Eric Greenspan's Patio-Only Maré Deals With Unexpected Rain By Being Awesome

Here’s a little golden ray of sunshine to get you through another cloudy day. Per one particular Chowhound poster, last night’s meal at Eric Greenspan’s new al fresco-only patio restaurant Maré could have been made all the worse by a light drizzle — but instead became something much more memorable.

Customer (and username) VenusCafe, apparently unfazed by the light rain earlier in the day, decided to drop in on the new Melrose eatery with a couple of friends. They snaked through Greenspan’s Grilled Cheese and ducked behind the faux cooler door to get into Maré, as one must do, before landing a table under the open sky. At first, the clouds seem to have permanently parted, but eventually they returned and began soaking the patio — and every diner, including a few other tables, in the process.

No worries: out come the umbrellas and the drinks, and no one is any worse for wear. That could have been it — after all, the diners knew what they were getting in for, this being a moody night and the restaurant known for not having a roof — but VenusCafe writes on to say that both the GM and Greenspan himself came out to the patio to tell customers that if they wished to leave the rain they could, with absolutely no charge for dinner!

What’s more, after the happy eaters decided to see the meal through, their entire check was comped by 50%, and the three diners were each given gift cards for a return (hopefully sunnier) trip. Talk about service.

Now, let’s not expect that everyone will have the exact same circumstances and outcome as this one (Greenspan might well go broke giving away his food every cloudy night), but it’s still nice to see a new restaurant that’s really angling for the love of the neighborhood bend so far backwards in order to soften what could have been a subpar evening. As VenusCafe says at the end of the post: "The discount made us joyful, but it was more than that; it was dining and being in the hands of such a caring crew." Good on ya, Maré.