So yesterday we ventured into Seattle around noon. We waited a little while longer because we wanted to make sure we missed the Seahawk game crowd but as it turned out, the Seahawks suck so badly this year that no one was going to the game anyway. So we went into city, parked at Kathleen's work building (saving a bunch on parking) took the SLUT down to the Westin where we were staying the night.
At the Westin we had a nice surprise. We had booked it through Hotwire.com and had booked a four/five star hotel in the downtown/Pike Place area of Seattle. With Hotwire you don't know what hotel you get until you pay your money. We have done this with Hotwire and Priceline but we won't use Priceline anymore as their idea of what "downtown" is, is very different from ours. As I was saying, we had a nice surprise. The base room we had paid for with Hotwire was two queen beds and a real base room. At registration, the person helping us asked if we wanted to join the Starwood Hotels frequent guest club and he would give us a free upgrade to a deluxe room on the 44th floor with a king bed. We said sure and WOW did we get a nice room. On previous Christmas concert weekends we had always wound up booking with Hotwire and getting the Sheraton. Don't get me wrong, the Sheraton is just fine but this room was outstanding. Plus they had that room ready and we got checked right in at 1:30 when the actual check-in time was 3:00. Outstanding.
After checking in we headed up two blocks to Westlake Center and into the basement to the transit tunnel. The day before the new light rail link to SeaTac airport had opened all the way to the airport and I wanted to see if I could come back from my upcoming business meeting in Orlando on the train with luggage and laptop. The answer is YES! The train is really nice, the walk to it, not as long as we had heard and the train trip is a breeze. I will have to use the elevator with that much luggage but it should be easy.
After our two way train ride we headed back to the hotel and got ready to head to dinner and the Seattle Men's Chorus concert at Benaroya Hall. And that's where the trouble started. We had reserved at Wild Ginger, Seattle's premier Asian restaurant for 6:00 pm. The concert (I thought) was at 8:00 as all Seattle Men's Chorus shows are (we have been subscribers to all their shows for more than 7 years) but it turns out this one started at 7:30. That still shouldn't have been a problem as the restaurant was directly across the street from the concert hall, a quick 5 minute walk. And we weren't too worried about as we arrived just before 6:00 and were seated immediately. That's when we met the person I like to call the "disappearing server." She greeted us and brought water and proceeded to disappear. This was at 5:55. The next time we saw her was 10 minutes later when as she walked by the table she overheard us saying we were going to order the potstickers. She told us there was only one more order left and we said we would take them. I also attempted to place our drink order then as well as the rest of our dinner order but she ran off saying she had to "order the potstickers before someone else gets them." (I should add here that we saw at least two other tables get potstickers after ours.) When she finally came back five minutes later and took our order it was 6:15. Then she was gone again. In the meantime another smiling young man delivered the aforementioned potstickers. We thoroughly enjoyed them and by the time we were done it was 6:25 and still no sign of our drinks.
The nice young man came back with our other appetizer about five minutes later (still no sign of our server) and we asked him if he could go and find our drinks. He was nice enough to do that and brought back Kathleen's that was lukewarm and mine that was "on the rocks" and pretty watery since both of them had been sitting, waiting to be delivered. Where the hell was that original server. By now we had drinks (at 6:35 after being seated at 5:55) and she finally reappeared to say that our entrees would be right out. In the meantime, the couple at the next table got their entrees (which they had ordered after ours) and we suddenly figured out that she had put in both our orders at the same time even though she took them almost five minutes apart. Ours finally arrived at 6:55 which gave us about 15 minutes to wolf them down, get to the concert and use the restroom before the show began. Which we did but we certainly did not enjoy it as much as we should have.
Now don't get me wrong. I fully realize a server getting "in the weeds" as Waiter on Waiterrant.com would put it, but that's not my problem. When that happens, someone needs to help them out. When we pay $100 for dinner, we should have the time to eat it. And I don't think that asking that we are able to eat an Asian dinner in 90 minutes is asking too much. The last straw for us was when she stopped by to ask how the food was, she grabbed Kathleen's drink glass which still had martini in it and disappeared before we could catch her. She sure moved fast when she was moving away from us. Sad. The food was so good. I just wish I had gotten to eat it as opposed to inhaling it.
And the show. As I said we have been doing Seattle Men's Chorus Christmas shows for at least 7 years. We love these guys. If you live in Seattle or will be in town when they are performing---see them! Hilarious, incredible voices, beautiful music. The concert started beautifully and was as good as any concert I have ever seen them do. I think it was the best opening act they have ever done. But they they ruined it for me (Kathleen may not agree with this) by doing two Michael Jackson songs to close the show. And they made a point of dedicating the songs to him and to say what a wonderful person he was and how sad it was that he was gone.
I have a very firm belief that Michael Jackson was a pedophile. Yes, I know he was found innocent. But I truly believe that if he had not been rich and famous he would not have beaten the rap. And it was totally verified in court that he had naked photos of children. There are thousands of people in this country rightfully doing prison terms for the same thing. I just wish that people I respect (like the musical directors and all the members of SMC) would stop honoring him. He (and other pedophiles) are the lowest of low.
That said, we had a great time and the show was wonderful, the food was outstanding (if not the service) and the hotel was all around wonderful.
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