Aida Bistro and Wine Bar

they were unfamiliar with area). I chose Aida Bistro based on its reputation for excellent food and excellent service. My husband and I had lunch there prior to booking with them and it was an excellent meal: fine service, the freshest ingredients, beautiful ambiance -- everything you could hope for. Their private room was AFFORDABLE compared to many other Howard Co. options so we thought we were getting a "steal", right? Unfortunately, come rehearsal dinner there were several missteps which I feel obliged to notify other potential brides or those wishing to host important celebrations. First, we were promised by their coordinator that if our decorations were dropped off earlier (let me be clear: these were flowers in vases and one banner over a table), that the staff would take care of it. Literally, this would take 5 minutes to set up if a few of their waiters helped. Well ... our best man missed the entire wedding rehearsal because he was setting them up himself, and he informed us that not one waiter lifted a finger to assist him. To be fair, they had a rehearsal dinner earlier, and maybe the staff were tired -- but to me, when this is promised to us, they should have delivered. My husband was incredibly upset that the best man missed the rehearsal for our complex ceremony, and the fact no one offered to help him. I should preface this too by saying the coordinator was away on vacation. However, he should have done his due diligence and informed his staff what to expect upon our arrival. Unfortunately, this was far from the worst that happened. There were 30 people at our rehearsal dinner, and how many people were serving? One. For 30 people. Now, this poor guy I can't blame, he was doing his very best -- but his task was truly impossible. The food took 2.5 hours to come out (yes, you read that right). We had 6 guests leave before their food even came out because they were exhausted and were not willing to wait another second for food which may or may not arrive. Of course, this was embarrassing for my in-laws -- and even more so, for myself who selected it. The quality of the food? Excellent. Too bad some of our guests didn't stay to try it out because of the poor planning on the staff's part. After 2.5 hours not receiving our food, my husband and I went out to talk to the staff, asking what was going on. The waiter serving us was apologetic citing, "Well, it is a full house today in the restaurant. Sorry we cannot work faster." Okay, so you are telling me we booked a private room for a rehearsal dinner, and we are secondary to your restaurant guests? Are you serious? By his response, I took it to mean that we were not nearly as important as their average restaurant guests. I think Aida has it backwards. What upset me most is I wrote a very balanced feedback email to their coordinator about my disappointments; the staff refused to help with decorations as promised, food took 2.5 hours to arrive, only 1 waiter served 30 people, and server tried to make excuses or treat us as secondary. Coordinator did not even have the courtesy to respond. We paid about 1300 dollars for this and he didn't even have the respect to respond to me. I have a problem with this: an inability to accept responsibility. We deserved better. So do you.