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Aug. 21st, 2006 03:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwywnnyddFigured I should get this down on 'paper' before the details faded completely.
So: Gwywnnydd's perspective on why it's 'Pasta Veloce', and no longer 'Cafe Veloce' that follows the Seattle Motorcycle show.
Motorcycle show is in early January. Mailing list starts eagerly anticipating upcoming event, which will include a group outing to Cafe Veloce in Kirkland afterwards. TLOTE is delegated/volunteers to organize list of people intending to descend on restaurant and make reservation for appropriate number. This requires multiple calls, as over time people wangle time/resources to be present.
October: First call to restaurant, makes initial reservation, for 45.
Early November: second call, to adjust reservation number upward. Restaurant has no record of intial reservation, but is happy to make new reservation for 70.
Late November: Third call. Same reason. Restaurant has no record of reservation, but happily makes reservation for 85.
Mid-December: Fourth call. Again, adjust reservation upward. Restaurant again has no record of reservation, and now complains at reservation for 115 with three weeks notice. Sympathy on our end is minimal, but present.
Day before (IIRC, this would be 12/31): call to confirm reservation is made. Restaurant has no record of reservation. Has gall to bitch again. Sympathy is no longer present.
Day of (1/1): Manager looks at reservation list in morning, decides that 'they didn't really mean one hundred and fifteen people, they meant fifteen.' and changes reservation log. Mid-afternoon, two cooks call in sick (this part we don't blame the restaurant for). This leaves kitchen staffed at 50%. 5:30 PM, we start showing up. In the next 20 minutes, there are 95 hungry bikers arrived, who've just slammed the kitchen. I was one of the last to place my order, and my food took 90 minutes. The servers were *awesome*, delivering menu items that were front work, and keeping the drink coming as fast as they could. The management was... unhelpful. '[We] should have made reservations... should have warned them... can't expect them to handle huge groups with no warning...'
AFAIK, server tips were not trimmed for slow service, as it was clear there was a limit to what the servers could do. We had fun talking to each other, but it would have been nicer to be fed during that time :). The lack of management response to our valid complaints (you lost our reservation THREE TIMES, and had the gall to bitch at *us* that you over-wrote the final one) was the catalyst for Da Fryar to point out that he could feed the slavering hordes for about the same cost per person, with less hassle for all concerned.
And thus was 'Pasta Veloce' born...
So: Gwywnnydd's perspective on why it's 'Pasta Veloce', and no longer 'Cafe Veloce' that follows the Seattle Motorcycle show.
Motorcycle show is in early January. Mailing list starts eagerly anticipating upcoming event, which will include a group outing to Cafe Veloce in Kirkland afterwards. TLOTE is delegated/volunteers to organize list of people intending to descend on restaurant and make reservation for appropriate number. This requires multiple calls, as over time people wangle time/resources to be present.
October: First call to restaurant, makes initial reservation, for 45.
Early November: second call, to adjust reservation number upward. Restaurant has no record of intial reservation, but is happy to make new reservation for 70.
Late November: Third call. Same reason. Restaurant has no record of reservation, but happily makes reservation for 85.
Mid-December: Fourth call. Again, adjust reservation upward. Restaurant again has no record of reservation, and now complains at reservation for 115 with three weeks notice. Sympathy on our end is minimal, but present.
Day before (IIRC, this would be 12/31): call to confirm reservation is made. Restaurant has no record of reservation. Has gall to bitch again. Sympathy is no longer present.
Day of (1/1): Manager looks at reservation list in morning, decides that 'they didn't really mean one hundred and fifteen people, they meant fifteen.' and changes reservation log. Mid-afternoon, two cooks call in sick (this part we don't blame the restaurant for). This leaves kitchen staffed at 50%. 5:30 PM, we start showing up. In the next 20 minutes, there are 95 hungry bikers arrived, who've just slammed the kitchen. I was one of the last to place my order, and my food took 90 minutes. The servers were *awesome*, delivering menu items that were front work, and keeping the drink coming as fast as they could. The management was... unhelpful. '[We] should have made reservations... should have warned them... can't expect them to handle huge groups with no warning...'
AFAIK, server tips were not trimmed for slow service, as it was clear there was a limit to what the servers could do. We had fun talking to each other, but it would have been nicer to be fed during that time :). The lack of management response to our valid complaints (you lost our reservation THREE TIMES, and had the gall to bitch at *us* that you over-wrote the final one) was the catalyst for Da Fryar to point out that he could feed the slavering hordes for about the same cost per person, with less hassle for all concerned.
And thus was 'Pasta Veloce' born...
