Archive: Around Town

We had been driving many hours on our way back from visiting family in North Carolina and Deb and I were desperate for a relaxing break. Hoping to have a restful, stressless lunch we pulled off the highway in Asheville, Virginia and noticed a Ruby Tuesday near the exit.  I had never been to one and was interested in trying it so we pulled in.  It’s probably not fair to judge all the restaurants in a chain by one experience but based on that lunch – I ain’t goin’ back to any Ruby Tuesday in a hurry.

Here are the frustrating details.

After an interminable wait, the waitress finally arrived to take a drink order. I told her that I saw Heineken beer on the menu and wondered if Heineken Dark was available. She said she didn’t know but would find out.  I told her that I’d prefer the dark but if it wasn’t available, could she please just bring the regular.  Much later, waitress arrived with an empty tray except for Deb’s coffee. Waitress advised that the dark beer was not available. I reminded her that if the dark wasn’t available I had asked her to bring a bottle of regular.  “Oh, right.  I’ll be right back with it.”

After serving other tables, she finally returned with a bottle of Heineken beer.  I prefer to drink beer from a glass so I requested one and she said, “Oh, right, I’ll be right back with it.” The food was subsequently delivered but there was still no glass. That bottle of cold beer was getting more and more tempting as time passed so I decided it was time to be proactive.  I located the bar and asked the bartender for a glass.  From the time we were seated it took more than 25 minutes for the first sip of cool beer to find its way into my throat.

Deb had read on the menu that the salad bar featured homemade, tasty croutons. That turned out to be the deciding factor for her choosing the salad bar instead of a chicken sandwich. When she arrived at the salad bar, guess what?  Right – no croutons. She mentioned it to the host who told her that croutons would be right out and he would personally bring some to her table. He asked where we were sitting.  She showed him.  Guess what? Right - He never brought any croutons.

When I eat ribs I eat as much as I can with a knife and fork before I pick up each rib and gnaw away. I had finished the knife and fork work on my ribs and still had a fork in my hand.  There was also some broccoli remaining on my plate.  Waitress arrived, reached for my plate and said, “I’ll get this out of your way dear.” I don’t know how you feel about this but I don’t like to be called dear or honey by most people – especially by waitresses I’ve never met.  And I do appreciate being asked before a server assumes I’m finished with my plate.  Incidentally, Deb eats faster than I do so she always opts to keep her plate when she’s finished in order to help me not feel rushed.

We noticed on the menu that if the waitress fails to ask if we want an appetizer that we’d be entitled to a complimentary fish fondue.  Waitress never asked.  When we asked for a fondue, waitress was not very gracious citing how busy she was. Nevertheless, we concluded that was not our problem and asked for a complimentary fish fondue.  When the fondue was finally delivered we were told by the kitchen runner, “Here’s your shrimp fondue.”  We asked about the fish fondue that was on the table tent card. “Oh, that’s a mistake – we don’t have fish fondue, only shrimp fondue.”  I’m sure you won’t be surprised to hear that I had no trouble standing a spoon upright in the thick, salty glop.  And if there were any shrimp imprisoned inside it, I sure couldn’t locate them.

We asked for a check.  There was a $1 entry for clam chowder.  I summoned waitress and mentioned that I thought soup and salad, together, was $8.99.  She replied that’s only for certain soups.  I asked her to show me on the menu where it says clam chowder was extra.  She retrieved a menu and couldn’t find anything about it. Manager, who had been the bartender who had given me the beer glass, agreed that the menu was badly worded and instructed waitress to remove the $1 charge.  She did but didn’t deduct the appropriate tax. 

Just when I thought everything was taken care of and we would be able to resume our long car journey, I gave waitress cash to pay the bill.  Since the last two digits were 97 cents, I gave her two pennies so I could get a nickel back and not three pennies.  Waitress returned with my change which included three pennies. When I asked her about that she replied that she didn’t have a clue about what to do with the two pennies I had given her.

I find it interesting that everything in life is relative to everything else.  After leaving Ruby Tuesday and getting back in the car to resume our long trip north, I found that driving in a confined car, in heavy traffic, in the rain, was more restful and stressless than our recent lunch break had been. As a result of that experience, I have concluded that Ruby Tuesday is not my cup of tea.

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