Stopped into The Rendevous restaurant on our way back from taking the kids to Michigan's Adventure (theme park) and got shut down from vaping. A little back story to give this place some context. I used to be a regular back in the day, it was your typical greasy spoon type of dive out by the lakeshore. One of those spots that all the teens, AA's and after-bar folks used to hang out, drink coffee, smoke cigarettes and grab some OK food. A tired looking restaurant for tired people, if you know what I mean. When the smoking ban hit, it seemed like business took a nosedive. They made a few changes and advertised as a family restaurant but even then it seemed like mainly a "regulars" type of crowd that could carry on without smoking.
Back to today. The wife and kids had never been there but the wife has heard a few of the war stories about it from back in the day. It was 10:30 PM and we were just trying to figure out dinner on our way home. When I mentioned "The Vous" she was all for checking the place out. When we walked in, it was EXACTLY like I remember from 10+ years ago. Same tired people, same tired restaurant. In my mind, I'm thinking "awesome, after a long day, I can grab some coffee, Vape a little and get the kids fed." We ordered drinks and I start paging through the menu with the kids. I managed 1 drag off my Altoid mod and a 2nd waitress was on me like white on rice. She says "we don't allow e-smoking in our restaurant. Not that I personally care but you may offend someone." I look over and 2 tables away is a guy with a half full 20 oz full of spit from his chew so I asked "what about his chew" and her only answer was "we'll, we don't prohibit that." ...!!! My vaping is more "offensive" then a bottle full of spit? I just stood up and said "fine, keep everything we ordered, I will go spend my money at IHOP. vaping doesn't offend them" and started to walk out. She yells to me "well, we have a sign" and points to a "No Smoking" sign. By that point, it wasn't even worth it to me, I just kept walking.
Maybe it's just me but it seems that a place like this would be drooling to get back a little piece of that former smoking crowd. Then to allow "dipping" but state that vaping is offensive just blew me away. I've seen the flame wars here about vaping in no smoking restaurants and I will never cede to the argument that no smoking means no vaping (flame on haters!
) but I think the chew part is what got me. I obviously won't be going back, my IHOP was good enough and a big +1 to them for letting me Vape.
So FYI to all you West MI vapers, avoid this place. They suck! END RANT.
Back to today. The wife and kids had never been there but the wife has heard a few of the war stories about it from back in the day. It was 10:30 PM and we were just trying to figure out dinner on our way home. When I mentioned "The Vous" she was all for checking the place out. When we walked in, it was EXACTLY like I remember from 10+ years ago. Same tired people, same tired restaurant. In my mind, I'm thinking "awesome, after a long day, I can grab some coffee, Vape a little and get the kids fed." We ordered drinks and I start paging through the menu with the kids. I managed 1 drag off my Altoid mod and a 2nd waitress was on me like white on rice. She says "we don't allow e-smoking in our restaurant. Not that I personally care but you may offend someone." I look over and 2 tables away is a guy with a half full 20 oz full of spit from his chew so I asked "what about his chew" and her only answer was "we'll, we don't prohibit that." ...!!! My vaping is more "offensive" then a bottle full of spit? I just stood up and said "fine, keep everything we ordered, I will go spend my money at IHOP. vaping doesn't offend them" and started to walk out. She yells to me "well, we have a sign" and points to a "No Smoking" sign. By that point, it wasn't even worth it to me, I just kept walking.
Maybe it's just me but it seems that a place like this would be drooling to get back a little piece of that former smoking crowd. Then to allow "dipping" but state that vaping is offensive just blew me away. I've seen the flame wars here about vaping in no smoking restaurants and I will never cede to the argument that no smoking means no vaping (flame on haters!
) but I think the chew part is what got me. I obviously won't be going back, my IHOP was good enough and a big +1 to them for letting me Vape.So FYI to all you West MI vapers, avoid this place. They suck! END RANT.
