"We were a party of 5 (reservation was for 6, but one person dropped out last minute). Our waiter promptly came to the table and took our drink and food orders. The kids got their drinks within moments, but from then on the service was substandard waited nearly 20 minutes for our adult beverages to be served by someone from the bar. By then the kids had finished their drinks,so we asked the bar man for another round of drinks for them only to be told I 'm not your waiter. We explained to the bar man that our waiter was AWOL, pointing to him in the back by the kitchen. The bar man sauntered off toward the bar. What was especially interesting was that our waiter did not appear to have any other tables, and as mentioned could be seen hovering in the back by the kitchen. After a while he graced us with his presence. We then got our appetizers. Shortly after finishing our appetizers our main course was served. Oddly, our waiter didn 't bother to clear away any of the empty plates/bowls from the appetizers...simply left them on the table. After the main course was served we did not see hide or hair of our waiter for quite some time. After awhile he once again graced us with his presence, and we asked for the check. Oddly, I held out my hand for the check when he came back with it. The waiter muttered 'thank you ' and placed the check on the table just out of my reach. All of this was quite surprising to the wife and me as we 've frequently visited this establishment (service is normally attentive, friendly and proactive). Then all became quite clear to us. As our reservation was for 6 people, we were considered a large party. A 20% gratuity is automatically applied to the check. One can only assume that the assurance of the 20% tip impacted the waiter 's attentiveness, We will not be coming back, whether as a party of 5, 6, or just 2. Suggestion to the owners of this establishment: While some large parties may not always tip appropriately, you should reconsider the automatic gratuity as it clearly impacts the attentiveness of a waiter who knows they 've nothing to lose whether they provide good service or not. In this instance, the service was abysmal to put it politely."
