End of Year Drama

MONTAGE HOLIDAY
We choose Thanksgiving dinner at the Montage Resort in Laguna Beach. I called ahead to make sure they have prime rib at their buffet. David, his dad, and my boys are not big fans of turkey. “Yes, we have prime rib and turkey” the woman at the Montage says, as she proudly rattles off the rest of the menu. They have a photographer taking family portraits while we wait briefly for our table. Inside, everything is beautifully decorated, the band plays, we go up to get our food. David and the boys are NOT happy. They are serving turkey and pork roast. NO prime rib! The drink service is going on 20 minutes wait and David finally has to speak up to the Grand Ballroom Manager. He tells us there never was a prime rib, but tries to get us some from another kitchen. No luck. He does bring us back two beautiful plates of beef short ribs. Delicious, but it is still not prime rib. The next day, I call up to let the Hotel Manager know what happened. The manager on staff did try to make it right, but had we known there was no prime rib, we never would have gone in the first place. She asks me what she can do for us including having us back for Christmas buffet. We are promised prime rib. I accept. They keep true to their word.

TILE TORTURE
The marble tile has arrived at our doorstep from Ann Sacks. We eagerly bring it inside like children awaiting marble candy. Two days later, our tile installer opens the packages with bad news. “This is not the same color.” Big mistake. We wasted two days because we didn’t check the tile when we received it. Athens Grey arrived instead of Athens Silver. Hey, one more thing on our, what-else-can-go-wrong?, list! It takes four more days for the new tile to arrive. We have to wait on this Athens Silver before anything else gets done so nothing else gets damaged when the shower walls are completed.

BIRTHDAY BLUES
My birthday arrives. We are greeted by the Contractor Owner, Office manager and Project manager at our door for a meeting about our contract. I don’t even have time for breakfast. David and I are not happy that this project is taking six and a half months long from when we hired them – one and a half months past their proposed due date. The owner is not happy that we have decided to stop paying them until they finish their work. We would like to see them get their installers over here and finish up the job and we will gladly pay. We are tired of being at the back of the line. Why do they do good work on time for everyone else but us? I am exhausted after all this time and frustration, coupled with it being my birthday. I fight it, but my eyes start tearing up. The meeting ends in pretty good terms. They promise to get the cabinet installer and the finisher here on Monday. They arrive as promised. Now for the plumber…

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The story starts at the bottom. Check back next week for more restaurant stories and our kitchen remodel progression! Scroll down for the photos.