Bad Time Equals Good Times

You might wonder how that can be, but sometimes something is just so awful that it becomes laughable. That was the case when we visited the restaurant On The Border in Exton last night.

Let me start at the beginning. We arrived and were promptly taken to our table. Nothing wrong there. Well that was the last thing that went right! On the way to the table I stopped in to use the restroom. When I went in there was an employee in there brushing her teething and washing her face [basically taking a shower in the public restroom]. I figured she was cleaning up to head out; I was wrong. She had her bag on the counter blocking the sinks and the waste can, which made it rather difficult to wash my hands and exit the restroom.

After I got back to table my friend needed to use the facilities too. She told me the girl was still in there. [Now she was putting on her makeup.] We later saw her cleaning off tables in the section we were seated in. unless she is homeless maybe she should try showering at home.

Well that was the beginning of the end for us. Next up, appetizers. We got our basket of chips and salsa. Dripping on the table we decided to use the appetizer plates on the table. Big mistake. The plates were not only dirty they still had food on them from the previous people who used the table [maybe that bus girl should have cleaned the tables off instead of spending so time on cleaning herself]. Gross. So we put the dirty napkin that was covering the food on the plate back on top off it and asked our waiter to take it away. That was the last time he did something right for us.

He took our order and popped back around the corner twice to ask what we wanted [both times he was wrong…not a good sign]. We asked for more chips. We never got them. I needed more beverage, but he never came by to see if I needed anything else. He brought our meals out. Mine was fine and tasty too. My friend had gotten tortilla soup and a fajita salad, which he brought out together. Soup should have come out first, but no. And her fajita salad did not have the chicken on it.

He disappeared. She still needed a spoon for the soup and the chicken for her salad. We caught him as he was stopping by the table next to us and told him to bring a spoon and the chicken. By now I was half way through my meal and she did not even get to taste hers. So I go up to the hostesses and ask to see the manager. She finally comes out [it was dinner time so I don’t hold my wait for her against them]. I tell my story and as I do I can see my friend finally getting a spoon and then a little later her chicken comes out. I finish with the manager who has kindly offered to comp our meals for all the trouble then headed back to the table.

Once I was back at the table I learned that the folks at the table next to us were having the same amount of trouble with the waiter that we were. In fact they had to remind him to bring out a spoon for my friend. But it was pointless as the soup was already cold and disgusting. The table next to us had waited fifteen minutes for their check and when they got it had both their items and ours on it. So it had to go back to be straightened out taking another ten minutes or longer.

We were checked on by [what I think was] the head waitress. She apologized and confirmed that our meals were taken care of. Then our waiter stopped by to explain he was having a REALLY bad day [well no sh**]. Then he brought us the check. We weren’t supposed to get a check. But that was not the real problem…the check wasn’t even for our meals! When we pointed this out to the head waitress she told us he was being sent home. We’ll have to stop in again to see if he is still there, but I doubt it. So as you can see it was so bad there was nothing left to but laugh.

So in review the restaurant gets 4 out of 5 stars [food was good], but the wait staff [includes the bus people] get a half star out of 5 [and that is being generous].