Jeffrey F. wrote: > (And if anyone has any information about the Grand Canal > Caffe' a couple of doors up, I'd like to know about it) > > Jeff > > -- > -------------------------------------------------------------------- > Jeff Fortescue, Asst. Dept. Head | Homo sum; humani nil a me > Dwntn. & Business Inf. Ctr. | alienum puto. --Terence > Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. | > [email removed] | My wife and I tried to go to the Grand Canal twice, but we have never actually succeeded in getting served food. The restaurant is tiny and only seats a few people, it is also popular, and this creates an obvious problem. Compounding this are their irrational buisness hours (they close at 8 or 9) and their 'no reservation' policy. The first time we tried to eat there we arrived at about 45 minutes before closing time to a packed restaurant. I beleive there was one other couple in front of us waiting for a table. A women emerged from the kitchen and, unapologeticaly, advised us to leave and come back on another night, at an earlier time. Though she was less than hospitable, the food people were eating looked extremely good, so we tried a second time. This time we got their at 6:00, which for us took a heroic effort. Again the restaurant was crowded, but this time a table for 4 was open. The same women emerged from the kitchen again and told us that there was someone ahead of us for the table of four (she implied they were waiting outside) and that we would have to either wait until she was certain they were not coming back or until the next table became available. My wife was skeptical about the existence of the 'group in front of us',beleiving that she just didn't want to give a table of four to a couple, but I am naive and we waited anyway. Incidently, there is no formal or informal waiting area, just a few square feet by the door where you can, very awkwardly, stand in the dining room. We were 'sore thumbs' for about fifteen minutes, during which time the women made no attempt to locate the group of four. Finally, she approached us and told us that we would have to wait for a smaller table to open up. We left. I can understand that a small restaurant would want to maximize the number of people it can serve by matching parties to appropriately sized tables, but the sane way to do this is through some sort of reservation system. Just leaving a couple standing awkwardly in the middle of a restaurant with seating available is inexcuseable. In spite of all this, the food looked outstanding on both occassions, so for earlybirds with buddistic patience, it may still be worth a trip. Just don't forget your mantra. I'm willing to put up with a certain amount of inconvenience if the food is good enough. I'll probably try again, but this time I'll go very early, on a weeknight. Ralph
Pittsburgh, PA