Gary Cohen

A warning to anyone considering making Valentine's reservations at The Grape: I made reservations 4 weeks in advance last year for the Sat. before Valentine's Day (which fell on a Tuesday). When we arrived at the restaurant, we were forced to wait about 45 minutes for a table, despite our reservation. We were finally seated by the pompous maitre'd at a communal table right between two loud groups of people. Since I had requested a private table with my reservation, I refused to be seated at this location - after all, it was a Valentine's dinner and we didn't want to be sharing our conversation with two groups of loud strangers at the tightly-packed communal table. My request to be seated at a private table was not only refused, but refused by the maitre'd in a shockingly rude manner. Even more annoying was noticing a couple seated at a private table who had walked in after us, without reservations, but who had slipped the maitre'd a $20. Nice. We left and went elsewhere, vowing never to return.