An English Girl Rambles from 2016 to ....: MY BIRTHDAY MEAL

Where do I start? The three of us - husband, son and I - set off at 2.30 p.m. We would have dearly loved our daughter-in-law to join us, but their working hours are different and d-in-l's day was overflowing until late evening.

We wanted to get to the restaurant early and we arrived at opening time, 3.00 p.m. We were all looking forward to a steak and loaded potato meal, having decided on this restaurant a week ago and already had checked out the menu.

As soon as we walked in, we were shown a large glass case of different cuts of steak that we could order, and it seemed we were expected to choose there and then. However, we said we would like to sit down and look at the menu first.

It all went downhill from there. We were shown our table, a booth, that was about four inches off the ground and the boys reminded me to make sure that I didn't climb down before they got there to help me. Yes, I promised, no problem and I was happy with the table but…

firstly, let me say we are not fussy, picky, snippety, customers, far from it and we have not had any kind of a problem with meal or staff at any of the special occasion restaurants, until now. Well, there was that one time 30 years ago, which came flooding back like a laser beam, but I won't go there, yet.

We all ordered the steak from this young man who firstly ignored the usual nicety of saying, “Hello I'm -----, welcome to -----, can I get you....." I was closest to him, and he crowded me out by shoving his hair and his elbow into my face and asking the boys what their order was. I immediately started feeling anxious and claustrophobic. No exaggeration, the boys' eyes said it all and I never would make a good poker player. My expression spoke volumes. Lips pursed, eyes narrowing...

I was being totally shoved into a corner as they gave him their orders. Ignored me, no eye contact, with any of us actually. He presented a surly persona. Finally, still not looking up, he said brusquely, "And you?" Seeing my surprised look, Gregg jumped in and ordered for me. Surly guy left and the three of us looked at each other and looked in our waiter's direction, wondering what the heck was going on with him. Maybe he was having a bad day, but this was opening time and we were one of the first customers. Maybe something more than a bad day and you do wonder. Okay, we went on chatting and tried to enjoy ourselves but it was a strange start.

He came back and put my coffee on in front of me without ceremony and left. I took one sip and it was like it had just come out of an icebox. I said to son take a sip of my coffee. He said it's ice cold and no, this was meant to be a hot cup of coffee, the heavy mug gave it away.

The meal came and let's just say the thickness of the steaks were considerably a lot thinner and smaller in size than what we were shown in the display case. I've cooked steak, I know it doesn't cook down that small in size or as thin from the sizes we saw. I had ordered a small one and thought this was starting out to be a strange birthday meal.

The potato with all the fixings that was so highly praised online, was cold. Son’s Mac and cheese that was cold too, not even luke warm. How's your potato I said to hubby. It's cold he said.

Earlier we were presented with a tray of several pots of small side dishes to taste, so that we would have a better idea when choosing our side dishes. A good idea but all of it looked abysmal and tasted overcooked and mushy. Son also told us that our waiter came out with his thumb stuck in hubby's salad, something he remembered much later but in all the kerfuffle he forgot to tell his dad. Cue roll of eyes looking sideways when I heard that.

We didn't say anything because we were still trying to figure things out. Totally puzzled by the waiter's continued surly attitude. He was being downright rude. I could feel my blood pressure rising. And that's unusual for me as I consider myself a person who is rarely ruffled. There have been times in my life when I have felt totally disrespected and those ruffles start to rise. Let's get to the cocktails. The Margarita I get once a year on my birthday gave me brain freeze and I was only taking a sip at a time. Birthday meal was definitely heading in a bad direction.

I asked him to take the coffee away as it was cold and it was wasted space. I didn't say that last part, but literally there was no room on the table for wasted space. Did I want another he asked, which surprised me. No, thank you I said. I wasn't feeling very chatty.

Our son was looking at me really sympathetically because I had said 'I wouldn't mind so much but this is my birthday meal, and I've been looking forward to this for ages'. The bad poker-player face was out there for all to see. The bar was right next to our table, and I think the lady who was serving drinks may have heard my complaint because the next thing the manager came over and asked if everything was satisfactory. Did we complain? Of course not! By that time, I do what I usually do when I am upset, I clammed up and the boys thought it would be better just to get out of there, not bothering with a dessert.

We all felt the service was atrocious, that this young man had a long way to go in his interactions with customers. I was watching him truly puzzled and noticed that when he went into the kitchen, which we were close enough to see, he had a big smile for a girl in there and was chatting to her for a bit. How sweet and yes, I may be a bit snarky!

What we did do was get out of there as fast as we could. From start to finish the three of us agreed the service and food were awful. My two darlings thought that the guy was having a really bad day, but I told them it certainly didn't stop him from switching on the charm for that young girl, which I could see going on and they couldn't because their backs were to the kitchen.

The check came and much later, son told us he actually gave him a decent tip. He said maybe he will think about that one. The boys laughed at me when I slid out of the booth in a "Get me out of here" sliding motion down to floor level. I couldn't wait to get out of the place. The whole experience was horrible! I kept hoping our waiter would get better, but he just gave us a steady does of worse and I was extremely disappointed.

Our son suggested we go over to Chateau de Chantilly which wasn't too far away. Bless him for suggesting that as it allowed us to decompress over a lovely cup of coffee and dessert and where, even though we don't interact with the staff that much as it is cafe-style, we can guarantee we will get a lovely smile and way better treatment. I personally was sick of the surly.

I won't name the restaurant. Maybe we should have said something, but when all's said and done, we didn't want to be the catalyst for this young man losing his job. On reflection it felt like he needed a second chance from someone.

I also don't understand how unappetizing, cold food can be served up when the place had just opened its doors and there was barely anyone in there. Maybe everyone behind the scenes was having a bad day, maybe something had happened. I'm giving them all the benefit of the doubt.

With all that being said we ended up having a great pick-me-up-ending at our favorite little cafe, and enjoyed a coffee and dessert. Thank you son for suggesting it.

The boys teased me about the expression I had on my face when I left the first restaurant. They hadn't seen that expression in a long time. When I left the Chateau de Chantilly Cafe, frown had turned upside down and I was smiling. Different as night and day.

Now, I do remember one other waiter who talked down his nose at me after I tried to order something that was way too gauche to be on the menu, literally scoffed at me, about 30 years ago! This incident brought it right back like a laser. We never went back to that restaurant and we're certainly not going back to this one. I have a long memory for people talking down their nose to me, where I feel totally disrespected. I avoid those people like the plague, and I have a memory like an elephant.

I took a few photos but will only share the ones from our bright, cheerful and sunny Chateau de Chantilly and to everyone there, I say a big thank you for being consistently good, from the staff to their pastries, to their coffee. I owe an even bigger thank you to our son for suggesting it.

Let me just say, this was an unusual experience. We have never, in all these years, had a bad meal and terrible service like this one.

I passed this over to Gregg for a read and his response said, yes, that just about covers everything that happened, and we both actually had a bit of a chuckle.

Onward and upward!

Thanks for listening to my moaning Minnie personality who thankfully rarely makes an appearance. Because I have always been a diary/journal writer since I was young, I want to remember everything, and I feel better for writing it all down. What would I have done differently? Not go out in the first place? Ha!

How would you have handled it? I am really curious! We all handle awkward situations differently.

Have a great day everyone!