Casbah: weak service

 I've been to Casbah at least a half dozen times, probably closer to a
 dozen since
 it opened.  Last night I brought my parents there --they live in Palo Alto--
 and hoped to show them that we have restaurants that are equally
 trendy with good food.  The service, I am sad to say was really poor, in
 contrast to previous visits.  I don't know whether the cause was moving
 the experienced servers over to the Soba Lounge, whether their regulars were
 on Christmas holiday or what, but I thought "Jeff, the Casbah guy" ought
 to know that the service seemed inferior (given the price per meal).

 At the beginning of the evening we were rushed and made to feel slow when
 we were trying to decide on wines.  He never seemed to give us a chance
 to discuss what we wanted to do.   Even though rushed at the beginning,
 the service was not "attentive":   we had to ask several times to refill
 water, they
 failed to keep the bread baskets full.   Although never refilling the bread
 baskets, they also did not remove the oil plates and baskets even when
 they brought dessert.  There were six of us at the table and it was
 quite crowded with all those oily plates filling up the table.  I
 finally stacked the plates and put the basket on top upside down (so
 that I wouldn't ruin the basket by getting oil on it), but even with
 them stacked they didn't take the hint and
 remove them.   The service was quite slow at the end and we waited
 and waited, but I suspect that they were short staffed at the end.

 Being short staffed, however, does not explain another aspect of
 what I considered unprofessional service:  my mom who always orders
 a chardonnay (sp?) recognized that  her glass of wine came from a bottle
 for which the wine had turned.  We all smelled it while waiting (what
 seemed a long time for the waiter to return so she could report it) and it
 indeed smelled bad.  Instead of apologizing, he acted like she had some
 problem.  Later he admitted that she was correct, but he made her feel
 like a complainer when she first mentioned it:  "well what kind of wine
 do you want then?"  She had to suggest that they open a new bottle of
 chardonnay.