Let's Not Do This Again

Our specials board this morning told the tale of the night before.  We sold out of the soup, too.  And crabcakes.  And lamb.  We ran out of bread.

What we didn't run out of was steam, for the most part, even after a record breaking Friday night.  Thanks to a lot of early business from people wanting to make the National Music Festival event to a tree knocking down power lines on Route 20, we were screaming busy from 5:00 right until closing at 9. 

Our lights blinked three times at 3:30 Friday afternoon, and we were quite relieved that our electric didn't go out. That must have been about when the tree fell across Route 20, taking down the lines, along with electricity in Rock Hall.  It couldn't have happened at a worse time for Rock Hall restaurants - a lovely Friday evening in June, with a spectacular weekend approaching, meaning all the out of town boaters and home owners were going to be cruising into town for a relaxing weekend.  It appeared that many of them turned right around and headed back toward Chestertown. The ones that didn't get a seat with us - and there were many - most likely continued on DownTown until they found one.  With all of Rock Hall out of commission, Chestertown restaurants were the next closest option.

A night like that, "things" are bound to happen.  And I'm sure things did.  I was called in to handle only two major problems, but I know that the evening could not have been perfectly smooth for everyone.  Thankfully, most people were really chipper and seemed to go along with the flow.  This, of course, makes my job at the Host Stand a lot easier.  My favorite was the guest who suggested we should charge a cover for the entertainment factor of watching the scene in the dining room.  I can only imagine what it looked like from his vantage point...

 No matter what, the kitchen pumped out the food, the servers kept up the pace, the bussers were run ragged and Patrick held his own behind the bar, albeit a little chaotically.  All in All, while I wouldn't want every Friday night to be like last night, I appreciate that most everyone - guests included - kept up their positive attitude and made what could have been a mad house into a fun house instead.