21 July 2008

Does Courgette have a dress code? If so, I broke it

| cmdwedge
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Visited the much-lauded Courgette restaurant on Saturday night, my second time there in just 3 months. When I arrived with my fiance and my father-in-law-to-be, I opened the doors for everyone and we got in from the freezing cold outside. The ‘greeter’ woman (whatever fancy restaurants call those people [ED – Maître de]) could not have looked down on me more.

I am usually a well-presented young man, and this night was not really much of an exception – nice shirt, nice jumper, leather shoes and… jeans. Clean ones, mind you, but jeans nevertheless. This woman looked me up and down, then basically stared daggers at my jeans.. before huffily asking ‘do you have a reservation?’ We did and had done so for a few weeks, so we were seated quickly and provided with the wine list.

After this rather nasty introduction to Courgette, the rest of the night went very well. The food was amazing and the service was impeccable. If only they didn’t put the most judgmental $40K/year woman at the door.

We noticed that several patrons that even also wore jeans, it wasn’t just me. Still, I was made to feel like dirt even though I was shelling out very good money for the evening.

Remember love, you’re just a waitress.

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Holden Caulfield12:47 am 02 Aug 08

Got irony?

want to wear jeans, got to zeffirellis. I just think you are paranoid, because with your attire you probably stood out like dogs balls. I definately would impose dress code if i operated a high end establishment. I would want to eliminate the phillestines!

Dressing up to go to a restaurant may seem old hat but does have a purpose. You dont want to make those who have taken the time and effort to look nice feel stoopid, do you?
Nothing wrong with looking nice and putting in some effort. The trick is to know where your going and dress appropriately.
I do believe, however, that if some one comes underdressed to any function that you shouldnt chastise or judge them on their appearance. . If you want people to dress top shelf, you have to treat them top shelf; no exceptions. They’ll figure out the social graces in their own time.
Nothing worse than a judgemental Maitre de. We once left a shitty restaurant 5 minutes after being seated because the owner treated us like 3 year olds when one of our guests turned up without a collar/with jeans and one girl wore thongs (she had a broken foot and it was the middle of summer). It was a birthday party and a booking for 10 peeps. pathetic; We hit ’em where it hurts, right in their money bags.

Someone_else8:53 pm 24 Jul 08

FredJ said :

If you want to dress up please yourself. I have to be togged up 9-5 so want to relax outside of work…dressing for restaurants died sometime in the 1970’s didn’t it?

I don’t know, I wasn’t around in those days! 🙂 But when I go to an “upmarket” restaurant I take the time to look my best – I also have to dress smart for work, but there is a difference between work and evening wear.

We used to wander down the the Boathouse for family feeds. we didn’t exactly wear trackies or jeans but we didn’t dress up much either, and got attitude one night from some 21 year old “maitre d” (he wasn’t), in a shiny polyester suit in puce or green that didn’t even fit him (AND it had front pleats in the trousers, ick). I thought it was sad that this idiot didn’t connect that a family ambling in for dinner and not dressing up and not batting an eyelid at the prices said something.

Anyway, we didn’t bother with it any more after that. The food wasn’t that great (then) and watching the birds head back to the wetlands at sunset was nice but not that nice.

Duke said :

I sympathise FredJ but standards of dress are dropping fast. Jeans to a restaurant are ok but those fluro shirts and vests seem to be popping up everywhere. They should be banned indoors. My temper rises and my retinas ache when I go into a supposedly classy place and see a fluro shirt propping up the bar.

Get used to it Duke, HiVis is the new flannelette…….

Your fly wasn’t undone, was it? Could explain the look she gave you.

How do you know what she was thinking? She might have been looking at your jeans thinking ‘Hey I’ve got a pair just like that’ or ‘he’s got a big stain down the side and he doesn’t know it’.

I sympathise FredJ but standards of dress are dropping fast. Jeans to a restaurant are ok but those fluro shirts and vests seem to be popping up everywhere. They should be banned indoors. My temper rises and my retinas ache when I go into a supposedly classy place and see a fluro shirt propping up the bar.

