Big Fish in Ocean View

Walter Wimbush says:

Management at new Big Fish Grill in Ocean View so inept we left without eating.
Have not been to Big Fish in Rehoboth for many years and were happy to see new branch had come to Ocean View. Drove there Saturday night Jan 28; the parking lot and restaurant were essentially full and we were told there would be a 40 minute wait for a table. Too far to go home and return, so we waited in very noisy living-room style alcove up front.
Finally offered seating at 30 minutes of waiting after I re-checked with hostess about the empty tables. At that point, my wife asked the hostess to convey to her manager that to expect people to wait 30-40 minutes in the digital age was really disrespectful.

We were shown to a table and noted several other empty tables, although most tables and booths were full. The manager arrived at the same time as the waitress. This woman needs training to manage the simplest of situations. She had 2 diners who were angry at the wait but who had actually stayed 30 minutes for a table. This should have been a piece of cake to diffuse. Instead,
1) we got the kind of “sorry you had to wait” that conveys zero regret
2) we were told this was their 3rd week and how happy they were that so many people wanted to come that people were having to wait, (WHAT ! this is what you say to someone who actually waited? )
3) She corrected us that we had not been disrespected by the long wait. Made light of our long wait by saying that we had been given a 40 minute estimate but had only waited 30 minutes. We pointed out it was an old trick to overestimate the wait, and that we could not think of a restaurant, even among those that did not take reservations, at which we were asked to wait half hour.
4) Manager said it was “The Big Fish Way” to not take reservations although they are considering reservations for the future. This turns out to not be strictly true; apparently alternative facts have found their way to Ocean View. The reason for those empty tables is that a prospective diner can come and put themselves on the wait list and then leave the restaurant. When they are called on their cell phone, they are given a generous interval to return. Since the Ocean View BFG is surrounded by new home developments, locals need only sent out one person to get on the list, then their party has half an hour or so to get ready and wait for the call that their table is ready. And this table is held for them even when diners in house are waiting to be seated. NEWS FLASH – this is a de facto reservation for the locals.
5) The noise level is atrocious, there is a desperate need for some sound insulation. My wife had to speak up to hear herself when talking to the manager, who stood over us next to our table. She told my wife not to shout, that she wanted to keep this between us. My wife was not shouting and we could barely hear the manager, although we could clearly hear the conversation at the adjacent table where people had increased their conversational volume to hear each other speak. So many courteous ways to handle this situation, but not for this manager.
6) Finally, she said, in a manner intended to bring the conversation to a close, “I don’t want to keep you from your food any longer. Can I get you something to drink?” My wife said, “No”. To which she responded “Have you decided whether you want to dine with us tonight?” what could we say to that inept challenge – it posed the choice of submitting to this attitude and eating, or leaving. We decided that our dinner had been irretrievably ruined by the manager and opted to leave for dinner at home. After all, other people were waiting, and BFG could not care less.