Katherine and I went to Daniel's Broiler on Lake Union on Thursday night. We had a $25 gift certificate, but that really doesn't go very far when the entrees are about $40 each! The hostess treated us just like any other couple having dinner on a Thursday night, but the waiter had a different idea. It seems that he saw two kids that were in over their heads and thus he didn't expect a large tip. Since, in his mind, his tip was already shot, he decided to basically treat us like an annoyance. Since I was out for a nice dinner, I ordered Perrier to start and I made Kat get some Evian even though she is a tap water kind of girl. He brought us two glasses and two bottles and didn't even offer to pour for us. I know, I'm getting prissy here, but come on. While every other table received warm bread and butter before the meal, I had to specifically request it. When it finally came, our food was ready not 2 minutes later. When we ordered wine, he acted as if the only grape product we had ever drank was Welch's. Thanks buddy, I know the basics of wine, and yes I do know that higher altitude wines come from a more concentrated grape. He got most of our order correct, but he switched how Katherine and I liked our meat (I ordered medium and she ordered medium-rare and he switched them). Kat has eaten at Daniel's probably ten times and she said this was the first time they didn't offer to cut the meat at the table to show that it was cooked properly. Maybe he knew he had messed up. No matter what, our waiter was still not the most annoying part of the evening!
Soon after we had sat down, a pair of gentlemen were seated directly behind us. Our backs were mostly turned to them, but Kat could tell that the older of the two, maybe 45-50 years old, was consistently staring at her. This skeeved her out a bit, but was soon ignored. After we had finished our entree and started to dig into some creme brulee, our waiter approached carrying two glasses of red wine. He informed us that the man behind us offered two glasses of his fine Argentinean wine. We raised our glasses and turned to the man and thanked him. He said "Enjoy, or as we would say in Norway, Skord." At this point, we felt fairly awkward. Here was two men that had offered us nice wine and now expected us to at least talk to them. I basically told Kat to hurry up and drink the wine so we could say a quick word with them and then get the hell out of there! Kat didn't want to gulp the wine, figuring that would be even more rude. Eventually, we started to talk to them while we were all still seated. He asked if we were here on business and when I replied in the negative, he said "Yes, you two look too romantic for business." The older man was doing all the talking and when he informed me that his companion was visiting from Norway, I just assumed that he couldn't speak English very well. The older man then complemented Kat on her looks and said something about us being an attractive couple. Kat and were both obviously nervous and annoyed, but we were still stuck talking. The man finally said something about his wife and then started babbling. I couldn't understand a word he was saying and Katherine was having trouble hearing, so we basically turned back to our table to finish the wine and escape. After drinking the last drop, we got up to leave and I approached the man to at least shake his hand. After shaking, he gently held on to my hand and placed his other hand on my upper arm, basically trapping me there. He asked if we enjoyed the wine, if we would like to sit down and have another glass. I told him we had to leave and we basically fled. At this point, I heard his companion speak and he said something in accent-free English. He understood the language, he was just being quiet because he was obviously embarrassed by what was going on! Kat was, understandbly, a bit disturbed by the whole situation. Ugh.
Soon after we had sat down, a pair of gentlemen were seated directly behind us. Our backs were mostly turned to them, but Kat could tell that the older of the two, maybe 45-50 years old, was consistently staring at her. This skeeved her out a bit, but was soon ignored. After we had finished our entree and started to dig into some creme brulee, our waiter approached carrying two glasses of red wine. He informed us that the man behind us offered two glasses of his fine Argentinean wine. We raised our glasses and turned to the man and thanked him. He said "Enjoy, or as we would say in Norway, Skord." At this point, we felt fairly awkward. Here was two men that had offered us nice wine and now expected us to at least talk to them. I basically told Kat to hurry up and drink the wine so we could say a quick word with them and then get the hell out of there! Kat didn't want to gulp the wine, figuring that would be even more rude. Eventually, we started to talk to them while we were all still seated. He asked if we were here on business and when I replied in the negative, he said "Yes, you two look too romantic for business." The older man was doing all the talking and when he informed me that his companion was visiting from Norway, I just assumed that he couldn't speak English very well. The older man then complemented Kat on her looks and said something about us being an attractive couple. Kat and were both obviously nervous and annoyed, but we were still stuck talking. The man finally said something about his wife and then started babbling. I couldn't understand a word he was saying and Katherine was having trouble hearing, so we basically turned back to our table to finish the wine and escape. After drinking the last drop, we got up to leave and I approached the man to at least shake his hand. After shaking, he gently held on to my hand and placed his other hand on my upper arm, basically trapping me there. He asked if we enjoyed the wine, if we would like to sit down and have another glass. I told him we had to leave and we basically fled. At this point, I heard his companion speak and he said something in accent-free English. He understood the language, he was just being quiet because he was obviously embarrassed by what was going on! Kat was, understandbly, a bit disturbed by the whole situation. Ugh.