"Mother 's Day brunch was highly anticipated. Unfortunately, it was also highly disappointing. Our waitress was exceptional and provided wonderful service. That is why we were so perplexed to find such an otherwise nice restaurant served me a $39 NY strip that was not only far short of the menu-described 12 ounces, but was also plated and served blatantly BURNT CRISPY BLACK. Stunned into momentary silence, we literally thought this was a joke. In fact, the presentation was so grossly and visually wrong that the unknown couple at the reserved intimate table next to ours cracked up laughing upon seeing what I was served. The gentleman even remarked unsolicited that my obviously scorched steak was a shameful waste of good beef. Thoroughly embarrassed, I nonetheless braved the black carbon carcass set before me and attempted to ingest two bites. I then whispered to my wife that I was done with my meal and would just wait quietly on the check as she ate her meal. Being a good sport, she asked to try a bite of the steak, only to quickly use her napkin to remove the offending piece. She then stated, quote, That is not edible and it 's not even fit to bring home to a pet. Our waitress appeared a moment later and it was apparent that she too noticed the burnt kitchen waste that was doing a poor job of masquerading as my $39 entree. Obviously embarrassed too, she asked how everything was and I told her that it was possible that someone on the grill had sent us burned meat by mistake. To keep things lighthearted, I assured her that this was not her mistake. However, I also knew that the local coroner could probably declare what happened to the steak as cruelty to animals. We did not request, nor were we offered any managerial assistance as our over $90 dining bill shortly demonstrated. In quiet response and dignity, we did the only right thing to do. We tipped our embarrassed, but sincerely great waitress over 20% as we know this wasn 't her fault."
