Panderies Lodge

Panderies, NM:


We tried to eat at the Lodge twice.

Notice I said....TWICE!

The first time, KP said let's eat in the bar. It was crowded and with only one waitress and one bartender.
This combination made for a long wait.

The waitress was not friendly. No smile was going to cross that face.

She waited on people as she saw, not in the order they came in and found seats. When we brought that to her attention she informed us "I'm the only one here."

We and and everyone in the place already knew that.

Attitude is everything, especially when your tips depend on it.

Maybe the waitress and bartender haven't read that in the "How To Make Friends and Influence People" book for restaurants.

Judy went to the bartender and told her we had been there longer than some who were being serviced and the bartender rebuked for her effort.

KP when to the bar to see if we could order drinks at the bar, prior to the waitress waiting on us and the bartender rebuked him his efforts.

Had we just walked into some kind of time warp?

At one point the bartender walked to the center of the dinning room and said in her authoritative,loud,unfriendly and if you don't like it....voice "there are only two of us so you'll just have to be patient."

Several possible customers responded to her shy outbreak and exited the hostile atmosphere.

So we're sitting there and thinking "how could that have been said, differently, that would not have offended an already restless room full of hungry dinners?"

Earl Nightingale, where are you (and your course) when you and your course are needed?

The saving grace was a lady who magically appeared at our table and said "I've never done this before and have no idea what I'm doing."

She had a smile,laughed and the cape of the bullfighter, being held in front of a angry bull, disappeared as if a fairy had just waved her magical wane.

She told us she was from Albuquerque worked in mortgage and hoped her volunteering to help would offset her wine bill at the bar. She was fun, full of life and every table she went to became a festival instead of a cell in a dark and deep cave of a colony of bats.

She was great, helpful, smiling, laughing and before to long our food and drinks appeared,

What a difference sunshine makes in our lives.

We forced a sizable tip into her hands, even as she objected saying she wasn't a waitress and tried to walk away.

NOTE: When KP or my Judy offer you a tip, take it or they're likely to pin you and make you take it.

Once the food arrived it was good as were the Margaritas and Pina Colada.



The second venture into no-mans land, of the Lodge, was on Sunday evening. We opened the door to the bar and quickly were comforted by the bartender, again. We were told they were having a Mystery Theater, it required tickets (we didn't have an opportunity to ask about buying tickets), the bar and resturant upstairs were closed until 7:30 PM (almost two hours later) and escorted outside.

Okay, we're not really into bartender/waitress abuse so we loaded up and drove about thirty minutes into Las Vegas, NM.

For the life of us we couldn't figure out why they would schedule a Mystery Play evening that required closing the bar and restaurant on a holiday.

Labor Day weekend is sill considered a holiday, isn't it?

Ratings: One Motorcycle

- John Madden