Savannah...The Grey

Anyone been?
Going next month and everyone raves about it.
Heard it was chosen Best new restaurant…
Thanks!

Arrived in Savannah last week and stayed at the Westin Savannah resort on the river across from the city of Savannah, after a road trip down from Hilton Head.
The Westin has a ferry tug boat at the dock of the hotel that goes back and forth, free, every 20-30 minutes from early in the morning, till late at night, so you can get your party on and it’s so lovely to be in that mode of transportation.

Had reservations at The Grey Restaurant, which was voted Top 25 new restaurants in the US.

They gave us one of the best tables, it was a corner banquette that was rounded half booth and in the back of the house, so we could see all that was going on.
This is a beautifully designed restaurant that used to be an old bus depot.

We dined the night before Thanksgiving and the place was hopping with locals, eating and drinking before the family got into town and it was very festive.

Our server, whom, I didn’t know was our server walked up to us and without mentioning 'Good Evening, she, asked, ‘What can I get you to drink?’ Well, sorry, but that just didn’t sit well with me.
The vibe went from super happy were here, to let’s get the hell out of here!
We ordered a couple of craft cocktails, that were very good.

My DH, said to let’s just chill and maybe it was the cocktail server but no, it was our server and she was brusque, somewhat bi-polar in that she could be nice one minute and then be an aloof wench, the next minute.

What made it worse for us, is that we would watch her, just be sweet as pie to everyone in her section.
DH and I were trying to think what did we do? Did we not talk in a Southern drawl that made her dislike us, as tourists?
Keep in mind, we are very nice, respectful diners, that eat and drink well, and tip, BIG…I was a former server, way back in the day, so I get how the game is played.

We started with the half dozen Totten Inlet Oysters that were out of this world delicious and super fresh…
Followed by a couple of beet salads, which was delicious too and I’ve gotta say that the food here is extremely well executed, using super fresh ingredients.

We were served this dry, weird amuse bouche tortilla chick pea thing that was so dry and brittle, this was the strangest thing I have ever been served…still trying to make out why and who came up with this idea!

My DH was going to order the Pork Chop but I said to him, ‘Why spend any more $$ here when our server is just so damn mean to us?’ ‘Let’s just cut our losses and move on’…
So, we decided to split the Char fish entree, which was cooked perfectly.

So, after finishing our meal, our table had crumbs (from us) and sauce spots from the plates, not from us, that were on the table and I could see the server, crumbing other tables, laughing, being so nice and cordial, while we watched in sadness, that we were the ugly step child customers.

It’s so wild to watch the show…I felt like we were being punk’d somehow…like Ashton Kutcher or Allen Funt Jr. was going to come out and tell us, You’re on Candid Camera!

She had our check in her hand as she asked if we wanted dessert…really?
When we politely said no, she slapped that check, print side down, in a pool of sauce from the fish and turned and walked away without a ‘When your ready’ or "Thank you’…
We got nothing and that’s when I had enough of this crap and my DH knows all to well when I get to that point.

Through the night, I could see a nice gentleman, who was in a spiffy sports jacket and had an air of ownership to him, as we watched him going to table to table, wishing Happy Thanksgiving to the jovial customers. He hadn’t hit our table yet but he seemed like a lovely, prideful owner.

I caught his eye and raised my hand, like a school girl in class and he promptly came over and I was trying to be nice but firm as to what my service experience had been with my, IMO, personality challenged waitress.

First of all, I showed him our stained covered check that we could hardly make out what we owed.
He was horrified, for one, that she didn’t crumb our table, as we all watched her doing it to a table as I spoke, but how she smeared the dollop of sauce into our check.
I guess we must of pissed her off, and still have no idea why…

I told him that our food was outstanding and we would of loved to have ordered more and stayed longer but why, when we were treated with such disdain from our server.
He stated that she was there best server and she must of being have an ‘off night’ but sometimes, the nice ones, fool the management, but it’s customers like me that show them the light…

He pleaded with us to comp our meal and I told him that wasn’t are intention at all and we preferred to pay our bill.
We just wanted him to know, since the food was so top notch, but if you have a surly server, why would I want to sit there and take that kind of BS…
I truly want The Grey to remain in the Top 25, in the US and it needed to be said to him.

He wouldn’t let us pay, whatsoever, which was very kind of him and we threw down a $20 for our surly/sweet as pie server.

I wish them only the best and I would go back again but I would make sure that I didn’t have Sybil as my server!