Eat, Drink

Last Saturday, Kristi, some friends and I went downtown to eat at Lalo's, one of the River North food machines that caters with huge atmosphere and overpriced dinner plates. Reservations for 9pm unwittingly turned into 9:45 and then 10:30 and could have become later if it weren't for the diligent pestering of Kris and Ben.

In a restaurant whose overall floor area is half-devoted to the bar, it is no wonder that reservations get bumped to a later spot. Drinks from bars are already grossly inflated but tourist-gobbling enterprises like Lalo's jack it up another notch; so why not pocket a few extra dollars for a nudge of the reservation time? In their defense, resaurants also don't want tables left open because of reservations where the diners are late and justifiably have to cushion what would be a loss. But praying to the gods of chaos eventually incurs their arrival.

Not that Lalo's (or any busy restaraunt) really loses any money when things go awry. For our wait, we were negotiated free drinks and some free appetizers, which have a high menu value but extremely low real cost. The only person affected is the tangentially related waiter/ress whose guests might not tip for the menu value of the free items (we did).

So, I guess what I'm saying is to not specifically fear Lalo's but to hold a general wariness for any dinner factory and most restaurants. The food, though, was just okay, so my feelings won't be hurt if you decide to never go there... except you'll be missing out on a fantastic paintings of boats sailing by a cross against a clouded map sky.