I get it, believe me I do. Not one single person wants to work on a holiday; especially one like Thanksgiving which has traditionally been sacred in every single sector except the restaurant business. I’ve worked holidays, including Thanksgiving and Christmas before and it wasn’t pleasant. When I worked the holidays I worked in an industry which was service related but I received no tips on top of my salary. However, because Thanksgiving has been a traditionally busy day for restaurants some choose to remain open and one of those restaurants is The Lexington in St. Paul.
We’ve been to The Lexington several times over the last decade for Thanksgiving and we’ve always been more than pleased by the atmosphere, service and especially the food. In fact, we were so very pleased with the service we’ve recommended it to countless others suggesting it as an excellent place for them to spend Thanksgivings without spending gobs of money cooking for very few people, or none at all.
We were always thrilled by the generous servings of soup and the excellent Caesar salads especially topped with a healthy dose of anchovies and a very tasty dressing. The turkey dinner was just like everyone expected: tons of tender turkey doused in gravy, a pile of homemade mashed potatoes with skins included, soft and fluffy dressing, some candied yams and a side of cranberry sauce all for a very reasonable price. While the food has never been anything but traditional–no avant-garde anything here–it was just what hit the spot on Thanksgiving for those grateful individuals who were either incapable or unwilling to cook on a holiday.
However for all those great Thanksgiving dinners we’ve had over the years we’ve been visiting The Lexington on Thanksgiving, it was all wiped away with one careless and basically miserable experience we had this past Thursday.
We arrived 10 minutes or so before our 3:30 reservation. The restaurant was just as crowded as years passed. While the many tables around us were promptly and adequately served, we were neglected time and time again. Our server, while friendly, was either spread too thin or simply could not be bothered to serve two and a half people who weren’t sucking down glass after glass of wine poured from the bottle proudly situated in the center of the table knowing she wouldn’t get as big of a tip. Either way I watched as several tables around us, served by other far more willing and competent staff members, were waited on many more times than we were. In fact, one particular table of ~10 had a server who visited six times in between two of the seven times our server visited our table the entire meal. I too would have liked to have had drink refills, additional baskets of bread, and even butter delivered without asking. Heck, anchovies and croutons and maybe even some dressing would have been nice on my salad too. However the service is only half of the equation.
Service issues aside, the food wasn’t even remotely close to what it had been and it certainly wasn’t anywhere near what a blind and deaf 90 year old great-grandmother could have done with one arm, three fingers and no cookbook. The turkey and gravy were fine. Nothing spectacular and certainly underseasoned but good enough for someone who doesn’t care much about turkey and gravy. However the sides were miserable. I think I could have had better sides at Rack Shack BBQ and that’s saying a lot.
The yams were undercooked and, for the most part, left a sharp and bitter aftertaste. The mashed potatoes were starchy and there were too many skin pieces making them take on a pink hue. The dressing, normally fluffy and and wonderful, was overcooked and dry. Even the gravy slathered all over the dressing didn’t make it worth eating. The cranberry sauce was also fine, nothing special there but it’s definitely not something which can possibly save the rest of your huge Thanksgiving failure.
The pumpkin pie you served me that night was bland and goopy. Those are two words no one should ever use to describe pumpkin pie, let alone pumpkin pie at a restaurant. I should not have ever thought to myself, “I think a slice of Cub’s $2.99 pumpkin pie would be nice right about now,” unfortunately I had to this year. How disappointing.
But the biggest insult came when I paid the bill and found I was charged over $2 for a soda water with a lime. While I realize you believe The Lexington is somehow worthy enough to charge people nearly $40 for a steak ($36! for a pathetic 6oz filet on Thanksgiving) on any given night, how dare you charge people for something that takes nearly nothing off your bottom line?
While I have nitpicked a bit here, I seriously hope you make some serious changes to your future Thanksgiving dinner services. You have most certainly lost one of your biggest advocates and while that may not mean much to The Lexington, it should. I shouldn’t need to bring 10+ people and request several bottles of wine to get even the most basic level of service. I should never have to beg for refills of bread, soda water which you will then later charge me soft drink prices for choosing, and have to flag down our waitress who was generally M.I.A. to ask for butter for the bread which we also begged to have delivered. You should never had sent overcooked and dry dressing to my table and my salad should have come with dressing and anchovies by default–let alone croutons and flavor.
I hope the $69+ you took from us was worth never having another dollar leave my pocket and end up in yours again. Happy Thanksgiving.