FredJ said :

Someone_else said :

I think people should dress up a bit more when they go to restaurants, especially ones where they are paying $200+. Everyone is too casual these days.

If you want to dress up please yourself. I have to be togged up 9-5 so want to relax outside of work…dressing for restaurants died sometime in the 1970’s didn’t it?

tell that to my wife.

Someone_else said :

I think people should dress up a bit more when they go to restaurants, especially ones where they are paying $200+. Everyone is too casual these days.

If you want to dress up please yourself. I have to be togged up 9-5 so want to relax outside of work…dressing for restaurants died sometime in the 1970’s didn’t it?

Beserk Warrior said :

You’re really showing your age now Peter.

Which reminds me- when DO they plan on removing the Bobby McGees signage? As much as I get a kick out of re-living the time I copped a BJ in the old boat shed behind the DJ booth, every time I drive by the joint, it has to have been closed for a good 4-5 years now?!

Oh I thought it had closed down but the signage had given me hope that it still lived on.

sigh. So many good memories.

Someone_else4:00 pm 22 Jul 08

I think people should dress up a bit more when they go to restaurants, especially ones where they are paying $200+. Everyone is too casual these days.

vg said :

So you

a) Went to a restaurant
b) Got looked at funny by a waitress
c) Then had a stock standard restaurant experience after that..

Yeah, really big stuff and worthy of note!
Jeebus……get a life. Someone looked at me funny in Sydney when I wore a Brumbies cap, maybe I should put that to paper

You were not paying over $200 for the experience. I was. If I’m paying that sort of cash, I don’t want just decent food, I demand good food and equivalent service.

So you

a) Went to a restaurant
b) Got looked at funny by a waitress
c) Then had a stock standard restaurant experience after that..

Yeah, really big stuff and worthy of note!
Jeebus……get a life. Someone looked at me funny in Sydney when I wore a Brumbies cap, maybe I should put that to paper

Pandy said :

Bobbies is still open sort of.

but nothing like it was….

Bobbies is still open sort of.

peterh said :

Pesty said :

gun street girl said :

I think it’s implying that a French restaurant, by stereotypical convention, must show some requisite snootiness towards its patrons.

One should never allow the likes of me into such a joint! The temptation to “extract the urine” from monseur or madam snootass would be to great i’m afraid. (pardon the french)

no, I don’t think I can….

Bugger i only speak three languages, and frog is not one of them!

Pesty said :

gun street girl said :

I think it’s implying that a French restaurant, by stereotypical convention, must show some requisite snootiness towards its patrons.

One should never allow the likes of me into such a joint! The temptation to “extract the urine” from monseur or madam snootass would be to great i’m afraid. (pardon the french)

no, I don’t think I can….

Beserk Warrior said :

You’re really showing your age now Peter.

Which reminds me- when DO they plan on removing the Bobby McGees signage? As much as I get a kick out of re-living the time I copped a BJ in the old boat shed behind the DJ booth, every time I drive by the joint, it has to have been closed for a good 4-5 years now?!

back in the day, it was the best place to unwind after a stressful week. It was frequented by IT sales people, and there was a lot of networking done there. A lot of lessons learned as well.

like how many sambucas it takes before one tech I knew would dance naked on the dance floor, or the subsequent time it takes for the bouncers to cotton on, and grab him….

Almost as much fun as him betting us he would streak down lonsdale street in winter…. he made a quid, but had to be bailed out of city police station more often, I am certain they waited for him on friday night…

gun street girl said :

I think it’s implying that a French restaurant, by stereotypical convention, must show some requisite snootiness towards its patrons.

One should never allow the likes of me into such a joint! The temptation to “extract the urine” from monseur or madam snootass would be to great i’m afraid. (pardon the french)

I wonder if this might actually be good for them to build this kind of reputation.

gun street girl5:04 pm 21 Jul 08

I think it’s implying that a French restaurant, by stereotypical convention, must show some requisite snootiness towards its patrons.

