First let me say, we came in with a very large party…the wait staff tried their hardest to accommodate, but we were simply beyond their skills.

You ever gone to a restaurant and had your dining experience evolve into something akin to a hostage situation? I have…it was at a place called Sa Za in Montgomery, AL. We showed up a large boisterous group excited for a night of comradery…we left the restaurant broken and some even still a little hungry.

Drink orders were taken, the drinks came for the most part, and then orders were taken. A few appetizers were ordered and those came relatively quickly, but that is when everything changed. WE sat at our table for several hours before everyone got their food. We watched a human drama unfold in the kitchen as the red shirted expediter looking at the orders scratched his head in confusion, flung his hands to the heavens in frustration….and despite his flailing and gyrations, the food still did not come.

Like survivors on a desert island, talk turned amazing meals we had once had, elsewhere. There was even dreamy talk of visiting Jimmy Johns, it this dinner ever ended. Some wanted to leave without their food, but stayed because they believed their order to a promise to the restaurant. Sa Za felt not such commitment to their patrons. The dishes eventually came out sporadically and across the faces of the diners you could see the transition from hunger, to excitement, to disappointment, and finally resignation to survive this ordeal. My Grandma’s Pizza was nothing I would serve my own grandmother or anyone that I cared about. The crust was hard and thick, it tasted as if it were purchased by the case from a big box store. The sauce tasted canned and there was but a sprinkling of basil on top. It was lacking on all accounts. After 2.5 hours the waitress approached two members of our party who still had not received their food for a refresher on what they ordered…for those keeping track at home, this is never a good sign.

By the time we paid, we had endured 3 hours of Sa Za’s incompetence and at least one member of our party completely giving up the idea of eating, despite having just sat in a restaurant for an 1/8th of a day. In hindsight, she was the lucky one. Save yourself some time and money, buy some Chef Boyardee and a Hot Pocket, heat them using rays from the sun and eat them in a crowded waiting room.