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About a dozen years ago a brand new Italian restaurant opened up near the small Texas town of Leon Springs. I heard from friends that they had excellent food, but it was a bit pricey for their taste. I have do idea what "pricey" meant to these folks, but I filed it away in my brain. Several months later, on a Tuesday evening, DW and I decided that we should eat out that night. I recalled the recommendation about this new restaurant nearby and decided to try it out.
We ordered some wine (they brought us a jug, said that we should keep track of how many glasses we drank and they'd charge us for whatever we said) and some of the finest spaghetti and meat balls that I have ever had. Salad and bread sticks were also provided as I recall. I believe that we had spumoni for desert, but not sure.
When we were ready to leave we were advised by the waiter that there was no charge for tonight's meal. The entire cost of the meal, including the gratuity was being picked up by Phil Romano, the owner of the new Macaroni Grill. The waiter would not accept an additional tip. All that he said as we left was "Tell your friends about us."
The whole idea behind this wonderful deal (for us) is that we would spread the word about Phil's new restaurant. We later found out that everyone that ate there that night ate for free. Tuesday is usually a slow night, I gather. A later newspaper article said that they would be having these kinds of deals on occasion, but they would never announce in advance when it would occur.
We ate there on many other occasions, but we always ended up paying for the meal. I believe that Macaroni Grill is now a chain as is Mr. Romano's previous eatery named Fuddruckers.
Has anyone had a simular windfall at a restaurant before?
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That's a very smart way to get the word spread and of course, any subsequent diners would always be hoping it would be their lucky night and he'd do it again. I've never had that kind of luck. The closest I got was a free bottle of wine on my birthday at a restaurant. :) Good story!
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I once dined at a restaurant that used to have a lucky diner night midweek. You wrote your name and phone number on your receipt and put it in a box at the cash register. At the end of the night they got a customer to draw a ticket from the box and whoever it belonged to got a gift voucher for the value of their entire meal.
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I must have missed this earlier. Nope, I've never been that fortunate, micharch. That's a clever tactic and extra bright to throw in the comment in the newspaper that they could do it anytime but wouldn't say when. No wonder his business was a success! :)
I wish! No, I haven't. That's a clever way to market your business. Had he taken out a full page ad in the newspaper it may have cost more than giving away the meals. Getting the publicity in the paper and goodwill from that is priceless. That was a stroke of luck for you and your wife!