I think you’re meant tio say it with a heavy french accent… I think?

tylersmayhem4:57 pm 21 Jul 08

Courgette is a French restaurant no?

Sorry…I’m still a bit stuck on this comment. What’s this comment supposed to mean?

Pesty said :

This post reminds me of when I took Mrs Pesty to the Indian Restaurant at Ngunawal (formerly kitchen of India) The food was passable, but the service was shocking, and the atmosphere bloody awful! no blinds on the window, so every time a car pulled up outside you felt like a roo in the headlamps! Between courses you were asked did you want clean cuttlery or would the other stuff do? Delivery of the food by a (non Indian) lad was with ‘Here” rather than “enjoy your meal”. Never again!

I’m a Ngunnawal’ian (Ngunnawalite? Ngunnawaler?) and have lived there for almost 4 years. That Kitchen of India place used to be INCREDIBLE – best Indian I’d ever eaten outside of the UK. I think that it changed hands or something a couple of years ago, because it went so very far downhill. The final straw was when my fiance drove by and placed an order one evening, for me to pick up 30 minutes later. I then drove over, and told them that I had to pick up an order ‘for Mrs Wedge’ and they asked for me to pay the full amount. My fiance had paid up front when she first placed the order in person, and it turns out that it was the same person at the front counter who took the order – dodgy. Best Indian in Canberra (in my limited experience) would now be Chalisa in Tuggers.

This post reminds me of when I took Mrs Pesty to the Indian Restaurant at Ngunawal (formerly kitchen of India) The food was passable, but the service was shocking, and the atmosphere bloody awful! no blinds on the window, so every time a car pulled up outside you felt like a roo in the headlamps! Between courses you were asked did you want clean cuttlery or would the other stuff do? Delivery of the food by a (non Indian) lad was with ‘Here” rather than “enjoy your meal”. Never again!

c` said :

cmdwedge, is that same ocau cmdwedge?

‘Tis I.

cmdwedge, is that same ocau cmdwedge?

cmdwedge: It’s natural to feel off put and it does spoil the impression, I agree. And I think you’re right to express your distaste, for what it’s worth.

Sounds like the attitude is also French inspired cm. For inspiration you should check out a movie called ‘The Cook the Thief his Wife and her Lover.’ Next time you encounter rude service just adopt an Albert Spica persona.

Courgette is another name for a zuccini depends which country you’re in.

Beserk Warrior4:30 pm 21 Jul 08

You’re really showing your age now Peter.

Which reminds me- when DO they plan on removing the Bobby McGees signage? As much as I get a kick out of re-living the time I copped a BJ in the old boat shed behind the DJ booth, every time I drive by the joint, it has to have been closed for a good 4-5 years now?!

c’: fair comment. I found it hard to not return the judgement upon the maitre de that she had laid upon me. Your point is well taken though.
duke: it’s not French per se (the menu is in English for a start!) but it’s certainly French-inspired.
peterh: besides the maitre de, the dining experience was divine. My fiance had the lamb and I got to have a piece – it was otherworldly! 🙂 Presentation and taste of the desserts was as good as I’ve had anywhere, ever.

reminds me of the old dress code at bobby mcgees, number of times I saw people turned away for wearing jeans was amazing. (probably a few of them were staying at the lakeside, as guests) at other times, it was gender specific. if you were a young male, with clean, neat jeans, you were turned away, whilst watching young girls parading in with jeans that were ripped and dirty.

in this instance, the bad rap that you have given the restaurant (probably to your friends as well as on RA)for your first contact with the place won’t do them any good. Frontline personnel need to recognise that they are the lasting impression that the client will take away with them. If she had been pleasant, you would remember the service and food as a great experience.

sigh.

what a shame that this wasn’t another “go to courgette’s” for a great dining experience.

but then, it is all down to the greeting you receive when you walk into the place.

Courgette is a French restaurant no?

What does having a 40K job and someone “just being a waitress” have to do with anything. Your treatment was wrong but that doesn’t make you somehow superior, does it?

Having stupid thoughts seems to cut both ways, yeah?

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