It's a Sunday night and my parents decided to pick me up from home from the couch on which I had been laying for the past 14 hours with ice on my face to take me out to dinner. We find our way to the Everett Marina where we pick an old favorite Italian place, Lombardi's, to eat our dinner. It was about 8:30pm when we got there and apparently the place closed at 9:00pm.

From the moment we got there, we weren't wanted. The waitstaff was all too aware that closing time was nigh. From not being given their signature roasted garlic with bread until asked (at the time our dinners arrived) to having my dad's wine not delivered, to not having proper table settings, to not checking back with us, to taking forever to get our check, to the overall rude vibes from our waitress...the service was a nightmare. The waitress wanted us out from the beginning, and apparently was hoping that bad service would make us leave sooner.

I was very disappointed, mostly because as a waitress in my parent's restaurant, I know that with bad times, it becomes even more essential to have excellent service: people simply aren't going to be willing to pay a lot of money for food in an economic recession if they feel like their patronage is not appreciated. And by that, the service should always be excellent. Especially when with times as bad as they are for restaurants, any business you can manage to get, you should hold onto (even if we did come in a half hour before closing time, our $70 + return business is still very valuable).

As for the food, it was satisfactory, but combined with the fact that they were nearly running us out the door, the whole dining experience just became ruined. I won't be returning, which is a shame because I have had quite a few good experiences at Lombardi's. But hey, if I'm not going to be appreciated, why should I return?