Mekong River Rat

A week or so ago we were coming out of a meeting in preparation for our fabulous slew of parties that will occur during a certain week in March. We were hungry, so having about 90 minutes to kill before going to a concert, we figured we'd be brave and eat on 6th Street - not the part of Sixth where Thai Tara and Maiko reside, the other part. In between Congress and Red River. Certainly the options are extremely limited, and we were not really in the mood to be overly-adventurous, so we headed into an old stand-by (generally a lunch standby), Mekong River, henceforth referred to by us only as Mekong River Rat.

After enjoying our soup and a typically-gigantic bowl of noodles with spicy chicken, it was time to make a quick trip to the restroom before heading to the show. Enter Squeaky. As we walked to the back of the restaurant, a large rat (mouse, according to the waiter) sprinted directly towards our feet. Amazingly we did not scream like a little girl, our modus operandi to anything even quasi-startling. We swallowed hard as our eyes bulged, turned on a dime and walked back to our waiting friends. The waiter, actually he was not our waiter but had come over to the table to intervene for our linguistically-challenged waitress (a lovely woman, we must point out), saw the combined look of fear and nausea in our eyes and asked what was the matter. We replied, "Umm...there's a little problem." Very glibly he asked, "What? Does the bathroom smell like ass?" Now, we're no Heloise, but that is not necessarily the response you want from a waiter at a restaurant when a problem is raised, especially with food still on the table. "No...but I think we may have a problem when the bill comes," we said calmly. We then told him, in sotto vocce, about the rat, making sure the other customers were not alarmed/disgusted. To our amazement he responded, "Oh, was it Squeaky?" WTF?! How the hell would we know? We didn't ask for his personal info.

After he saw that we were somewhat nonplussed by his indifference he went to talk to the manager. He returned with an offer of 10% off of our bill. Fabulous, we just saved $3. Now we can go buy that latte at Starbucks. Look, we have been in the restaurant/bar business before. And we feel that 50% off or a comp'd meal is generally in order in said circumstances. But 10%? Look, we're not cheap, but this was about principle. Ten percent was a freaking slap in the face. Just apologize and offer us nothing, but 10%? We understand these buildings are very, very old and decrepit. We are sure there is a vermin problem in the majority of them, and we know these little pests terrorize at restaurant owners all over the country. But should we really have to see the damn things? And if they do, and they run out of and back in to the kitchen, should we really be expected to pay full price? Or not blog about it to our loyal readers? So, while we have always had decent experiences at Mekong in the past, you can guarantee that between Squeaky and our waiter, he of the inappropriate response, we will not be going back to Mekong River Rat again. Ever. (And since sharing this story with a few friends, we have heard several similar stories about the restaurant.)

Are we totally off the mark here, folks?

PS. We finally made it to the restroom. And, yes, waiter, it smelled like ass. As in, port-o-johns at Jazz Fest would be like a dishful-of-potpourri-by-comparrison smelled like ass. Thanks for that.

*Image (c) from anothersarah on Flickr*