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DC Shopper · Dooney & Bourke

longish french restaurant gripe!

jacL · Coach

I am so sorry you had to encounter such a rude man! I can see why restaurants have dress codes but if you were already on your way to be seated, he should have been happy to just serve you, especially if you had been there before. At the very most, I think he could have come to your table and told you the dress code for next time, but even that may have been rude on his part. I am glad you had a nice steak dinner anyways!

My BF and his friend were almost not let into a club because they were underdressed...but it was a brand new club and there were only 10 people there so they had to let us in if they wanted to make any money!

Hermes

yes. this happened to me within this past year at the bar on the top floor of the Peninsula in Hong Kong. I go strutting across the entire place toward to the bar, grab a seat (all the while thinking my husband was behind me), I turned around and there he was at the entrance, he had been stopped because he had shorts on (nice shorts mind you - dressy, with black loafers - it was 100+ dergrees out that day) - anyway, I had to do the walk of shame through the restaurant back to my bare legged husband... so - you are not the only one.

Here's the bar, it's called the Felix - do try to go if you find yourself in Hong Kong - the shops on the first floor of the hotel are to die for too...

Felix

Mandy · Kate Spade

DC, that is so horrible. I can't believe that guys attitude. I have an embarrassing restaurant story, but it isn't related to the waitstaff... A few years ago my grandmother took my dad and I to a joint birthday dinner at a nice restaurant in Atlanta. Everything was great until she whipped out birthday presents and I don't mean the kind that come in cards. I mean huge wrapped presents. Large and embarrassing presents. I got this tacky silver tray thing. I really wanted to crawl under the table and hide. Not that they would know me, but it is a place my exhusband and I used to go for special occasions.

shopgirl82 · Chanel

um, yeah. it was my ex's b-day in philly. so i got reservations at the Fountain restaurant at the Four Seasons, but before hand, his bad influence friend wanted to meet up at their favorite dive bar. whenever we get together with him we all do jaegar shots. well, since it was a celebration we did jaegar shots (3) and had a long island ice tea (it was the bar special). not the glamourous start i was expecting. we got the restaurant, had a gin and tonic while we were waiting for our table. then, i decided that we would do the wine pairing with the meal. um, right before the dessert came, i got the hiccups and they turned into a bit more than just air coming out. this is at a 4 star restaurant! i'm dressed to the nines, in this amazing restaurant, and i'm spitting up (not quite puking) at the table!!! they brought a wine chiller to the table so i could spit up in that on my way to the bathroom. i was sooo freaking embarassed and mad at my ex's friend (and myself) for drinking that much before the dinner. it was an amazing/expensive dinner and i was too drunk to really taste it.

it was bad. so yeah, i definitely had a bad fine dining experience!

Maat · Kenneth Cole

DC Shopper wrote:

sorry for posting such a stupid gripe, but I have to come cry to somebody! so tonight my husband and I went to a French restaurant around the corner and had made reservations (we've been there once before with no problems). We walked in, the french owner greeted us and told the waiters where to seat us, and as we were walking to the table he goes (in thick french accent) "nononononono! cannot! cannot!" stops us in our tracks with half the restaurant looking, and points to my husband's shorts. apparently there is a no shorts no sandals policy, which is not posted anywhere, and which did not seem to be in place the last time we were there. the place has great food and is expensive for Bangkok, but it's sort of relaxed fancy, not buttoned-up fancy. now, i thought my husband looked a bit casual in his button down short sleeve shirt and khakis and said so but he didn't think it would be a problem when we left the house - but of course it turned out that it was. i understand the concept of respecting the establishment etc., but i was furious - we basically got kicked out, i couldn't believe how rude he was. was it really necessary to humiliate us in this way? no apology, no "excuse me, i'm very sorry but we don't allow shorts in the restaurant", just an indignant french man sputtering and staring at my poor husbands bare legs. Jerk!! had he been nicer we might have changed and come back, but never again. not that he is the type who cares if he loses business. his precious food and ambiance apparently trump being pleasant to the customers. arg! so we had a great steak dinner at a very hospitable steakhouse down the street instead. how embarrassing though! can someone else please share an embarrassing story involving a fancy restaurant so I can feel better?-- Edited by DC Shopper at 12:31, 2006-05-04

How embarrassing! I'm so sorry that happened to you. Rules are rules, but it is also important for the restaurant staff to want people to come back. They should have either explained the rule and sat you in an inconspicuous spot, or just politely explained that they really can't allow you in with shorts. Instead they made you feel terrible!

I do have an embarrassing restaurant story. My friends and I went to this trendy sushi place in NYC. When we got there, we were the only people there and they told us to sit where we wanted. We found this nice corner area against the wall (it was the type of area where there are several tables against a wall where one side has chairs and one side is a booth and you can move the tables together to accommodate large groups). After we had already ordered, a large group of people came in and wanted our table. The waitress came over and asked us if we would move and we said no. Then another waitress came over and told us in a nasty voice that we had to move because these people were regulars. So, we had to move to some less comfy table. The worst part is there would be plenty of room for them without using our table (one they sat down, there was still an empty table next to them that they could have used instead of ours). It's not like they needed to have our table....they just wanted it. It was so embarrassing that the restaurant staff found us to be so unimportant that they accommodated this request. We would have complained, but we got the idea that nobody gave a crap.

bex · Chanel

aw that sux! he could have handled it better....

do you happen to know if the place was 4 star or 5 star?

my good friend is a head waitress at a 4 star restaraunt in Cincinnati (travelgirl or Carmen- it's Pigalle's by Jean Robert!). She said the reason that they are 4 star instead of 5 is because they decided not to have a strict dress code. people can wear jeans in there and they won't not serve them.

DC Shopper · Dooney & Bourke

hee hee, thanks for sharing your stories, guys. i feel slightly less uncouth now. i've cooled down a bit but i do have a lingering resentment towards this restaurant. i agree, dress codes are dress codes but there is a polite way to enforce them! this has never happened to me in the US - think about it, there are jackets-only places, but they usually have a spare for people who didn't know. here in bangkok, things just seem dressier generally, and they don't seem to have any qualms about telling you so. lesson learned! but i'm still not going back for a looong time, if ever.

detroit - that restaurant looks awesome. i may be in Hong Kong for two weeks for work sometime this fall, and will check it out - dressed to the nines, of course! thanks for the heads up.

bex - i don't know that this restaurant has any stars, actually...it's just a random french restaurant tucked away down a side road. how would i find out?