Faster, better…

This week I was in old-town Alexandria, VA with my wife. After dropping her off at a class she was taking I checked us in at our hotel. After paying $18 a day for parking in addition to a hefty room rate and $9.99 for 24 hours of WiFi I went to their restaurant for breakfast making it just ahead of the 10:30 deadline. (Bottled water in the rooms is $3.50. The hotel is a marketing and sales paradise.)

There was one couple in the entire place. Quiet, not busy. I walked up to the check in desk. Two restaurant employees were standing together chatting but did not acknowledge me. Truly I had the feeling I was invisible or had walked up to the wrong desk. I had to ask, “Am I on time for the buffet?” Silence for a good 30 seconds. Some conversation was exchanged in a foreign language between the ladies and then one said, “Sure.” She walked me to a table and pointed to it. What is with the pointing thing in restaurants? She asked if I wanted coffee I said yes and walked to the buffet.

The distinct impression left with me was that this place was a “pretendaurant.” An open space in a building pretending to be a restaurant. It was a heck of a surprise since this was a Sheraton Hotel. Actually I think I was a little shocked. The food was average. As buffets go it was nothing special. Imagine my disbelief when I paid some $16 for what amounted to a $6.99 meal. They did give me an opportunity to rush back for more food before it was all taken away but I declined. “Wouldn’t want to put you out,” I thought to myself. On the way out I stopped at the lobby coffee area to take a cup to my room leaving half a cup at the table. The regular coffee in the dispenser was empty! Rats. Looking back at my table I watched my coffee cup head back to the kitchen with a waitress.

This was a pretendaurant. Expensive, impersonal, not really a restaurant and definitely a two on our scale. Service was unimportant. Customers are an inconvenience and the employees had other things to do. I’m going to hoof it away from the Hoof and Fin.

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