Charlottesville You Suck At Brunch

We had an overnight to the beach planned for this weekend, but Mother Nature had other ideas so at the last minute I canceled on the beach and booked a room at Wintergreen resort in the Virginia mountains. Wintergreen is primarily a ski resort, however we had fun tubing down a hill at about 30 mph, getting in some quality poolside relaxation time, and had a nice dinner and evening at the on-resort pub. On the way in we passed right by Devil's Backbone, one of my favorite breweries, so we stopped and had lunch. While there I learned they have an on-site campground, so I've now made plans to spend a weekend camping at the brewery, because why the hell would you ever pass on that opportunity?

We thought stopping for brunch on the way home would be no big deal. I wanted to go to my old reliable for breakfast food, Waffle House. My wife nixed that idea and instead found a local place in Charlottesville with great ratings on Yelp or wherever. When we arrived we saw that they only accept cash and checks.

Checks?

I can kind of see why a small independent restaurant would not want to deal with credit cards, but in what universe is a check a more reliable payment than a credit card. Also, it's 2018, nobody under the age of 70 regularly writes a check for anything. We don't even have a checkbook these days, and I rarely ever have more than $20 cash on me. So we weren't eating there. There was another restaurant next door also serving brunch, so we stepped in there. It took the staff a few minutes to get a table cleaned up for us and when I saw a couple get up and walk out, leaving their menus on the table, I should have taken the hint.

The waiter apologizing five different times over the course of a meal is never a good sign.

The first apology came with my beverage order, when he informed me it would be a few minutes before I could get coffee because they were brewing more. If you are serving brunch keeping up with the coffee seems like it would be a priority. The second apology came when we tried to order but he couldn't take our order because he didn't have a pen. When I finally got coffee I stirred it with a butter knife because spoons cost extra I guess? The third apology came when Michelle ordered pancakes and was informed they were out. However, the waiter recommended the waffle, which is "the same batter." So they have pancake batter but can only make waffles out of it? The fourth apology came when they brought us somebody else's order, and the fifth and final apology came when he returned my AMX card because they don't take AMX. It took a few minutes to finally get the check paid as we watched him wander the restaurant looking for, wait for it... a pen.

The food was fine when we finally got it. I tipped 20% because the wait staff did seem to be trying, but something in that restaurant definitely was not working correctly this morning.

Charlottesville, you suck at brunch.