A nice dinner in Las Vegas

So, we decided since we were in Las Vegas and we had opted not to spend the money to see a show, we would spend the money on a really nice dinner. We chose to make a reservation at Steakhouse 46 at The Flamingo. There were 8 of us. The restaurant was beautiful and the food smelled incredible. So we sit down and peruse the menu. I picked my chin up off the table after a minute of telling myself I had decided to have a nice dinner and it was okay to pay for a $40 steak. I ordered an $11 bowl of lobster bisque to start. It was amazing. Words cannot describe it. It was worth every penny. for dinner I ordered blah-blah fancy name scallops. they were $34. Quite good. Nothing to write home about, but they were good. Allright, so all 8 of us are happy and having this wonderful experience until our sassy Drew Carey look-a-like waiter drops ONE check in the middle of the table. I instantly said "um...excuse me, but did you seperate that?". I assumed he was smart enough to realize we were all couples and would require seperate tickets. HA! How silly of me. He said "no, we don't do that". Well, let me tell you, my redneck side kicked in. I wanted to leap out of my chair and smack that boy right across his smug face. But I didn't. I am a lady. My mother would be so ashamed if I behaved in such a manner. I said "well, we all need to pay seperately". He said "just write out names and totals of what you want on each card". I said "oh, okay". He walked away, then came back and said "oh, by the way, we only accept up to five credit cards". I said "okay". So my friend/cousin Gwen began seperating everything out. What a pain right? What happened to customer service? While we were having to go through and figure out who ordered what, add totals, taxes and tip the waiter and the manager both walked by huffing and pacing like we had put them through SUCH an ordeal. I was so upset. Mostely humiliated and disappointed that they had sent our wonderful meal and our wonderful experience right down the tubes. Finally, we got it all figured out, he ran the cards and we all left in a huff. A couple people at the table were saying "oh, most restaurants don't seperate the checks". I was like "what????!!!!!" I was a waitress for four years in college and we ALWAYS asked if they would like seperate checks. We live in the south. We all work hard for a living and when friends go out to dinner, they don't typically pay for each others meals. Then I thought to myself. That stinkin' waiter added 18% gratuity to our tab. Now, tell me this. If they are such a high fallutin' snooty restaurant that won't seperate checks, how is it they feel the need to ADD gratuity? All in all...the food was wonderful, the the experience goes in the books as a huge thumbs down. No food is worth all that aggravation and being made to feel ignorant. I'll never go back there again.

On a lighter note...it was a beautiful evening in Las Vegas. After dinner, we walked to the Bellagio and watched the cool water show. ;)