TOTV nite at Naples in Leesburg
 

Two seatings 5 or 7 p.m.

May all of you have a wonderful time!
We won't be back down there until April, and am hoping to make a Crisper's lunch then.
We look forward to meeting many of you....enjoy a nice time of good food and fellowship......

Frank

Please tell us about it tomorrow. Hope all had fun!

My wife and I went to the 5PM seating. When we arrived the hostess looked for our name and then seated us in a booth. As far as I could tell there looked like about 16 people there that were totv people. My problem is that we didn't meet anyone from our group as we were sitting by ourselves and if I wanted to just talk to my wife I could have stayed home. I'm probably not the most outgoing person and didn't really want to walk up to people on our way out but if there are future events such as this it would have been much better to have everyone sitting at a long table (or at least at a table that seats 6 or 8) so that we would have a better chance to meet others. Sitting in separate booths just does not cut it for an "event" such as this. Just wanted to throw this out. I'm curious to see what others thought.

John

Yeah, John, I'm with you. We arrived about 4:55 and I think were the only ones there. Myself, Redwitch and my new BFF Jodie. It was a bit of a drive there, got lost once, chatted and the waitstaff took our order. I noticed a couple of couples wandering in, one couple knew Red and moved their table with us, but other than that I don't know who is who and no one seemed to indicate that they they were TOTVers. I guess I was thinking someone was organizing this to be a meet and greet. I enjoyed my table mates and if I had known you, I'd have invited you in, but I had no indication of who was who. I hope you and your wife enjoyed a night out. The food was ok. The conversation much better!

Looks like your situation was similar to ours. We sat at a table by ourselves, however there was another table for 8 right next to us. As best as I could tell that made a total of 10 TOTVers. Fortunately, we were close enough that we could have a limited conversation with a few of the others.

On the other hand, we thought the food was great. :thumbup: I had Gnocci and my wife had the shrimp risotto. (sp) We'll be back in the future for sure!

Don't know why, but I expected it to be set up as individual tables (maybe the way reservations were made?), but I was really hoping I was wrong. I saw a few people that I thought might be TOTVers but certainly didn't feel comfortable going up and asking if they were part of TOTV. I think Naples missed a chance to make it a great experience -- one where we might want to go back for that experience -- instead of just a regular dinner with great service and okay food.

I'm glad that there were others that felt the same way. We were sitting in the last booth by the window and there was a group of 5 seated nearby. We have eaten at Naples a few times and always enjoyed the food. I wouldn't mind doing this again if the table arrangements were different. I certainly would have liked to meet others. Scrapple, redwitch, and Jodie were at the nearest table but I didn't know them. It would really have been nice to join in.

John

totv
 

What happen to eveybody? There was 4 at 5:00 and 2 at 7:00.

John, wished we'd known you were at that corner table. I wondered if you were one of us. I guess if we ever do something like this again, we'll all have to be brave enough to ask if others in the room are part of our group and then ask to be seated together.

Charles, I think you'll discover there were several people there -- they just didn't seat us together, not even in the same area or room, I think.

Where were you Charles? Did you attend both seatings? http://www.manysmileys.com/files/I/w...IL77479298.gif
There were a total of 10 of us TOTVers in the center tables at 7:00 and I have no idea if there were any in the booths.

We didn't know it was planned until it was over.

It sounds like the 5pm group was spread out. My wife and I went to the 7pm group and when we came in a few minutes before 7pm we were asked if we wanted a table or booth. We said we wanted a table. The waitress then stated that there was already a group here from TOTV and asked if we wanted to join them. We said yes and they added another table to the group.

Skyguy79 you must have been at the other end so we didn't get a chance to talk with you. When I mentioned to someone that I used to live near Albany, NY someone mentioned I should talk to you. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to speak with you because all the food came out then.

I thought that the tables were pre assigned by Naples. They looked at the computer at the front and then seated us. I assumed that was where we were to sit.

John

TOTV night at Naples
 

Well, I agree that a great opportunity was missed. This was my first TOTV get-together & as such I had absolutely no idea if there were any other "members" in the restaurant other than Scrapple & Redwitch until Redwitch recognized a young couple who had just purchased their future retirement home & asked them to join us. In future, it would be nice if we ALL could be seated together. Seems as though it's a no brainer for the restaurant to do so IF they're aware that there will be a group coming.

Who was organizing ???
 

We had a conflict, last night and were not able to attend. However, I was under the impression it was an "organized" event, so I would have expected someone to greet TOTV members and get them seated together or in close proximity.

....

I thought that the owner, Jan, (talkhost) was going to be there.

We had the Bingo to go to at Colony, proceeds for charity and happiness for Helene. Sorry we missed the opportunity to meet and greet new folks.

There just isn't enough time to do everything you would like to do here.

Maybe Naples learned from feedback at 5 p.m. seating and adapted to seat folks together at 7 p.m. I couldn't attend as I am not in TV now, but would have enjoyed it as an organized event with TOTV folks sitting together. I had thought Jan was going to be there too.

