How long for that table?

Last night on the way to the Outter Banks for vacation we stopped over for the night in Greenville North Carolina. Pretty good trip and it was around 6:30pm and we were going to get a bite to eat.

The local magazine called Impressions listed a restaurant called Finelli's Cafe that was Italian and that was what we were hungry for after a 5 hour car ride and no lunch. When we pulled into the parking lot, it was rather full and the place was not that large, so I send in my wife to see how long for a table given that our five year old was getting a little restless after the car ride. The young and as we came to find out, "not that bright" hostess said it would be 20 minutes. This was after a couple minute survey of the tables.

We assumed that she knew her restaurant and had looked to see how many people were finishing up. Not the case. After an hour and 20 minutes we ended up getting seated and they only thing that she was able to muster was that a lot of people came in and they had reservations.

Now I would think that she had that part figured out when she did the survey of tables before telling us 20 minutes. I can see an extra 30 minutes, but missing your estimate by an hour is not acceptable.

They food seemed pretty good although we were not as hungry after five beers in the bar waiting for an hour and a half, but I would try it again with a reservation.