In the interest of making our community better, this is a rant.

Friday night, I met up with a friend for a drink at Veni Vedi Vici in the Tower District. It was our plan to sit on the patio and drink a couple of Stockholm Royales before heading over to Palomino's for Vintage Fridays featuring some local blogger. We were to be joined by two additional friends.

What happened instead was: I got to Veni's and ordered my drink at the bar, knowing how slim my chances were of getting prompt (or any) service on the patio. I carried my drink outside and found my friend sitting on a planter, as all tables were full. It was around 9:30.

We headed back inside to the far less than half-full restaurant, ordered a Stockholm for my friend, then made our way to a table in anticipation of the rest of our party joining us. Immediately, a guy in a tie rushed up and told us we couldn't have the table, as it was reserved for diners.

I explained there was four of us, and that the patio was full and the bar had just two available seats left. He said he was sorry. I asked if he would prefer we stood in the middle of the restaurant, drinking our drinks. He said again that there was nothing he could do about the table, but he'd keep an eye on the patio and let us know if anyone left.