Fire + Wine

So last night we went to the restaurant Fire + Wine in Glen Ellyn for a friend's birthday.  I wish I could say that it went well, but sadly it did not.  And it went badly from the start.  We were told they didn't take reservations so we had planned to eat at 6/6:30 but the girl's husband asked that we get there at 5:30, expecting we'd have to wait.  My husband and I arrived closer to the 6:15 mark because we had things to do and after the discussion of "having to wait" we were told being late would be okay because they'd probably still be waiting.  Instead, they actually were able to sit at 5:30, so we were definitely late.  However, upon arriving at 6:15, we would have thought we were at a popular Chicago Bar at 11pm at night, not a restaurant. 

When you walk in the door you walk directly into the bar.  You have to walk through an archway to get to the seated area of the restaurant, so when you walk in and it's that crowded at 6:15, you have to shove your way through the people to get to your table.  Not appealing, least of all for a suburban restaurant. 

Then, when we finally did get to our table, we found out from our party that the manager came up to the table at 5:30 and told them they would need to be out by 7 because there was another large party arriving for the table.  First of all, you can't say that.  Second of all, even if you did say that, the unspoken rule is that the customer has TWO hours to eat.  Not an hour and a half.  That's rude.

So then comes the waitress.  My husband and I, as I noted, were a good 30-40 minutes late. She comes up and goes "Are you guys new?"  Now, this didn't bother me, because it was honest.  We were.  My husband though, was offended.  He figured, after 40 minutes of servicing a table, you didn't notice two more people were added?  Whatever.  It was what occurred for the rest of the night that really got us.

So we give the waitress all the orders and they start coming out.  The guy across from and his wife ordered an appetizer, salad, and pizzas.  They brought ALL THREE out at the same time.  What is that?!  You can't eat that way. For one, all the food doesn't fit in one spot.  Secondly, if you sit and eat the appetizer and salad first, then the pizza will be cold.  Eat the pizza first, you may not want the appetizer and salad.  Dumb.

Then the waitress refused to separate the checks for a table of 10.  She and the manager both said that "they don't do that."  Ok, so when we got the check we started divvying up the bill.  Now, I know some of your are thinking "just split it evenly" and some people are thinking "but if didn't order all that then I don't want to pay for what I didn't order."  We went with the latter's mentality to make it fair.  So we sat there an calculated.  Well, it took us 30 minutes to figure it out because about 10 minutes into it the waitress and manager kept coming up to us, going, "How can we make that easier for you?" or "What can we do to help?" or "Should we do that for you?"  You know what? You should have thought about that before you dropped off the check at 7:15 (which is already 15 minutes OVER the time limit you set for us).  So, no, you get to wait.

Then the took the check, brought them back, we signed, and then the girls went to the bathroom, as the front of the house was still beyond packed.  When we returned from the bathroom, our men were gone.  AND they were WAITING OUTSIDE because there was no more room.  So we had to go outside to get our coats.  ARE YOU CRAZY!?  What's even worse?  While we were in the bathroom, the owner of the restaurant came up to the table and said, "I hate to have to say this to you, but we really need the table.  There are people waiting that would be really upset soon."   .....and?  It was only 7:45, or 15 minutes past the generally accepted 2 hour mark.

Ugh.  So needless to say, we will not be going back.  While the food was good enough, the hassle and the rudeness was not worth it.