Unfortunate miss for Alinea...

Unfortunate miss for Alinea...

Not sure what happened, but my guest and I arrived punctually, but had to wait 10 min for our table - this detail does not exemplify a 3 Michelin star restaurant. Furthermore, waiting in a narrow sitting area on top of three other couples and one large group felt similar to a cramped line at a Disney attraction. Once finally seated, the service progressed well until an embarrassing blunder from one of the table attendants who, while pouring into a bowl, splashed soup all over my attire - this detail does not exemplify a 3 Michelin star restaurant. While the attendant eventually apologized, our primary table attendant, nor anyone else, apologized for the disturbing event - this detail does not exemplify a 3 Michelin star restaurant. A remark about handling of the dry cleaning bill was conveniently made. To add insult to injury, as we were just about to get up from our seats to return home for the evening, our primary table attendant asked if he could quickly grab my menu that was given as a momento and do something "special" with it. A few minutes later, he returned the menu to me with "happy birthday" scribbled towards the back - a last minute thought for someone who was truly hoping that, if anything, a special birthday experience would NOT be forgotten - this detail does not exemplify a 3 Michelin star restaurant. While the courses were wonderful in every sense (literally), the delivery was not in line with the sublime execution of the chef and to me, does not justify a 3-star experience.