Had this evening not happened to us I would never have believed it. We'd heard about and wanted to go to Top Flr in Midtown, Atlanta for a long time. This was the night--our first and last visit.
We arrived on time at 8 and were seated quickly. Good. After waiting about 5 minutes and asking for a server, the menus arrived. Most of the wines were out of our price range (yes, we're frugal) so I ordered the best I could under the circumstances. CC had a beer. They arrived in good time. We ordered a salad and that arrived within a reasonable amount of time. When it arrived, we ordered our entrees and side dishes. That was about 8:25. That was the last we saw of any service staff at our table without flagging someone down.
At 9 PM we asked about our entrees from a guy with a clipboard (we'd already asked the waitress who told us they would be out in 5 minutes--10 minutes earlier). The clipboard guy said he'd check. After getting his attention again (he did not let us know what was happening after he "checked"-- we had to ask again). His said "there's been a glitch in the kitchen and I'll take care of it." About 9:30 (I'm not kidding), the entrees arrived (scallops for me; trout for CC). Mine was good, although not very hot. He thought his trout was "fishy" but we each ate every bite because we were quite hungry by now. The pearl barley dish was good, too.
Not having enough to eat, we ordered a dessert to share. After 10 minutes we asked another server, not ours, about our dessert. He said "they do take time." (We ordered a tart). Ten minutes after that, the dessert arrived, but not what we ordered. We ate part of it anyway.
The check arrived (after asking for it). CC did tip; the clipboard guy did take off our entrees and a glass of wine. Did we see anyone on our way out? No, there was no one around. We left about 10 PM.
In retrospect, the evening was more like a battle than a pleasant experience. And, we kept saying, there was no one in obvious charge. Is that anyway to run a business?
Comments