I ate lunch at Gibson's today and was disappointed. When I walked in, I had to wait while the hostess chatted with a couple of women ahead of me in line who were obviously old friends. After she seated them, she came back and then noticed an older gentleman coming out of the restaurant past the hostess stand, and she had to give him a hug and commiserate at some length about shared medical concerns. Then when he went on his way, another gentleman came along behind him and got the same treatment. This went on for some time while I stood there feeling kind of like an idiot. I don't mind that she needed to give some special attention to people who were obviously friends and old customers, but some acknowledgment of my existence and maybe an "I'll be with you in just a moment" would have been nice.
I was then shown to a crappy table near the kitchen. Everyone knows you shouldn't take the first table offered you and I probably should have asked for a better one (there were quite a few open), but I wasn't up to it.
My waiter was efficient but gave me the impression that he didn't really want to be my waiter. (Honestly, I had freshly showered.) I ordered a ribeye sandwich on ciabatta (cooked medium well) and a Diet Coke. The first indication that I was in for a mediocre food experience was when my Diet Coke came in a ten-ounce bottle with a highball glass. Oh, great. The waiter did pour it for me, and poured out the rest over the course of the meal when he noticed my glass was running low. (Which happened very slowly, since I only had 10 ounces to work with and needed to conserve.)
The table bread was excellent -- three different kinds: sourdough, multigrain, some kind of raisin bread.
The sandwich was served with french fries, which were almost shoestring-sized and very good. The sandwich was okay. The ciabatta bread had been grilled, which is always the right choice, but it was a bit burned. The steak, on the other hand, was undercooked. It was also pretty fatty, but that's ribeye for you. The flavor was good.
Like everyone else has said, the place is loud and Chicago-y. Overall it would have been a fine experience if the service had been just a little bit more gracious and if my order had been honored. Maybe it was just an off day, but if so, it was quite a coincidence -- an off day for the hostess, the waiter, and maybe the cook (depending on whether the waiter transmitted my order correctly). If I stay at the Doubletree again, I'll probably walk a mile down the road to Denny's for lunch. Work off some of that ribeye fat.
