I told her that I had some concerns about the service we recieved. I was told that the manager would not speak to me about that matter. I thought she meant he wasn't in at the moment and asked when I could call back. "Oh, he's here. But he won't talk to you about that." Great service, Spurlock's. Good Job.