Columbia Restaurant

Its not the food nor the wait staff that I'm writing about, its how customers are perceived. We are simply $'s, an additional cover that day and nothing else. I have been dining at this restaurant 1-2 a week for almost a year now and the only issue I've had is that the 1905 salad (a signature dish) is never made the same way twice. Each wait person puts their own spin on how to create this tableside dish, I wish it were more consistant, but again that is not the reason for this review. Having dined there twice in the past 8 days and having a very dear friend that is going through a really hard time fly into town I thought a table on the window overlooking the water would be an excellent place for her, especially since she is from Colorado where the weather isn't quite as nice as this. So, a week ago I made a reservation after my lunch and specified which table so as to distract my friend and allow her to soak up the scenic water view, while enjoying dinner. We got there Saturday at 6:20 for a 6:30 reservation, the hostess smiled and brought us to our table. Not only were we not at the table I had reserved, but were as far from the windows as you could get and only 2 tables from the host station and the rest rooms. I immediately said that I had a reservation from a week ago and we were supposed to be at the other end of the restaurant on a window with a view. Her response was priceless, "well, we're real busy and this is the best we can do." Apparently they aren't the least bit concerned with local business, just the number of people they can serve in a shift. I spoke to the manager who volunteered to buy our dinners. I said that was unnecessary as our dinners were ruined with the table we received and what is the use of a reservation if they don't honor it. So, if you are planning a celebratory dinner or a special event, this is not the place to have it. Unlike Cheers "where everybody knows your name", here they simply don't care. You are just another cover to them. Oh, cover is the term used by the restaurant to describe the number of plates served in a specific time frame. I informed the manager that in Hawaii they have a kama ina discount which is local pricing and they take care of their locals and family first, guests second. I went on to share that on Cape Cod many of our local restaurants do the same thing because we, the local people dine there after the tourists leave, or not. Sadly, this is not the way at the Columbia. The customer has no value or concern, just how many can they serve per shift. I won't be back for a while, I'm partial to giving my money to people that appreciate my business not to those that don't care.