Happy Holidaze!

Here’s a very unique Christmas tree…it is made from those old-fashioned wooden lobster traps, and decorated with lobster trap buoys.  It is currently on display in front of Fox’s Lobster House in York Beach, Maine.  Someone posted a pic of this in Facebook the other day, and I so wanted to drive up there to see it in person.  And we did.  We got there when it was just getting dark, and the lights were turned on.  You can click on the image to see it bigger, will pop up in new window.

Fox’s has excellent food, at least it did the last time we ate there, several years ago.  The reason we stopped eating there is because the place has, or had at the time, all of the atmosphere of a day care center.  The last time we were there, we got there wicked early, because we knew the place gets super crowded quickly in the middle of the summer.  We put our name in for a table, and waited…and waited.  And noticed that people with kids were getting preferential treatment, being seated before parties with no kids in tow.  There was absolutely NO reason for this, they could not even use table size as an excuse, because all the tables were two-tops.  If a big party came in, they just pushed as many together as needed to make one big table.  So if the next people in line were a party of two, they could just as easily move tables apart, right?  First-come, first-served, is the way it should be, when a place does not take reservations.  But we noticed that larger, adults-only parties were also being made to wait in favor of families with kids, who came in later than they did.

Mike has Type 2 diabetes, and as such, can’t be waiting to long between meals.  That is why we planned ahead and got there as early as we did.  Going to another restaurant was not really an option by this point, because then we’d be in an even long waiting queue by the time we got to another place.  We were tempted to play the diabetes card and say something to the hostess, as we had been waiting a long time, and we did see the childed people being seated constantly before us.  But then we finally got our table.

They had smooshed as many tables together in the dining room as possible, in order to seat more people.  This meant that I was about three inches away from some little kid behind me, who screamed in my ear the whole time.  The whole place was packed with screaming kids.

The service was lousy, probably because they had too few servers taking care of too many people.  In order to tolerate the screaming, I wanted to drink…I got one glass of wine, but never got another one, no one came back to ask, and flagging someone down was impossible in that mob scene.

We finished up our food, paid, and got the hell out of there.  No, we didn’t stiff the server, none of this was her fault, we knew, she was doing the best she could.  We felt sorry for her…one day on that job for me, and I’d be on the road to drug rehab. No way could I deal with all of the screaming kids ll evening!

But now we may consider giving Fox’s another chance.  I saw on their website that they had completely renovated the place, and put in a bar, which they didn’t have before.  They even have beers on tap, and a TV!  Does that mean that they now wish to cater more to an adult crowd?  The place has two dining rooms, one on the ground floor and another upstairs.  How nice it would be if they made one floor the family area, and the other the bar area, designed for adult-only parties!

Fox’s is open on a seasonal basis, usually starting sometime in April and closing after Columbus Day weekend.  I think we’ll try it again in April, before all of the summer crowds start coming.  Then we can see what it’s like, before deciding whether or not to come back in the summer.  If we see stuff like children sitting AT the bar, that’s a good sign that we shouldn’t go back.

Actually, that’s something I should check on…the legality of kids sitting AT bars in Maine.  I’ve seen it at other places in the state, as well, such as at Federal Jack’s in Kennebunk.  Maybe I’ll dig around at Maine.gov to find out for myself what the laws are about this.

Fox’s has good food, and breathtaking views of the ocean and the Nubble Lighthouse…and now, with the renovations, it might be worth a second look.  We shall see!

Happy Holidaze!