Sounds like some good lessons learned for the next TOTV night.

You are right, I should have been there. I made the mistake of believing that all of our members would be sitting together.

One of our members had agreed to act as host, but apparently that didn't happen.Not being there was a lapse in my judgment.

You can count on the fact that this won't happen again.

So, otherwise, how was the food.

JLK

Niels, you may or may not have seen me when you lived near Albany... depending on how far. For 26 years I was a supervisor with the Albany Issuing Office of the DMV. I've had people recognize me as far away from Albany as Dover DE. Anyway, we were at the far end against the wall. I believe you were still eating as we left. If you remember I told your whole group to not let the partying go beyond midnight!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...es2/drunk3.gif {hic}

I'll volunteer to host the next one-- if you'll do it when I'm in town. :pepper2:

So far all of the comments on this thread have been about the seating. Is no one comfortable commenting about the food at Naples?

gr, the food was okay. The portions were truly large. The service was excellent. I had the fettucine al fredo -- the pasta was cooked al dente (a biggie with me), but the sauce could have been thicker. Most of us just had a pasta dish. While I didn't hear any raves, I also didn't hear any complaints. A table behind us had a shrimp dish that looked absolutely delicious, with more than one person at our table saying they wished they'd ordered that instead.

We've probably eaten there about 5 times and enjoy the food. Probably one of the best Italian restaurants in the area. However, I'm really not a gourmet so am easily pleased.

John

I would like to make a suggestion. Name tags for TOTV members with their handle.

Everyone would wear something that signifies they are TOTV members, (hats or t-shirts).

The restaurant staff should have been aware that TOTV wanted to be seated together.

I hope the next one turns out better. :)

2b, don't know about anyone else who was there for the 5:00 pm seating, but we were very vocal about being part of TOTV. We told the hostess at least 3 times. Didn't matter -- we were just seated at a table. I doubt anyone was asked if they wanted to be seated together and I'm not all that sure we would have been accommodated at that time. I think there were enough disgruntled comments plus our pulling in another table for the couple (Hecules) that I knew to join us that Naples figured out what to do for the 7:00 pm seating.

Quite honestly, the food just wasn't good enough for me to make the effort to go there again. As I said, it was okay, but not enough to drive up 27 to eat there.

I didn't mean for my post to sound like a criticism but an idea for things to run more smoothly.

I'm sorry that everyone did not have as good a time as they wanted. I was hoping the event would be well attended and enjoyed by all TOTV members.

I understand what others are saying as when we arrived I asked, "where are totv people sitting?" The response was right there... pointing to the section immediately to the right that was mostly vacant except for a few booths. It made me feel like we were the first to arrive. It was almost 7. One more party arrived after we were seated and ordered to make a short story even shorter. We all made the best of it and enjoyed ourselves and our meals. The ladies who saw my wife's shrimp risotto liked what they saw and ordered the same. :coolsmiley: But I don't think any of the guys order the gnocci they saw that I had! :cus:

We were at the 5 o'clock seating. We got there early (4 of us) and were seated at a booth just behind where the reservation desk was. I was not aware of anyone else from TOTV being there even though several times we told our waitress, Rebecca, that we were there with the TOTV group. Whens" we got our bills we had to remind Rebecca that we were part of TOTV and the special - she said Oh Yah - I forgot and went back and fixed the bill.

Food was so-so - but I went to meet the people who have become " offered so much advice in the past nine months.

2BNTV had some great suggestions if there is a next time anywhere.

More ideas for the next one
 

I like 2B's idea of making suggestions for the next one. They are just suggestions of course. TH is so nice for doing an event, so however it is done is appreciated. Some suggestions might not work, and of course, some people might not agree. You can never please everybody. Ok, enough with the disclaimers.

Name tags and sitting together definitely. A private room or private section would be great, as large crowds tend to be louder. Round tables of six-to-eight rather than one long table, if available, so you could socialize better. If not, sets of long tables of eight or so, rather than just one long table of 16 or more. One seating instead of two, with a 45-minute optional drink social before seating. If the location is that far away, coordinate carpooling. (Oops, another disclaimer. TH, please note that I volunteered to host if I'm there. If not, I bet someone else would volunteer. Don't mean to be asking you personally make so many arrangements for us.)

Assigned seating might be fun so you don't just sit with who you already know. I wouldn't be keen on having coordinated hat or dress, although I would certainly go along cheerfully.

Ditto, particularly on the seating concept(s) - they're right on the money!

Bill

And I can vouch for PT's organizational skills. She coordinated a small meet & greet with Mr. PT, us and the Scrapple couple and it was a fun evening with new friends and good food at Cane Gardens. Great job all the way around:BigApplause:
Skip 2

aww, thanks, Skip 2. Ooops, you caught me posting about food again. :doh: