We went to a local Korean/Japanese restaurant on Friday night around 7:30. We’d been to this particular place years ago and our memory of it was good. When we arrived, we looked in the window and there were no customers in the place. Not a single person. One family was just leaving, but if we went in, we’d be alone in the relatively big (for our area) restaurant. We discussed bailing for a few minutes because we don’t like dining in empty restaurants but we went in anyway, seeing that they obviously needed the business.
As we remembered, everything was good and the service was very friendly. One other family came in while we were eating which alleviated the creepiness factor just a bit. Carol spoke to the hostess/owner as we were leaving and she said that this was the worst she had ever seen the restaurant business.
Being alone in a restaurant is very sad, especially when it’s a prime time like a Friday night. There are people standing-by to cook and serve food, and no one is taking them up on it. It’s especially sad when it’s a local place, likely encompassing the entire savings of the owners. Unfortunately, many thousands will lose their restaurants in the current economic crisis as people eat out less.
2 comments:
I know what you mean. My father ran a mom-and-pop grocery store that did not do well and we often had few or no customers. I am very sad to see these small businesses struggling, especially when the people largely responsible for the economic mess are taking their golden parachutes and vacationing in Bermuda or something or buying $1400 trash cans. I'd like to "Jack Bauer" these people.
Marquette has seen at least half a dozen restaurants close in the last four months. These span scale, too, from Fazzoli's and the Coney Joint, to The Waterfront, an upscale place. Unfortunately, the kids in the musical bought me and the two music directors each a $50 gift card to The Waterfront less than three weeks before he shut the doors. I'm guessing he knew it was coming, and to take money from teens like that was wrong. Still trying to rectify that situation.
It is a very scary time for restaurants, though. I don't like eating alone, either. We ate at a Chinese place once, which started out with a few other tables but ended with us alone. They also didn't have any music playing, which made it stranger.
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