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Old 07-22-2019, 06:47 AM   #20
Hillcountry
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Originally Posted by jeffk View Post
While I might wish that people would dress well and leave the kids behind at a high end restaurant, I don't think there are many places left that actually enforce that. That has been true for a couple of decades now. Such places either gave up on rules or went out of business.

There was a restaurant in Derry, NH called Promises to Keep. The restaurant was the height of elegance, service, and food preparation. The setting, grounds, and room were beautiful. Men wore jackets and ties and the women wore nice dresses. Ill behaved children were nowhere to be found. There was staff for greeting, pouring water, seemingly every step of the meal. They were all dressed well, knew their jobs, and knew how to be polite and friendly. Each course was to die for, no matter what it was. You were guaranteed an excellent experience.

Sadly, one day we were seated and I noticed that a patron nearby was wearing a ratty old pair of sneakers. I was saddened as I recognized they no longer enforced a dress code. The plethora of service people were gone. It was still very good but that certain "je ne sais quoi" was gone. I had a sense of something special lost, never to return, like a death of a grandparent.

The restaurant soon became a event venue and by the ratings it has, a successful one.

I have only been in one other restaurant, in San Diego, that approached dining in this way and that is a loss. I'm sure there are more, probably some quite exclusive or limited access like a club, that function like this but wherever I go I look for them and cannot find a public restaurant that provides such a dining experience. Yes, many excellent places to eat but Promises to Keep spoiled me.
Promises to Keep has a special place in my memory as my ex-wife was the hostess there. The owner’s were friends of ours and you are correct in saying it was once a special dining experience. Of course, all things change and so did “Promises”
I even got married to my 2nd wife there! (While it was still a special place!)
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