What did you do for Thanksgiving dinner? Did you go out to eat? Have you done so before or do you always eat a traditional meal with family and/or friends at someone’s home? Have you ever had an absolutely miserable experience at a restaurant which made you never want to return? Whatever you have to say about this open letter to The Lexington in St Paul go ahead and comment on as I’d love to hear your thoughts.
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November 28th, 2011 at 8:09 am
Two points to note from my experience:
1) I’ve eaten at the Lex for a company event, and was really unimpressed with the quality of the food. My steak was like leather, it made my fiancé ill, and overall, the only thing good was the cheese/cracker spread and drinks, and those are really hard to screw up. If people have been looking for good places to eat on Grand, I’ll send them to Axels, or Dixies, or anywhere else, unless they are looking for the social status of eating at the Lex..
2) It’s a Holiday, I understand some people don’t or cannot make big things for turkey day and must go out. I wish the Holiday work schedules would switch to a volunteer basis. Having worked retail for 6 years, if I was scheduled, I would be there /at/ my start time, and gone /at/ my end time. Holidays to me are a family time, not ones to work.
Lastly – We’ve hosted, again, Thanksgiving and made all the trimmings, brined the turkey and had a great time. I’ll gladly spend a little on food, because I spent many years having my family/grandparents do the same, and I enjoy cooking, so it works well. Trying to coordinate everything getting done at once takes skill that my Grandmother has mastered quite well, but I’m working on it.
November 28th, 2011 at 8:15 am
Hi Bill,
Sorry to hear that your Thanksgiving meal was suppar. I was not looking forward to my meal because it was to be served at an assisted living home in Fairmont. Perhaps my lower than low expectations helped because I was pleasantly surprised with all of the offerings. The first time I had peach juice with my meal! More important than the food, I was happy to spend the day with my grandma who had just been released from the hospital. It was touching to see all of the residents wish her well. The staff were attentive and show that they care deeply for the residents and their guests. I hope to have that sense of community when I’m 89 years-old since I will not have kids visiting me!
I have never been to The Lexington and after reading your review, it is doubtful I ever will.
Are there other local restaurants who specialize in being the home away from home for the holidays?
November 28th, 2011 at 9:08 am
I hope you sent them a copy of that letter. Places like that sometimes think they can do no wrong and that people in general will accept anything. It is not just restaurants where service is poor, we find it everywhere. People expect a check without actually having to earn it. Our country has been in a long slow decline since LBJ decided that the Mom’s all across our land should go to work too, to fund his pathetic “great society” failure. The term ‘Confederacy of Dunces’ is more appropriate today than way back when that great book was written. Orwell’s world of 1984 is certainly here now also, in Spades! Nobody cares anymore, except about themselves and everything mediocre is “good enough”. I feel sad for all my grandchildren growing up here, the way things are going today.
November 28th, 2011 at 10:06 am
Sorry to hear about your experience there. I’m 100% certain they’ll read your letter.
We hosted. We’re on a 17 year streak of hosting and frankly I wouldn’t do anything else. Thanksgiving is eaisly my favorite holiday of the year and I like to do it right. We had 17 people over. Did two turkeys, homemade gravy, cranberry sauce, stuffing balls. I farmed out the sweet potaoes and dessert.
The herb infusued turkey I made was particularly good. Lets face it, turkey is about as bland as you can get, which is why I think it’s so popular in America, we seem to not like any taste in our food. The herbed version adds some decent flavor and the soup I made with the carcass.. even better.
November 28th, 2011 at 10:42 am
Bill:
The “Lex” has been on a downward spiral for many years AFAIC. It is overpriced and overrated. If this was your letter, I cannot see where you thought it was a great place to eat. As you may or may not know the ownership changed hands about 2-3 years ago, but even before that I thought it was on the decline.
If I had not had a conflict with my wife’s family I likely would have been there myself on Thanksgiving as my sister was there with my Dad and his SO.
I was there 2 years ago on Thanksgiving and thought the food was horrible.
The Lex’s appeal was to an old style business clientele that has faded away in the current marketplace. They need to modernize and revitalize the menu as well.
Someone should give Chef Ramsey (or John Toffer?) a call, ’cause this place needs it.
November 28th, 2011 at 10:45 am
nurd, I believe they’ve made some changes to the menu recently.
November 28th, 2011 at 10:47 am
Like you, I’ve had outstanding service from the Lexington in the past. I’m sorry to hear you had such an un-festive experience this time. I hope they respond appropriately to your message.
