When I was in Atlanta in December 2022, the wait time for restaurants was well over an hour. The restaurant that we settled on—you guessed it—Pappadeaux’s—was an hour and 45-minute wait. I thought I was going to faint from the “missed meal cramps,” but we all made the choice to stick it out after calling several other restaurants and finding that the wait and the drive to get there was just as long. Fast forward to last weekend in Pittsburgh, and I want to take my sister out to eat after some serious thrift shopping. I said let’s stop in the Rivers Casino. To me, that is always fun and lively. Well, it was lively, but the wait time at the Wheelhouse was an hour and 30 minutes, and lines at the other affordable restaurants were rather long and seats were full, so on to Station Square. We started at Tupelo Honey, where the wait was 90 minutes; Hard Rock had a big crowd waiting; Buca di Beppo had a big crowd waiting; and Joe’s Crab Shack took over an hour. What in the world is going on over here?
The last place we tried was a restaurant inside Sheridan Station Square, and the wait was 90 minutes due to only one wait staff and one person bussing. I couldn’t believe it. We jumped in the car and headed to our neighborhood Eat’n Park. We were seated right away and treated like family. Later on, we found out that our waitress had been there since 8 am and would complete her day at midnight. In many of the cases, the lack of wait staff seems to be the issue. I’m still trying to figure out where people are working, especially those who had been working in restaurants for many years. I tip well and appreciate a good server. I don’t want to do Door Dash or pick-up takeout. I like to eat out and be served.
Somebody make it like it was.
Email the columnist at debbienorrell@aol.com
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