Several area restaurants offer discounts of up to 20% to Westport Country Playhouse subscribers.
There is only 1 restriction — as very disappointed Westport resident Eileen Ogintz found out Saturday night. Here’s her story:
Our mistake was not reading the fine print.
As Westport Country Playhouse subscribers, we’d gotten a brochure with local restaurant discounts — a good marketing move, we thought, to encourage us to eat out nearby before attending a play. All we needed was to show our tickets in order to get a 20 per cent discount at The Dressing Room, La Villa Trattoria, Manolo, Matsu, Rizzuto’s, Tavern on Main or Thali.
But we didn’t read the fine print that said the offer is only good at The Dressing Room Tuesday through Thursday. None of the other restaurants impose such restrictions. Our apologetic waiter indicated many weekend Playhouse goers are as surprised as we were to learn the discount they expected wouldn’t be honored.
The haughty restaurant manager wasn’t the least apologetic, though she did give us the 20 per cent off “this one time” when we complained, ominously adding she was going to “mark our profile” in their computer. I didn’t know if I was supposed to be worried or why.
By that point, I knew I didn’t want to return any time soon. I even posted a message to that effect on Facebook, prompting a call from my son who wanted to know what had prompted my ire.
“We’re doing the Playhouse a big favor,” the manager insisted as we left.
Frankly, I thought it was the Playhouse doing the Dressing Room the favor. The restaurant wouldn’t even be there without the Playhouse and the original support of the Newmans, I thought. (Paul Newman’s name figures in some of the menu selections, in fact.)
And without Paul Newman and especially Joanne Woodward, of course, the Westport Country Playhouse wouldn’t be the wonderful community resource it is for all of us today.
On Saturday night, The Playhouse was full. The Dressing Room wasn’t.