Emerson Hotel

Haven’t been here in many years. Was meeting up with family at the restaurant that I also hadn’t seen in years. When we arrived and told them we needed a table for 9 they said they couldn’t do that. Only 8 people at a table. When we asked to talk to a manager he restated the same thing but loudly and with such an angry tone. He was mad at us that we were annoyed with the situation. We didn’t raise our voices just said it was ridiculous and we wouldn’t be coming back. The manger yelled that it was the “house rules” and too bad. Normally we would just have left but we were meeting family members here, couldn’t contact them at the moment, and didn’t know the area to make a quick decision about going someplace else. My mother and father are in their late 70’s and they just had such good memories of this restaurant from years ago when they lived in NJ. They were excited about going here so I didn’t want to make a whole scene and leave. Though looking back I wish we had just regrouped and figured something else out. However, I think it’s important that customers understand how this restaurant treats people. I could also understand if they were busy or didn’t have enough staff but neither of these were the case. In fact there were only two other tables with people at them. In the end my 16 year old son sat at a table by himself. And the table was across the room. They wouldn’t even place the tables near each other. It was just so bizarre to have a manager mad at my 78 year old father because a grandfather was upset and wanted his grandson to sit with the rest of the family. The food was pretty good and the waitress was very nice. I had the ahi tuna salad and French onion soup and both were excellent. They are well known for their meat platter. It looked awful to me but my father did not complain, so maybe it was as good as he remembered. It was a huge portion so he appreciated that. The atmosphere inside the dining room section was poor and on the verge of dumpy looking. It’s been a long time since any money has gone back into making the restaurant pleasant for customers. So if you are looking for a place that will make your dinning experience awkward and unpleasant then this would be the place for you.

I'd been here, The Emerson Hotel, in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s and just yesterday, Wednesday, finally made it back again! An out-of-state friend of mine and I were getting together to discuss a bunch of things, including baseball history. I inquired if we "were under any rush". We weren't, so we were able to have a very great, long discussion meeting. There are a number of rooms/sections to be seated, so we chose the breezeway-type room (I sat in there in 1978). The food was excellent, my friend had a steak and salad, I had potato leek soup, a big burger with sweet potato fries. Our waiter was great; attentive and politely and pleasantly conversant.