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I'm from San Diego and my wife and I were visiting Palm Desert for a few days in December of '07. Before driving there I asked a knowledgeable friend who owns a home in Palm Desert for the name of a first class Italian Restaurant. He said La Spiga and I made a reservation.
Shortly before my wife and I came there, La Spiga had moved into more upscale digs. I can only assume that this move gave them an attitude despite the fact that we were pleasantly greeted by the hostess and quickly seated.
Several minutes passed and a waiter who seemed a little haughty came to our table and asked if we cared for a cocktail or Pellegrino. I asked for a cup of coffee for my wife, tap water for us both and a wine list which he brought right away. Several minutes passed and the waiter brought the coffee and the water along with two menus. He then described several specials. Before he left I asked him to bring us an order of bruschetta($9).
He returned several minutes later to take our order. I ordered the fish dinner special ($33) and a salad ($8) for my wife. For myself, I ordered a bowl of soup($8), a side order of spinach ($9), an appetizer of mussels($14) and, finally, an appetizer of spaghetti Bolognese($14). When I ordered this spaghetti appetizer as the last part of my meal the waiter said that I could not order the appetizer portion of the spaghetti Bolognese as a main course and that if I wanted the Bolognese I would have to order it as a main course.
At this point, including the bruschetta, I have ordered more than $50 dollars worth of food just for myself and am intending to order two glasses of wine. My total food and beverage bill, including the bruschetta and wine would have been over $75, while for my wife, who does not drink alcohol, it would have been $41 for a total bill of about $115.00. I believe that was certainly a reasonable order for two people at this restaurant and that they would have made a reasonable profit.
You should also know that spaghetti Bolognese was offered as a main course on the menu for $23. This meant that if I had dropped everything from my first order, including the wine, technically they would have been delighted to serve my wife and me our dinners for what would have been a total bill of less than $70.
At this point I asked to speak to the manager. The waiter disappeared and spoke to the manager. He then returned without the manager and repeated his/the restaurant's refusal to serve me the appetizer Bolognese unless I either ordered it as a main course or as an appetizer along with some other main course.
Having been both insulted and embarrassed, I told the waiter to bring me the check. He returned quickly with a bill on which he had the audacity to charge us for the bruschetta even though it had never been brought to our table. Unbelievably, he asked if we wanted him to wrap it to go.
When I said I refused to pay for the bruschetta, rather than redo the bill for just the coffee he said to forget the bill.
As my wife and I were leaving I stopped at the front desk to talk to the manager. I told her that I thought it was in very poor taste for the restaurant not to serve me what I had requested. She reviewed the restaurant's policy of not allowing patrons to order an appetizer as the main course.
You should know that the waiter, rudely in my estimation, instead of continuing to do his job, purposefully came over to where I and the manager were standing so he could overhear what I felt should have been a private conversation.
Nevertheless, I asked the manager if the waiter had told her that I had ordered bruschetta, soup, a side of spinach, an order of mussels andthe appetizer portion of the spaghetti Bolognese or that I intended to order two glasses of wine. She said no he had not. At this point my wife and I left the premises.
Truly, I have never been so insulted or embarrassed at a restaurant.
Malcolm Jarvis