pghsnowbird
cape coral, florida
1 review
“never even got to the food!”
1 of 5 stars reviewed march 24, 2014 new
had read about this new restaurant in the newspaper. it sounded great. we were looking for sunday breakfast/brunch in cape coral. every place along del prado was crowded--people waiting outside. so i said to my husband, let's go by that new place--slate's--and check it out. there were only a few cars parked in the restaurant's lot, so we thought we might be in luck. it was a little before 10:30 when my husband went in to see if we could get seating. he came back to the car and was non-committal about the place, but said if i wanted to try it, let's go.
even though the restaurant was to open at 10:30, we and a few other people were left outside waiting until the hostess got around to letting us in the door. we asked if we could sit outside and all she said was "no" and led us to the corner of a large, empty back dining room and pointed to a very uncomfortable looking small table, chair, and hard bench with a small pillow against the wall. my husband and i looked at each other, turned around, and just quietly walked out. the hostess didn't seem to care at all.
it was only when we were driving home that my husband told me what had actually transpired when he first went to the front door (i had stayed in our car waiting for him for call on his cell phone to come along or for him to come back). the hostess had let him in and curtly asked if he had a reservation; he said "no" and she put his name down. he asked to see a menu and when he was looking at it, he asked about the prices of certain items because he didn't readily see them listed (it turns out there were only numbers spaced fairly far from the items and they had no dollar signs in from of them). instead of being helpful, she rudely said to him, "don't you have your glasses on?" when he asked if it was possible to sit down inside until the place officially opened, she looked at him blankly and just said "no" and in a condescending tone told him to go back outside and wait.
whether thefoodat slate's is good or not, we have no intention of ever finding out because of the inhospitable and unwelcoming way we--potential customers--were treated by the hostess (who when i saw her remembered seeing her picture with the newspaper article. this hostess is also a co-owner of slate's). my husband is one of the most polite, kind, and courteous men anyone could ever encounter, so i know he was not the problem. maybe this woman was having a bad day or maybe, unfortunately for the business and for the people who show up, this is the way she normally presents herself to the public--whatever. but you can be sure we won't ever go to slate's again.
visited march 2014