A good friend asked to take me to dinner for my birthday last night and I unwittingly picked Ararat. I remembered that you could bring a bottle of wine then and checked the restaurant website to make sure alcohol was not sold now. Reservations were made rather late and we arrived to be seated on a patio with a patio heater in what looked like a storage room adored with a shawl tacked on the wall. We ordered and the waiter noticed the bottle of wine we had. He brought three tumblers for those who wanted wine and left the corkscrew on the table. He did not mention the $3 per person corking fee. I thought food and portions were okay but not exceptional and the food came quickly enough. The piped music for the for the University of Texas type dancer would rise to a point you could not talk over when she started. The first low point came when a member of our party asked for bread. It did not come and when she saw the waiter again, she said she no longer needed it as she had finished her meal. He told her ""no problem"" and she laughed and said ""no problem for you"" and he peeked around the corner to let her know he heard. When the bill was brought, I asked this waiter how we were supposed to know about the $9 corking charge. He said it was on the menu and most restaurants charged more. So I retorted, ""so we did not read the menu well enough."" We also asked for a go box and were waiting some time for it discussing our displeasure with service, etc. and a woman shows up and asks if I need the go box. She gets it and I tell her the service has not been very good and she tells me that maybe it is the customers who are not good. We are all taken aback and then she stays to argue and finally I ask her just to leave us alone. She announces she is the owner and she will do what she likes. So as she closely follows us out for the crime of mentioning bad service we are also told not to talk and cause any scene in front of the other diners. It was truly a memorable dining experience.
Cons: Bad service, rude servers and belligerant owner, uncomfortable enclosed patio
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