Read the Signs

Posted: August 23, 2026 | Author: dana lange | Filed under: Uncategorized |Leave a comment

My friend told us about three restaurants in Rockport that we have never tried. Rockport is very upscale and a little hoity-toity as far as Maine goes. So Russ looked them over and decided we should try one called 18 Central.

He looked to see about getting a reservation and this was his first report to me about that. “They don’t spring for a paid service to make reservations a là Resy or Open Table, but instead you have to call them on the phone to make a reservation. I called and got the answering machine that had a two minute outgoing message giving me all the rules about reserving and coming to the restaurant. After listening to that message I went to try and leave a message and it cut me off saying the mail box was full.”

That right there should have been the sign! The rules just about inquiring about going were onerous. Russ took that sign as a big challenge. He called back many times and at different times of the day. Only after the fifth or six call did he discover he could push some number on the phone to skip hearing the 2 minute message.

At last, his call mistakenly got answered when the person who carries the phone around there went to make a call at the time that Russ had just rung and was perturbed that he had gotten through and she could not make her own call out.

So we got a reservation. They have outdoor seating which is first come first serve in case the weather is bad. But if you have a reservation you can be offered the outdoor seating if it is available.

We arrived right on time for our 5:30 reservation (the only time available). Since we were going to dinner at that hour we had not eaten lunch which is pertinent to this story. It means we were hungry.

Russ went in first while I parked and when I got in the restaurant he was still standing at the hostess stand as another couple was being shown the available outdoor accommodations so they could decide where they wanted to sit. The place was about half full and lots of different servers walked past us kept saying, “someone will be with you.”

We stood there over ten minutes and the “someone” came back and said, “Just a minute” while she answered two phone calls (Which was totally shocking to me given how much trouble Russ had getting a call answered) and input some very complicated order into the iPad ordering station that took another five minutes.

It took another minute for her to gather the five different pieces of paper she needed to give us when she eventually asked us our name. “Lange for 5:30”

“What’s the first name?”

“Russ.”

She eventually found it, (This place is no Cheesecake Factory, there were like a dozen tables inside and a bar.). How many Lange’s could she have?

Without moving one inch she pointed to the worst table that was right next to the door where we were standing and where every person who comes in the place would stand around while waiting, by our experience, a very long time.

It was a very cool and somewhat foggy day, but we asked, “anything outside?” She said we could look at them. So we went to the back deck and she she waived at the three tiny two tops that were no bigger than 2×2 feet and said, “You have your pick.” We chose the one on the railing.

We started looking at the various menus and a waitress with yellow nails came over with a carafe of warm water and filled out glasses. “Can I get you a drink?” I had decided, but Russ said, “I’m looking.” And before the “g” in looking was out of his mouth she had said, “I’ll be back.” And away she went. Not to return for over ten minutes.

At this point we had been at this place for 25 minutes and we only had warm water to show for it. The only way we got our waitress to come back is we had to get a different waitress to retrieve her.

“Can I get you drinks?” We did not let her go without ordering everything we wanted since there was not much confidence she would come back.

Russ made the rookie mistake of wanting to order southern food, even though I said, “the other waitress had told other diners, who actually were given food descriptions and recommendations that the other chicken, not the fried chicken was the way to go.”

Since we don’t eat as much as we used to we were sharing everything. So we ordered two mocktails, and bread, shrimp cocktail and fried green tomatoes and fried chicken.

Fifteen minutes later the drinks came out. They were spectacular. We were thinking, the service may stink, but maybe the food and drink will more than make up for it. We kept thinking the bread would come. We were hungry. No bread.

Eventually the shrimp came and the waitress looked at the bus boy and said, “Oh yeah, they need bead.”

The bread was delicious and the shrimp cocktail was more than perfect with the best roasted tomato cocktail sauce I have ever had. If we had stopped with just that we would have been happy.

It took awhile, but the chicken and green tomatoes eventually arrived. Our waitress asked us if we wanted a sharing plate but quickly said there really wasn’t room on the table for it. It was fine. We were so close together at a 2 foot table I could easily eat off Russ’s plate.

The chicken breading was the most flavorless coating I have ever had, although the chicken meat had obviously been brined and was juicy enough, the coating ruined it. Same for the fried green tomatoes, same flavorless coating. The waitress breezed by and said, “Everything OK?” And walked way before we could respond. There was no salt and pepper on the table and both dishes were desperate for both. Could we get some? Only if someone would come by and alight long enough for us to ask.

Dessert? Not on your life. As we left Russ said, “When the front of the house does not like people it really shows.”

The place has been around a while and was very busy so our experience probably is not typical, nonetheless I will never go back or recommend it not when you can go to the Norembega or Aster and Rose and have the best service and most fabulous food and made to feel welcome.

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