November 28th, 2011 at 11:54 am
I’d be so pissed!!! Ridiculous. My Thanksgiving this year was pretty lame… my family was out of town and my MIL didn’t feel like cooking a turkey so we had reheated lasagna…
November 28th, 2011 at 12:49 pm
we’ve never eaten out at any major holiday. working rotating days off all my career we made the holidays happen when i was off.
last week we went to my sister in law’s house. there was about 15 or so folks, son, daughter, niece’s and grand kids. ate early so i had room to eat again:)
bb
November 28th, 2011 at 3:40 pm
I’ve been to the Lex several times during my working years – it’s been a while. They used to specialize to the business folk and did a decent job, although I always thought the decor was old school to be sure. Haven’t been there in a few years but that it’s getting tired and loosing focus is not real surprising.
Morose Marty said:
I’m 67 years old and I’m optimistic about the future of our country and society. The 30 and 40-somethings of today are way better equipped to keep the Great American Experiment moving forward and progressing to a better life than my generation. Some of us are evidently tired and disappointed in the life we’re living and what our society has morphed into. I’m not. I hope I live another 60 years to see all the progress we all are about to experience. Carpe diem youngsters…!!
November 28th, 2011 at 6:37 pm
I spent the holiday with friends who hosted a get together for those of us with far away families. They spent all day smoking a turkey, and added lots of veggie sides like yams, mashed potatoes, butternut squash, and mushroom wild rice casserole. I contributed dessert – a coconut chocolate pie and blackberry / raspberry tarts. I’m slowly but surely making my way through a pie cookbook, and this was two more off of the list.
November 28th, 2011 at 9:53 pm
Turkey day was spent at home. Like most of my holiday events, it started out as planning for the 3 at my home, and one of my wife’s sisters and her husband. By Wednesday it turned into another pair of folks (another sister of my wife’s and her husband), and my son and his girlfriend and my grandson. And on turkey day it turned into 3 more folks. I was in charge of the turkey and the mashed potatoes. My wife handled the (last minute) spiral cut ham and scalloped potatoes and all the other stuff (salad, stuffing, etc.) . I ended up doing the dishes so she could chat with her sisters after dinner. We had two pies, one apple, and one pumpkin. Frozen and purchased with a bogo coupon from Cub.
If not at someones home for Thanksgiving, the only other place I’ve been is at Treasure Island casino for their thanksgiving buffet. My grandmother, on my mom’s side, would pay for the meal and get my mom and all her kids together for thanksgiving. (I’m oldest of 4, 18 years older than the youngest)
Thanksgiving at Treasure island was the shit. Carved turkey and ham. They’ll custom make you an omlette, plus there was BBQ and Italian and just about anything you might want. All pretty good. The roast turkey was decent, the gravy was great on the potatoes. Then the fried chicken,yumm… Much better than Old Country Buffet ever had been.
November 28th, 2011 at 10:42 pm
For a few years my parents and I would do the buffet at the Wayzata Sunsets (even though I despise buffets). The first two years the food was generally good and you couldn’t beat the price (I think it was around $16 per person). However, the third year was abysmal. The turkey was the driest piece of crap I’d ever had the displeasure of picking at, the sides had the distinct look of sitting too long at a steam table, and the pie tasted like a Sara Lee reject (and it was so cold, I think that it had just finished thawing out). After that, I cooked a meal for us, but then that started to make me crazy and my cats were too much for my mom’s allergies. Prior to this year, we spent the last few Thanksgivings at Kinkaid’s (once in DT St Paul and once at the Bloomington location) and were very pleased with both the service and the food. The free range turkey dinner was priced competitively at about $24 per plate, which included all you could eat of their garlic crack…I mean garlic breadsticks. We actually had to tell our waiter (nicely) to knock it off after the third basket for fear of a butter overdose or diabetes. Plus, you can quietly snark at decor that hasn’t been updated since 1992. This year we ate at my boyfriend’s parents’ house, and while the food was excellent, I kind of missed Kinkaid’s.
November 29th, 2011 at 7:53 am
I had Be’Witched deli cater my Thanksgiving in what is going to be something I do for the rest of my life. Pick up on Wednesday, cook/heat up on Thursday and it is easily as good as I could do with a lot of effort. I might add that the growler of Fulton IPA I brought home from the same trip to downtown went plenty well as a pre-dinner sip of beer.
Regarding the Lexington. I think I was more surprised to hear that past dinners there were good. While I have not eaten there in 15-20 years, I never would have thought that it was any more than a “place to go” as opposed to a “great place for a meal”. When the 3 martini lunch went out of vogue, I figured the Lex would go in the same direction, and I can only assume that the have this tiny window of customers who are still alive to keep them viable. They had a good run, but I just don’t think new owners and a constant change of chefs is going to be the thing that turns them around.
