Having had a fun and great-tasting first experience at Butcher and the Boar a few weeks ago, I was looking forward to meeting three friends there for another try. The food still impressed across the board - jalapenos, pork chop, honey chipotle glazed chicken, mahi mahi and especially the sausage sampler were all frankly delicious. And I'm picky. Really. Service, on the other hand, left much to be desired. Actually, I take that back. The service itself (taking orders, bringing food and drinks) was okay. What was sorely lacking was hospitality - that quality that great restaurants have that makes a diner feel like the restaurant and its employees appreciate your business and want you to enjoy yourself.
My group had an 8:30 reservation on a busy weekend night and I was not surprised nor upset that our table was not immediately available. It was a lovely evening for a drink outside the backyard beer garden, and we enjoyed that very much (for about 15 minutes). By 9:00 irritation was setting in and we went to check with the host about our table. People, where are your manners? Do you really think it's acceptable to keep a group waiting 35-40 minutes past their reservation time without the slightest hint of apology? I see no good excuse for not sending over appetizers or a round of drinks, or something to a group that has waited that long.
The wait wasn't even the worst part! We waited all that time only to have our group of four seated at a round six-top, which in a noisy restaurant essentially relegated each of us to talking only with the person sitting next to us and totally defeated the purpose of our group dinner. My group even declined dessert - unheard of in our circles. I think by that point we were just tired of sitting in a circle staring at each other unable to actually talk. The bottom line for me was that although the food was delicious, the lack of hospitality took the fun out of my meal and no amount of incredible house-made sausage can make up for that.
