After three consecutive dreadful experiences with C Mitchell restaurants (two at this Rusty Bucket, the third at Cap City in Dublin), we are DONE for GOOD. Let's focus on Rusty Bucket, which is near our house. About three weeks ago, we went on a week night around 8PM. We entered and the host stand was empty. After about 5 minutes, we sat ourselves at a high top in the bar area and scanned the menu. Soon thereafter, the host appeared at our table and without any greeting said "For future reference, you need to wait at the host stand to be seated." My response was "We did wait but noone was there, and there was no sign that said 'wait to be seated' so we grabbed this table." He huffed off back to the host stand and proceeded to glare at us for the rest of our visit. It was offputting, to say the least. (FYI I did shortly check to see if I had missed a 'wait to be seated' sign and there was nothing at all.) This may seem like no big deal, but to be chastised with no greeting at all when going to eat and spend a lot of money is actually upsetting. At the very least, it would be nice to get a smile and hello that welcomes you to an establishment. The only plus side was that our waiter was excellent and our fish and chips great.

Which brings us to earlier this week when we went back, again mid-week and later in the evening. We arrived to Rusty Bucket and there was a hostess who said hi. (Not overly friendly, but there was actually a greeting.) We asked "can we sit at the bar" and she said "no problem" and we went to the high top that we had sat at last time. We waited... and waited.. watching other people at high tops getting served (perhaps about 2-3 tables total?) but noone acknowledging us. Eventually, the hostess came over and without further ado said "For future reference, if you choose to sit in the bar you won't get served unless the tables around you are also seated and we can assign a server." What? Why hadn't she said this when we sat down? We said, "OK, maybe we can sit in the dining room" and she took us to the back dining room. We sat there and waited and waited... watching a plethera of floor staff doing anything but come over. One was sweeping, another was leaning against a wall watching things, another was walking around... but NOONE ever came over to us. Literally.... noone. After about ten minutes, we stood up, walked out, and went down the street to Harvest. (For the record, at Harvest we were greeted with a smile promptly, taken to a lovely table, and served terrific food by a great server).

Something very similar happened to us last month at Cap City in Dublin -- several hostesses who seemed annoyed that we came in and seemed to want to punish us for waiting in the waiting area for 15 minutes for our table. Super weird vibe. We stuck it out because we were hungry but it was a baddd vibe.

You might think it's us... but I don't think so. We are mild-mannered and really just want to go out, have a nice meal, and spend money. The fact that at all three visits the host situation was awful - and that at Rusty Bucket the same wording was used "For future reference..." suggest that there is bad management at both locations and the staff are emulating a top-down ickiness.

There are so so so many great restaurants in Cbus, it is our plan to focus on locally owned operations. (C Mitchell is local, so to speak, in terms of origins, but it's now a corporate monstrosity that seems to cater to the lowest-common denominator.) Some great places we've been include: Harvest, Subourban, Nicola, Whitney House, to name just a few.