ran into the grinch this christmas day. normally i try to read negative reviews instead of just looking at stars, but i skipped it here and regretted it.
i had made a phone reservation for christmas dinner for my family, and was assured by the lady i spoke with that kids would not have to order a full christmas dinner (my kids eat like birds), and that they would be happy to let us order some alternate food for the kids. well, reality turned out to be a bit different.
but first: poor service. after being seated for nearly 20 minutes without anyone bothering to check on us or bring us water, i had to get up and ask for it. i spoke to two of the waitresses, and we got a waiter and some water after that, but when it came time to order he was emphatic that kids must order a christmas dinner, which had exactly one choice of entrée: steak. i explained to him that i had discussed this when i booked the reservation, so he went to discuss with manager, came back, and told us his answer was "no".
so we asked to speak to the manager (who turned out to be the owner). and i was floored: right from the start he was surly and rude with my wife, explaining that we had to order the full steak dinner for each kid, even after being told what his employee had promised. when my wife pointed out that my youngest will not eat steak, he gave us an "alternative": we could order the full-cost meal of chicken and split it between the kids, and said "it's very simple" in a rude voice. when my wife explained that my oldest did not like chicken, he stepped back, got a look of disgust on his face, and sighed loudly. tiring of this garbage, i stepped in and explained to him, again, what the lady i booked the reservation had promised, and that from my perspective he was basically refusing to honor the commitment the lady i spoke with, his employee, made when we made the reservation.
at this point, it got almost comical, in a sad kind of way: he became very argumentative and said "what employee? my brother and i are the owners and the only ones who ever answer the phone". i explained that i had spoken with a woman, whereupon he insisted in a loud voice that "we don't have any woman working here". having just spoken with two waitresses who were definitely working there a few moments earlier to get us service after the previously mentioned 20 minute wait, i was rather incredulous, looked at him like the idiot he plainly was, and asked "you don't have any women working here?". he replied "no!", at which point i said "screw this, we're out of here", threw my napkin down, and we left, never to return.
other reviewers' comparison of this guy with seinfeld's the soup nazi character were most apt, the exception being food quality: based upon many of the reviews, he actually did us a favor by sparing us the injury-on-top-of-insult of their mediocre food/ultra long wait for food combination (entirely believable in light of our inexcusable wait for drinks); at least the soup nazi hadgoodsoup!
in looking through other reviews, i see that basically the same bait-and-switch had happened to another reviewer at thanksgiving dinner: they were promised that they could bring food for their kids, and were treated to the same "you must order a dinner for your kids" routine. others report being accused of being liars as i was, hostility and rude behaviors as a result of complaints/concerns, etc...for the money, there are far too many excellent steakhouses in the area which actually providegoodservice and treat customers with dignity and respect when issues are raised to be treated rudely and waste time and money in this place.