On New Year's Eve (or the lack there of)

It’s amazing to me the kind of shenanigans establishments try to pull on this, the eve of the New Year. They seem to think this night gives them special license to be closed. At least 2 of the 5 restaurants The Boy and I visited seemed to embrace this notion. One deemed it necessary to implement a “New Year’s Eve Special Menu” which inevitably entailed a $55 per head fee.

Hostess: “Hi and welcome to CousCous (pictured below L). You’re just in time for
our Special New Year’s Eve menu which goes into effect between 8p-10p”

TheBoy: [scans said menu which hostess handed over] “And do you have the original menu?” (her intro seemed to convey that this special menu was indeed a special – not the only - option.)

Hostess: “No. This is it.”



Me: “And how much is this?” (I vaguely recalled her upper-Jacksonian estimate, but couldn’t bring it to mind.)

Hostess: “$55 per person.”

It's safe to say that their website is far superior to their in-person salesmanship. We swiftly declined and moved on to the next (closed) restaurant.

Closing seemed to be the preferred method by which to discourage patronage. The rest required reservations (eons ago) if you didn’t want to wait a eons for a table.

Hostess of Restaurant 2: “Why don’t you just take a walk around Cary St. and if you don’t find any other restaurants, come back here in an hour and a half and maybe we’ll have something?"

Me (in head): "Why don't I kick you like a football?"


I guess I can understand. Their valued employees certainly deserve a break. But aren’t restaurants a place to celebrate, get loaded, and spend lots of cash? What better night than this to swindle unsuspecting patrons away from their money with their attention firmly planted in the festivities of The Eve?*

*You must make reservations or at least call ahead on the last day of the year. Lesson learned.

All in all, it turned out to be a fabulous Eve. The Boy and I watched a movie (About a Boy) and had pizza from the wonderful (and still opened) Mary Angela’s on Cary Street. Italians are smart business people.

We got better company, better food, and a better story out of it. Thank you Richmond establishments for running a muck on our New Year’s. We couldn’t have planned a better one, even if we had exerted the effort to actually plan one.