We finally made dinner reservations at El Cid. It’s this place in Silver Lake on Sunset Blvd. that I’d heard about for years, but had never been. You pay a fixed rate for a 3 course meal and a Flamenco show. There was a deal on Groupon – 2 dinners for the price of 1 – so I bought, to finally bring my El Cid curiousity to a close.
Unfortuately it was disappointing. Maybe it was because I had high expectations? The anticipation of all those inquisitive years? But, I must add, we did have a great time some how in spite of the circumstances.
First, I had called ahead to make the reservation and inquired as to what time we should arrive and what time the show started. I was told “we open the doors at 6pm, start serving dinner at 6:30pm and the show starts at 8pm”.
We arrived at around 6:20pm to not only find the doors open, but a show and dinner already taking place. What? I thought you didn’t open your doors until 6pm? How is there already a dinner and show going on? I knew then, the evening may not be what I had expected.
We were told to wait outside in the courtyard and they would begin seating at 7:15pm. Ok, now that’s really uncool. You had said to arrive as early as 6pm and dinner would be served at 6:30pm, but now I have to sit outside until you’ll even begin seating at 7:15pm? Lame. Thankfully the weather was fine and the bar open, but still… lame.
When we were seated, Joe finagled us a private table in the upper balcony. Thank goodness. Otherwise, you have to share a table with 4 to 20 other people. Not really our cup of tea. Our waiter was great, but some how all the dinners were coming out late. Gee, I wonder why? Perhaps it’s because dinner was SUPPOSED to have started at 6:30, not 7:30? Our dinner didn’t even arrive until after the show.
And when it did arrive, we laughed. My chicken dinner was to be served with mashed potatoes and asparagus. I literally had ONE asparagus on my plate. One lonely, shriveled asparagus. We mentioned it to the waiter and he did bring out a small plate of asparagus, but really? We had to ask? And Joe’s dinner was missing his mashed potatoes. How is that possible? There are only five dinner choices and three of them come with mashed potatoes.
Strangely, like I said, we did have a great time. The show was cute and entertaining enough to hold our interest and we just chalked it up as one thing to put on our NOT TO DO AGAIN list.
El Cid translates to The Master. The Master of what? Disappointment? Chaos? Late Dinners? Unorganization? One Asparagus? Missing Potatoes?
