Two friends and I had reservations at Capische? (Why would a restaurant put a question mark at the end of its name??) We'd been looking forward to dinner there all week. I was leaving the next day for NYC. They showed us to a table jammed in a corner next to a large party. Unacceptable. After about ten minutes - maybe more - they turned a diagonal two-top 90 degrees, grabbed another chair and made it a three-top. I don't think so. After another ten minutes or so - staff rolling their eyes in front of us - they said they couldn't accommodate us at a four-top 'til 8:00 a.m. - our res was 6:30 - or they'd be happy to make a res for us on another night. Buh-bye... A reservation for three means a four-top. Obviously, these folks thought the revenue from a fourth seat was worth having three very dissatisfied, LOCAL customers. I sent an e-mail note to the manager the next day. I haven't heard back. What a surprise.
We thought about going to Tommy Bahama - I LOVE their food - and then looked at each other and said in unison - SANSEI. I called, apologized for being last minute (as I often am) and we were happily accommodated (in the interest of full disclosure, yes, Sansei is a PR client but I've seen them do the same for others). Everything was perfect, including the cocktails and the service. Here's Al enjoying the fois gras nigiri ordered JUST for him...
Well, it doesn't surprise me that someone who would name a restaurant "Capische?" would treat customers poorly. The question mark at the end is for "Understand?" which is what this means in Sopranos-style Italian. Real Italian is "capisce," pronounced as three syllables, not two. Glad you were rescued by Sansei!
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