Last weekend, my friends and I met up for dinner at the new Restoration Hardware restaurant. I heard of the company from friends and couldn’t wrap my head around the fact the store was both a furniture shop and a restaurant.

Three of us arrived first and took the stairs to the third floor, where we were met with glass walls and ceilings dripping in gold from the sunset. To say it was beautiful is an understatement. We were brought to our seats as we waited for our other friends to arrive, sipping on some delicious peach bellinis in the meantime.

Because the restaurant is so nice, we didn’t want our phones visible on the table, so we put them away. We also wanted to enjoy each other’s company and converse to our heart’s desire. After 40 minutes passed, we wondered where the rest of our group was and why they were so late. We finally checked our phones and found several text messages and missed calls from them, all of which we couldn’t hear amidst the hustle and bustle of the dining room.

We soon discovered our three friends had taken one of the restaurant’s two elevators up, but suddenly felt the elevator stop, drop slightly, and sit on the second floor without opening its doors. In essence, they had been trapped in the elevator for more than 30 minutes, had tried calling for help through the elevator’s service button and couldn’t reach anyone. Upon finding this out, I got up, found the manager and informed her of the situation.

She was quite shocked and immediately called for help. Within 20 minutes, my friends were freed from the elevator, after the fire department swiftly arrived to also help. My friends said they had just sat on the floor and played group games on their phones to pass the time until help arrived.

Restoration Hardware comped our entire table as an apology. We enjoyed the rest of the evening sipping on peach bellinis and eating delicious food like salmon, ribeye and salad. The staff was more than attentive the entire evening, and their kindness exceeded expectations. They took care of us for the rest of the evening and ensured we enjoyed ourselves.

— Aoife O’Riordan, associate editor