Can’t say I’m surprised by the report on Osteria Francescana. It bothers me when restaurants make me feel as though I should be lucky to be there, as opposed to making everything hospitable and comfortable.

I can’t remember if I posted this but a few months back I had a sadly disappointing experience at Alinea’s Kitchen Table. First, they have a policy that all 6 of the guests must order the same level of pairings. They have 3 tiers, and everyone else at my table wanted to do the basic pairing, so that’s what we got, even though I would have preferred the top tier. The sommelier explained this as being because she wouldn’t have time to explain three different pours at the same table. Wow. At the Fat Duck last year at a 6-top we had four different beverage pairings represented—non-alcoholic, and then each of their three wine tiers. And the sommelier there was perfectly happy to explain it all to us at the pace we preferred.

The Alinea experience was so hasty it was sad. It was obvious they had a fixed schedule of how quickly they wanted to serve things, ratter than pacing it to us. We booked the last seating specifically because we did not want to be rushed, but alas.

Another telling anecdote is that on my way there, there was a car accident on one of the highways (or whatever the most appropriate term is within Chicago) and so I let them know I would be late since traffic was stalled. I was told that if I arrived any more than ten minutes late I would miss the first course. Well, they stuck to their word. I arrived and they actually had me wait by the front until my friends finished the first course rather than bring me to the table right away. I asked if I could still be served the course and they said no.

And to top it all off, the food was nothing special and the menu felt disjointed. I will not be returning.

Contrast this with Smyth where I ate with 2 friends a few days later. There we had a 5pm seating and were told immediately, “The table is yours all night, the meal will be at whatever pace you would like.” And the food was many times better than Alinea.