🚀 go-pugleaf

I made the awful mistake of trying to dine at the "Steakhouse Sports
Theatre" in Edgewater Maryland near Annapolis. We got there about 5:30 PM
on a Wednesday night and saw that the parking lot was near full but
decided to try it anyway. We got inside and saw about 3 groups of people
ahead of us and we were told there would be a 10-20 minute wait. I thought
that was odd but we were given a pager which I also thought was odd. This
is, after all, not a mall it's just near a Kmart and a Food Lion and I
don't think people would be leaving to go over to them. So we stood around
the entrance way which had only two park-style benches.

This area faced a large window on the part of the kitchen where the meat 
was grilled. We saw some large hamburgers being set on a counter after 
having being grilled shortly after we showed up. 

We waited and waited while more people came in and no one seemed to leave. 
About seven employees seemed to be congregated around the dias where you 
gave your name and one was opening the door. Eventually, one couple came 
out of the resturant. No one was asked to go in. I saw one of the 
name-takers head back towards the resturant with a rag in hand. Perhaps 
there was no one to bus the tables? 

Finally, one couple got led into the resturant. We still waited while more 
people came into the "holding" area. A few went straight into the bar.

The aroma of grilling beef which was at first pleasant and appeitite 
inducing began to wear thin. I looked over into the kitchen and saw that 
the hamburgers were still where they'd been left. I began to calculate 
that after the rest of the people ahead of us finally made it into the 
resturant and we finally did, it was going to still be some time before we 
got anything to eat. 

It finally occured to me (duh) that the pagers and this holding pattern
were probably designed to force you into the bar. The bar had many large
screen TV's, all tuned to golf.  I also noticed a few other
manager-looking employees who made an appearance in the entry way.  This
brought my count to ten people who were hanging around so I don't think
that I can credit the non-service to the lack of help.

I finally gave up and left. My clothes by that time were permetated with 
the smell of cooking meat from being in the proximity of the kitchen. I 
don't know what the food is like but it would have to be damn good to make 
it worth my while to stand there like an idiot at 5:30 on a Wednesday.