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Tom Sietsema's Online Chat

lizziee

By lizziee
in D.C. & DelMarVa: Dining

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Busboy

Busboy

Posted
Posted

It sounds to me as though it was handled very poorly. The hostess should have either given an accurate impression of how long the wait was going to be or found a way to wedge them in. If there's only one six-top in the place, and you have to wait for that to turn to get a seat, the restaurant should point that out. Not letting them squeeze into a booth or around two deuces was ridiculously inflexible.

Not to defend the guy's behavior -- getting in the face of the staff is never good -- but after an hour of being bullshitted while my blood sugar drops, I can be a little indelicate myself.

I'm on the pavement

Thinking about the government.

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rosebud

rosebud

Posted
Posted

DCMark:

Have you written to Sietsema about this yet? It would only be fair to Gillian Clark (not Flynn!!!). I'll bet he would be interested in your observations.

I don't know why people are such A$$holes. They just are. They are the bane of existence for all us nice folk.

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DCMark

DCMark

Posted
Posted

I will. I was not online at the time.

I hear you Busboy. The hostess in question was about 15. I know that is not the patron's fault. But they were clearly frazzled. She was so sweet.

Its obviously a family run place. To expect the efficiency of Outback Steakhouse (beepers and all) is too much.

Also this person was such a spinless wimp that he refused to speak to a manager but he was cowardly enough to post an immense tirage on the Post?

I really think people who eat in this town are insane. I also suspect that the changes to Egullet's policies has increased the amount of vitrol on this site.

DCMark:

Have you written to Sietsema about this yet?  It would only be fair to Gillian Clark (not Flynn!!!).  I'll bet he would be interested in your observations.

I don't know why people are such A$$holes.  They just are.  They are the bane of existence for all us nice folk.

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rhodegirl

rhodegirl

Posted
Posted

Just to note, the person in today's chat who wrote about Colorado Kitchen said at the beginning of her post that they visited CK two weeks ago, not this past Sunday.

Not defending anyone's actions or doubting your description of the man who berated the hostess this past Sunday, DCMark. It just sounds like the incident you witnessed and the situation described by the person in today's chat occurred on two different Sundays.

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DCMark

DCMark

Posted
Posted

Thank you for noticing that! I missed it. The description of the hostess was dead on so I just assumed. Poor girl, she must get yelled at alot.

I will of course not write Tom about it...

Just to note, the person in today's chat who wrote about Colorado Kitchen said at the beginning of her post that they visited CK two weeks ago, not this past Sunday.

Not defending anyone's actions or doubting your description of the man who berated the hostess this past Sunday, DCMark. It just sounds like the incident you witnessed and the situation described by the person in today's chat occurred on two different Sundays.

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  • 2 weeks later...
jm chen

jm chen

Posted
Posted

In general I am a huge fan of Tom's chat, but this week, it's just miserable. Very few actual restaurant recommendations; mostly long, detailed complaints that are just posted with little input from TS. And I felt this was a new low:

Palisades: Hi Tom,

I am begging you to please post this, as I am desperate!

This message is directed at Jason, a fantastic bartender/waiter at BlackSalt. Jason, on 1 April, my boyfriend and I had an amazing meal there. You checked my ID. I was flattered. We shared a glass of our wine with you. You shared some of yours with us at the bar after dinner. You told us of an incident involving some allegedly flat champagne. You have a snake. I told you BlackSalt was my new favorite restaurant, and I vowed to come on the 1st of every month. Well, I need your help. We cannot get a reservation! For two weeks I have tried, and I can't get a thing. If you can do anything to get us in Friday night, even as late as 10, you'd be my hero.

Thank you.

Tom Sietsema: Jason, are you ought there?

It's a restaurant discussion, not the "I Saw You" column in the City Paper. Yeesh.

Cooking and writing and writing about cooking at the SIMMER blog

Pop culture commentary at Intrepid Media

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banco

banco

Posted
Posted
In general I am a huge fan of Tom's chat, but this week, it's just miserable. Very few actual restaurant recommendations; mostly long, detailed complaints that are just posted with little input from TS. And I felt this was a new low:
Palisades: Hi Tom,

I am begging you to please post this, as I am desperate!

This message is directed at Jason, a fantastic bartender/waiter at BlackSalt. Jason, on 1 April, my boyfriend and I had an amazing meal there. You checked my ID. I was flattered. We shared a glass of our wine with you. You shared some of yours with us at the bar after dinner. You told us of an incident involving some allegedly flat champagne. You have a snake. I told you BlackSalt was my new favorite restaurant, and I vowed to come on the 1st of every month. Well, I need your help. We cannot get a reservation! For two weeks I have tried, and I can't get a thing. If you can do anything to get us in Friday night, even as late as 10, you'd be my hero.

Thank you.

Tom Sietsema: Jason, are you ought there?

It's a restaurant discussion, not the "I Saw You" column in the City Paper. Yeesh.

I agree. Poor taste, and poorer taste for Tom to encourage this kind of thing.

Don’t you have a machine that puts food into the mouth and pushes it down?

--Nikita Khrushchev to Richard Nixon during the "Kitchen Debate" in Moscow, 1959

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monavano

monavano

Posted
Posted

In reading yet another eye rolling chat it's apparent that this isn't really an "Ask Tom" exercise. It's a "let me vent my speen" column with very little input from Tom. I would say he has an ecomony for words when it comes to his chats. I skim through it getting what little gems I can. Repeated gems at that.

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Fred

Fred

Posted
Posted

I used to enjoy this chat before it turned into a snivelling complaint forum more about dining etiquette rather than the DC dining scene. Everybody's a critic. I can't stand to even read it anymore.

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simdelish

simdelish

Posted
Posted
What was with all of the italics in Tom's Weekly Dish this week??

Probably a new intern.  :raz:

Huh? I just double-checked, and there is literally only one word Entrees listed in the Merkado graph that was italicized.

Are we getting the same paper? :unsure:

I like to cook with wine. Sometimes I even add it to the food.

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Busboy

Busboy

Posted
Posted
What was with all of the italics in Tom's Weekly Dish this week??

Probably a new intern.   :raz:

Huh? I just double-checked, and there is literally only one word Entrees listed in the Merkado graph that was italicized.

Are we getting the same paper? :unsure:

In the on-line version there were numerous italicizations, as though the new stylebook said that all restaurant names, chefs and celebs have to be italicized. I noticed it, too.

I'm on the pavement

Thinking about the government.

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