I’d say the owners are from Thailand and did not know it was Mothers Day but that
would be surprising if it was a “top rated” restaurant. Mothers Day and Valentines Day are usually golden opportunities to fleece restaurant full of customers with overpriced special menus.
We took the Lovely and Talented Mrs. Shodan out for Mother’s Day, to a new restaurant. My food was over cooked, I asked about a beer on the menu and the server gave a completely non-sequitur answer, my daughter never did get any silverware, and then the server disappeared and never returned. My son tracked down the manager and asked for a box for our leftovers. Nothing. I went and asked - he treated it as if it were a complete novelty. It was my son’s treat, so he decided on the tip, but I suspect it close to zero.
This was four o’clock in the afternoon, and the place was not exactly packed. I doubt we will be back.
Most of the places I’ve gotten terrible service, the food was great. Most of the places the food has sucked, the service was great. I’m not sure which is more annoying… If both are bad, that’s kind of okay, because I can say, with a clear conscience, “Okay, I’m not going there again.” Having to stop going to someplace with great breakfasts because they never refill my coffee cup, or because they ALWAYS refill my coffee cup with undrinkable swill, now, that’s annoying.
On the other side, our extended family went to Smack Shack here in Minneapolis on Saturday morning.
It was an awesome sunny day and the place was awesome. I don’t eat much seafood, but I still had plenty of choices.
My 14 year old niece who has developmental issues (she looks 9) wanted to see the Lobster tank. One of the chefs spent about a half hour showing it to her and talking to her about it. We were thrilled!
My BIL and I split the check for our 10 person party.
I know that we rarely go out on the actual holiday [other than our birthdays, nothing significant happens on Sept 27th =)] because we rarely actually have had good experiences [with either crowding or crappy service, or the prices got bumped up because of the holiday.]
You should expect good service no matter the occasion. Any restaurant that either does not staff properly or if they cannot, take reservations for a holiday like this, is being run by a Jackass.