Here are the three longest lines I've ever waited in:
1) To get an iPhone 3G (roughly 5 hours)
2) To get Phantom Menace tickets (roughly 3 hours)
3) To get a lobster roll from Red Hook Lobster's new lobster truck today (roughly 2 hours)
The iPhone was worth the wait.
Because I've worked food service (albeit, not on wheels) and know all the headaches involved, and because it's their first day, I'm willing to cut Red Hook a certain amount of slack. The fact that they ran out of soda and chips before it was my turn to order didn't really bother me, even though they were supposed to be thrown in for free as a mea culpa for four days of aborted launches. Was I curious what Maine Root vanilla cream soda tasted like? Sure. Am I going to lose any sleep over not finding out? Not really.
Here are two things I won't forgive:
First, back when the line was about at its longest, a Red Hook employee came around, cheerfully assuring us that it would be a 20-25 minute wait, tops. As far back as we were from the truck and at the rate the line was moving, this struck me as overly-optimistic, but I figured she must have had some idea what she was talking about. Besides, it couldn't be that much longer than 20 minutes, could it? It turned out to be an hour and 20-25 minute wait. I'm not sure if she was lying to us or if she genuinely believed her estimate, but if we'd known the real time involved, it's a safe bet that a lot of people--myself included--would have bailed.
When you're standing in any line for a long period of time and start to suspect that you've made a terrible mistake, there comes a point where you have to decide to either walk and write off the time you've already spent there, or stay in the hopes of somehow justifying it. I guess it's human nature to not want to admit that you've wasted your time, hence why so few people left the line once they were in it. (I am sort of impressed by how many businesses in D.C. are apparently cool with their employees taking super-extended lunch breaks, though. Bad economy, my ass. The 90s are here again!)
Second, $15 for a relatively small lobster roll is absurd. The fact that it normally won't come with chips and a soda for that price, is even more absurd. Obviously, a lobster roll is going to be more expensive than something from Subway, but I'm not sure it should be that much more expensive. If you're inclined to spend $15 on lunch, you can get a pretty good meal at any number of restaurants downtown. Or a pretty good liquid lunch from any number of bars. It'll be interesting to see how well Red Hook does once the initial novelty wears off.
But I guess the most important question is, was the lobster roll any good? Actually, yes, it was. I got the Connecticut style roll, and the three or four bites that one can reasonably get out of the sandwich that size were pretty tasty. But was it worth the money or the wait? Not even close. I don't expect the long lines to persist, but given all the things you can buy in the world for $15, I'm going to have to really be jonsing for lobster in a bun to go there again.
The worst part of this whole experience? It's going to be a long, long time before I can walk past the line at Georgetown Cupcake and feel smug about not being willing to wait half-an-hour for a cupcake.
1) To get an iPhone 3G (roughly 5 hours)
2) To get Phantom Menace tickets (roughly 3 hours)
3) To get a lobster roll from Red Hook Lobster's new lobster truck today (roughly 2 hours)
The iPhone was worth the wait.
Because I've worked food service (albeit, not on wheels) and know all the headaches involved, and because it's their first day, I'm willing to cut Red Hook a certain amount of slack. The fact that they ran out of soda and chips before it was my turn to order didn't really bother me, even though they were supposed to be thrown in for free as a mea culpa for four days of aborted launches. Was I curious what Maine Root vanilla cream soda tasted like? Sure. Am I going to lose any sleep over not finding out? Not really.
Here are two things I won't forgive:
First, back when the line was about at its longest, a Red Hook employee came around, cheerfully assuring us that it would be a 20-25 minute wait, tops. As far back as we were from the truck and at the rate the line was moving, this struck me as overly-optimistic, but I figured she must have had some idea what she was talking about. Besides, it couldn't be that much longer than 20 minutes, could it? It turned out to be an hour and 20-25 minute wait. I'm not sure if she was lying to us or if she genuinely believed her estimate, but if we'd known the real time involved, it's a safe bet that a lot of people--myself included--would have bailed.
When you're standing in any line for a long period of time and start to suspect that you've made a terrible mistake, there comes a point where you have to decide to either walk and write off the time you've already spent there, or stay in the hopes of somehow justifying it. I guess it's human nature to not want to admit that you've wasted your time, hence why so few people left the line once they were in it. (I am sort of impressed by how many businesses in D.C. are apparently cool with their employees taking super-extended lunch breaks, though. Bad economy, my ass. The 90s are here again!)
Second, $15 for a relatively small lobster roll is absurd. The fact that it normally won't come with chips and a soda for that price, is even more absurd. Obviously, a lobster roll is going to be more expensive than something from Subway, but I'm not sure it should be that much more expensive. If you're inclined to spend $15 on lunch, you can get a pretty good meal at any number of restaurants downtown. Or a pretty good liquid lunch from any number of bars. It'll be interesting to see how well Red Hook does once the initial novelty wears off.
But I guess the most important question is, was the lobster roll any good? Actually, yes, it was. I got the Connecticut style roll, and the three or four bites that one can reasonably get out of the sandwich that size were pretty tasty. But was it worth the money or the wait? Not even close. I don't expect the long lines to persist, but given all the things you can buy in the world for $15, I'm going to have to really be jonsing for lobster in a bun to go there again.
The worst part of this whole experience? It's going to be a long, long time before I can walk past the line at Georgetown Cupcake and feel smug about not being willing to wait half-an-hour for a cupcake.
1 comment:
glad to hear a first hand acct of the madness. I agree with you about the cost, same goes for the one for tackelbox, its good but not $20 good.
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