Recently my bride of four decades plus celebrated a milestone birthday. She was like a first grader relearning her A, B, C’s, but now it was A, B and part D and that spelled financial relief for people of a certain age.

We waited until we were both in Atlanta to enjoy the moment at one of those Restaurants-of-the-Year places and I settled on a well established one that was on every critic's list of top ten coming in number one again this year in several of the local publications.

A “hard to get” reservation was secured for an early Saturday evening. Inquiring if there were any dinner specials, which is part of the survival process in so many of the upscale-high ticket-restaurants around the country, (note: The dining room at the Ritz Carlton Buckhead shuttered in October) I was informed that prices had been adjusted recently to reflect the current economy.

So we forged ahead because it was a significant event and, as my wife pointed out afterward, “it was my idea”. We came with friends and settled in at a perfect table located in the center of a room that was smaller than I had imagined, but then again in order to receive the kind of ratings the restaurant continued to garner it needed not to be the size of TGIF’s.

Our waiter arrived and our drink order was meager as I was the only one ordering wine - the others settling on tea or water. First red flag. The look of disappointment on the waiter’s face was evidence that this was not a high-ticket table and that was confirmed by our dinner order.

Because my wife is gluten intolerant we have discovered over the past few years that many restaurants do have a gluten-free menu. That was true here as well, but in comparing their regular menu with the gluten-free there really wasn’t a significant difference in the options available.

My wife settled on the rack of lamb and was assured that while there were only two chops on the plate they would be large and filling. And if the prices had been adjusted to meet the times, apparently times were not so bad in this particular part of Atlanta.

I made a more interesting selection of a corn soup with a crab cake that sounded so rich I thought it would make a fine main course. I also chose a salad of crispy kale that caught my attention and was highly recommended by the waiter. Those two selections were actually equal to the cost of my wife’s entrée as well.

The waiter asked if my wife would like an appetizer, but there was nothing she felt comfortable ordering after looking over her options because of that gluten intolerance. Another red flag flying over a lower final dinner tab.

The waiter asked if I would like the soup first and I said no bring it as my main course. And, yes, the soup came first. And while it met my expectations in both quality and taste I thought it was lukewarm at best, but rather than try to get the attention of my elusive waiter I decided that I was there to enjoy the evening and lukewarm soup wasn’t going to be the deal breaker.

As we waited the room filled up with new arriving diners. We noticed as well that our waiter apparently took less notice of our presence. In fact, he never returned to our table until after an interminable wait with my wife growing not so much impatient as hungry.

I was able to catch the waiter’s attention and call him over to our table. At that point it had been 45 minutes and, as a former restaurateur with a capacity to understand kitchen issues, I wanted to know what the problem was in not being served our dinner.

The answer - “It’s coming right out.” But it didn’t and finally, as I headed to the hostess stand 10 minutes later, the food arrived. We received two small chops who had apparently gone on a serious diet in the almost 60 minutes we waited to be served and a salad with leaves so over crispy and saturated with oil that it was almost impossible to get them off the plate and onto a fork.

The evening was a dining disaster. I inquired of the hostess as to the problem and was told that the kitchen was “backed up”. Having arrived early and placed our order promptly that seemed a poor excuse.

But in any event if that were the case then it should have been up to a properly trained waitperson to come to the table, explain the situation and at the very least offer an appetizer, salad or a glass of wine as a gesture of appreciation for the long wait.

As we were leaving, the hostess told us that someone from the restaurant would be in touch the next day. That never happened and an email directed to a specific person at the restaurant resulted in no reply.

How is it possible that a restaurant with the stature of this particular one, who wins rave notices year-after-year, can operate at the level just described? Best guess is that the reviewer is easily recognized when dining and service and food reaches the highest levels possible.

Recently I went to a very hip new restaurant in my neighborhood in Atlanta, Flip Burger. Not only is the service prompt, the burger awesome, the price unbelievably reasonable, but my waitperson, and the entire staff as well, were as pitch perfect as the burger and seasoned fries not to mention the nutella milkshake.

It is no wonder that the parking lot is filled to capacity every day. It’s the best and next time my wife and I have an important event to celebrate it will be my restaurant-of- choice. And that comes after part D.

FLIP Burger Boutique is located at 1587 Howell Mill Road a short drive from the I-75 Exit.

(Charles Siskin is a former Chattanoogan now living on the Florida coast with his wife, Cookie. He can be reached at cater1@embarqmail.com)