Tuesday, April 29, 2008

And the record for slowest lunch ever goes to...

Smithers, which is located in downtown Dover. Although this entry is not exactly fair because I have not discussed restaurant service in Dover other to provide a general overview of a few places that are worth going to, I can state without hyperbole or exaggeration that Smithers on State Street (downtown Dover) broke the world record for slowest lunch ever. Total time from entry to exit? Almost 2.5 hours. And this doesn't count the drive over there. This also breaks Smithers' previous slow record of 90+ minutes, which was set in a different lunch a couple months ago.

I'm not joking, and perhaps I am unlucky in lunch. The previous record for slowest Dover lunch was clocked at 2.15 hours at the Loockerman Exchange, which has since gone out of business. Maybe it's just that part of town that is slow. I've been to other places around there though (Lobby House, 33 West, Irish Mikes, the pizza place across from Loockerman, TGI Fridays, to name a few in that area), and while all of these places are slow sometimes, they are never that slow.

In this particular experience, it took almost an hour to get our first drink, and while my description may imply that the place was hopping, it was not: I saw maybe five or six groups there, mine included. As I mentioned, the food is decent, the wings are great, and you can get a lunch under $10, but who can afford to take more than an hour for lunch? Even La Tolteca and the Olive Garden can get a group of six or seven in and out in less than an hour, so I'm not sure how these local chains can't figure out the concept. Or maybe that's why I only saw five groups there, who knows.

The food Smithers serves is good, don't get me wrong. The outside deck is a good time otherwise also, and I've been to their happy hours several times and they are fun. But for lunch, I highly doubt I will go there again. You don't have to take my word on it, though - check it out yourself. Just be sure to block off a two hour schedule in your day in case your service is as slow as mine was.

In the meantime, I'm going to stick to places on 13 for a while and see if that keeps my lunch hour to a more reasonable length. I think I've been to just about all of them now, but am always open for suggestions as to more.

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