November 29th, 2011 at 8:45 am
The Lexington has new owners this year, I’ve heard other complaints about it since the new owners took over.
November 30th, 2011 at 7:49 am
As someone from the service industry and have worked both back and front of house as well as on many holidays, I am truly sorry for the lack of service you received. I am sure that the owners will be reading your letter. But I do wonder why you did not ask to see the manager to inquire about service or server, or simply ask for a different one to assist you?
Personally I do not think it is rude to do so when receiving bad or sub-par service, especially when decent training in food service is far and few and mostly up to the server to educate themselves in quality service. Which is sad, I agree. But it is our job (and hopefully the servers pleasure) to give you the best service possible, when possible. We can not always read minds and some guests need more attention than others, so when in doubt simply just ask for whatever you need. (I agree you should not have to)
Again I am sorry for your poor experience but let management know when you are at the venue so they can do what they can to respond to it.
November 30th, 2011 at 10:13 am
Because management didn’t do their job in that they failed to come to my table to ask how my meal was. I am not about go and seek them out, especially in a busy restaurant on a holiday, only for them to offer to knock a few dollars off (something I don’t accept by rule) and shrug their shoulders before I walk away.
I did what I felt was appropriate which was send them the letter you see above. As of today they have yet to respond.
November 30th, 2011 at 11:14 am
My wife and I had a very similar experience several years ago at Bobby Flay’s place in Las Vegas. Not on a holiday, but a special occasion for us. We were treated horribly, the food was average at best, and our night was ruined. I am sure I have had hundreds of wonderful meals that I cant remember, but that one horrible meal, and the awful way they interacted with us, has stuck with me for years.
While MW probably means well and is somewhat correct in saying you should seek out a manager, I personally dont think its my place to so, and have never had an experience where it helped. As Bill notes, generally they just shake thier heads, say they are sorry, and go back to whatever they were doing. And probably someone spits in your food.
December 6th, 2011 at 3:49 pm
You know, I actually feel sorry for you. Not that you seemed to have a bad experience, but due to the incredible level of neurosis displayed in your letter. How horrible to have to spend Thanksgiving counting the amount of times a waiter goes to a neighboring table instead of yours. Honestly, I can understand if you feel that you are not getting your due amount of service, but why must you create this scenario in your head that other tables are getting better and/ or more-attentive service due to the fact that they are purchasing bottles of wine…why is that even on your radar? Who cares what other people are ordering? As my Aunt Gert used to say, “tend to your own knitting!” Maybe you had a bad waiter, maybe you had a good waiter who was having a bad day or maybe they were just so busy during a holiday that you were one of a small percentage of tables that fell through the cracks. Or maybe your neurosis was so apparent that your waiter figured you were a lost cause anyway…or more likely you are just a difficult person who would rather count the amount of times someone else’s waiter goes to a table vs. how many times the waiter goes to your table than just sit back and enjoy the holiday, so you are going to be miserable no matter what. I think it is very clear why no one invited you to their home for Thanksgiving and you have to eat at a restaurant.
December 6th, 2011 at 6:24 pm
My, my aren’t we king of the couch! Stuff it Sigmund!
December 6th, 2011 at 6:52 pm
I thumbed up that comment just because I don’t want it to disappear. If that happens, nobody will see that beckysboy has mental problems.
December 18th, 2011 at 8:03 pm
For those of you who may be interested, like Sank, The Lexington never did respond to my e-mail.
January 25th, 2012 at 7:36 am
[...] 15. Joey Nova’s 16. Dandelion Kitchen 17. YumMi 18. Krungthep Thai 19. The Blue Door Pub 20. The Lexington 21. Taste of Thailand 22. Dakota Jazz Club and [...]
May 20th, 2013 at 1:38 pm
And now it’s being sold. From http://www.startribune.com/local/east/208154201.html:
The Lexington, one of St. Paul’s oldest and most iconic restaurants, is being sold to a St. Paul-based restaurant group.
The current owners will close the restaurant on May 31, with a grand reopening scheduled for the fall after renovations this summer.
The restaurant recently had become a center of controversy in the neighborhood surrounding Grand Avenue and Lexington Parkway because of plans advanced by the current owners to open a rooftop patio during summer months.
The City Council in March approved the restaurant’s request to serve liquor outside, causing nearby residents to raise concerns about noise levels and proposed closing times for outdoor service. The current owners had said that the outdoor patio wouldn’t be ready for business until the summer of 2014.