Cherry Creek Grill general manager John Ankner says he and his crew try their best to make everybody happy.
Well, four women who were in the restaurant last week sure left unhappy. With a police escort.
According to Barbara Danielson, a manager at an insurance company, two female friends came in for dinner, planning to meet Danielson and another woman to celebrate Danielson’s 56th birthday. They were seated and served. The other two women showed up later to join them – but you are not allowed to join a table at CCG. They were told they could be put on the waiting list to get their own table. They could sit at their friends’ table, but could not eat or drink at the table. Period.
“It is a well-known fact, women our age do not do well with directives, especially those that are misguided,” Danielson wrote in an e-mail. So they stayed at the table and went to the bar to get their drinks. Twice. GM Ankner then told the bartender not to serve them, so a friend brought them drinks, which further angered Ankner.
That’s when one of the women called the restaurant on her cellphone and ordered some “to-go” food. She picked the order up at the hostess stand went back to the table where they started eating the food out of boxes. That’s when Ankner called the cops and had the women escorted out of the restaurant.
Ankner also claims that the group “trashed” the women’s room during the night. Danielson found that absurd, telling me that none of them even went to the restroom.
Ankner says, “Just because it’s your 56th birthday doesn’t mean you can act like a child. I’m amazed they’re not in jail.”
Ankner says CCG is very strict about seating only complete parties. “It’s just a can of worms unless you have some system to follow,” he says.
Meanwhile, all four of the women will not be allowed back in the restaurant. Ever.
Danielson is fine with that. “We never want to go back there again or even lay eyes on that little twerp,” she says.
Got wine?
Wine writer Clive Coates appears at The Vineyard Wine Shop on Fillmore Street with his acclaimed new book, “The Great Wines of France,” 6:30-7:30 p.m. today.
It should be calmer than last Monday afternoon, when The Vineyard was held up at gunpoint. A man in a Yankees jacket came in with a gun and said, “Make this easy.” They handed over the money in the register – about $100. “It was horrible,” says manager Sheri Lopez. “And it was bizarre.”
Two thumbs up
Kids go to the movies more than anyone, so it makes sense to coddle them at next month’s Starz Denver International Film Festival. The idea is to hold a mini kids’ fest Nov. 19-20 – where kids can screen and review movies such as “SpongeBob Square-
Pants” and William Hurt’s new kid flick, “The Blue Butterfly.” Just what we need. More critics.
City spirit
Rodney’s celebrates 20 years in the biz this month and next with 20 percent off food during the day … Sightem: Bronco John Lynch with wife Linda at Black Pearl … Sez who: “Nothing ever goes away.” Barry Commoner
Bill Husted’s column appears Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. Husted also appears on Fox 31 News. You can reach him at 303-820-1486 or at bhusted@denverpost.com.
