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Review content:
I've been in the restaurant industry, management and kitchen, for close to a decade so I understand when someone's trying to make a reservation for over 10 people, some restaurants get a little greedy, and others get a lazy for multiple duplicate orders and go ""Family Style"". But this is wrong. I called the main reservation desk to try to get a reservation for a Sunday night (slow dinner night) for 12. He immediately said, ""For reservations over 10, you would have to speak with our events planner."" I said, ""Basically, it's very casual and we're all just having entrees."" He said, ""No matter; for groups over 10, you'd have to speak with the events planner, who's gone for the day. Can I send you to her voicemail?"" I sensed something was unusual in the works, so I said, ""There's going to be 10 adults and 2 children...."" hoping that more info would help. The reservation taker then adopted a slighty annoyed tone and said, ""That's STILL 12 people, ma'am,"" and transferred me to the events planner's voicemail (It was around 5PM). What he should have told me but didn't (either restaurant policy/neglect) was that Blue Smoke has this policy that for groups of 10 or more, the only dining option is ""Family Style"", i.e. big portions of dishes passed around, preordered by the host., at around $45/head. This is not uncommon in restaurants to make extra bucks and save labor, and also protect themselves from large groups of people sharing 3 entree's.. what angers me is that this was not told to me staright out at the reservation desk. I had to leave a message with the events person, wait for her to call me back, then tell me. It was a waste of her time and mine- I could not go ahead with the reservation with children charged $45/head, and not knowing which meats my people would like. Her time was wasted as well, calling me and finding out that I did not know about the Family Style policy, and did not want it.
Pros: Location, ok food.
Cons: Pricey, only few dining options for larger reservations
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