Where the lobster at?? Last night I attended a pop up event at Evergreen Brick Works, hosted by The Grid. The concept: a lobster feast at a great price with sides and a complimentary beverage. I want to start off by saying Brick Works was a very cool venue. It is outside but covered and last night provided an upscale hipster BBQ setting, I was so down…at first.
We arrived a little late as we anticipated long lines of hungry hipsters, but thanks to our insider were informed around 7:30 that the lobster was at the dock and had not arrived. This was odd seeing as this event started at 6:00 and had a second seating at 9:00…hopefully we don’t have to wait too long. Finally, we are given some food to tide us over (always good to know people working events). At this point we were all starving and our two drinks were going to our heads so anything was welcomed. Our next surprise was learning that the coordinators had been royally screwed and the lobsterman was not coming to the lobster themed event….this doesn’t make for a great event now does it!
As an event coordinator myself, I was watching the worse case scenario play out in front of my eyes. Hiccups can happen at events but this was no hiccup this was a major event fail. I think it has to do with two things, this was the first event put on but the Grid, who are active in the nightclub scene, but putting on a dinner for 1000+ people is a bit of a different story. Secondly, based on the modest price of the tickets the coordinators likely found a too-good-to-be-true price from an independent lobsterman. Now I’m not saying there is anything wrong with the little/independent guys, but some times the price is so cheap for a reason. The cheapest is not always the best, typically if you have a more established price point it says something of your professionalism and reliability. This guy was neither as he took money and ran.
Sorry you missed this event yet?? The best part is still to come! Our insider worked for the catering company that provided servers for the event (who I in no way want to knock, they did a great job in a really shitty situation!). At one point she came to inform us and other guests that the food no longer met health regulations and advised us not to eat it. For liability reasons the catering company refused to serve (as they should!) but the lobster chef, who’s affiliation with the Grid is unknown to me, scoffed at regulations and continued to serve questionable food to guests. Oh did I mention he was stumbling around wasted and smoking a cigar while cooking…classy peach I tell you!
very not alive lobsters…..=(
So…. the corn and potatoes were good at least! Lobster from a second supplier arrived shortly after 10 and I hope did not go to waste as they had been turning people away for the second sitting since 9:00. Who knows, this situation maybe could not have been avoided, but I have a feeling a lack of experience and a poor selection of suppliers had this event pegged as a fail before it even started.
All I know is I wasn’t the one being hella sick in the bathroom after being served bad lobster (the boiled lobster never arrived, pre-made questionable looking dishes were available), either she ignored warnings once food was not to regulations or was ill-informed and served by a chef that should never work another day in his life. I hope he’s enjoying his hangover and the taste of bad lobster this morning.
All in all…I had a blast. Seeing everything thing go so so wrong is quite entertaining and depressing, but we had drinks we didn’t eat bad food and hey I have a great story to tell!
Wish i could have proved it…
