Jerrys Deli $5 minimum

Went to see 'Experimental Bellydance' last night in Venice, and realized that the producer was the woman I took 2 bellydance classes from over a decade ago. She has a modern dance background, so she's skin and bones (kinda weird for a bellydancer), and has a hard edge, rather than flowing and graceful movements. But the show had some memorable numbers and it was a fun evening w/ friends.

After some chow, we decided we wanted something sweet. Everything was closed so we decided on Jerry's Deli in Marina Del Rey. I was stuffed so I figured I'd have a bite of whatever dessert was ordered by the others, and pay half. When it came to me ordering, I said I was sharing, and the waiter told me that it was a $5 minimum per person at the table. WTF?! I can understand that they don't want a single person taking up a whole booth to nurse a coffee for several hours, but this was 3 people, 2 of which were ordering over $20 worth of food, enough to cover the average for the $5 per person. The waiter was having none of it, so I said I'm not buying anything, guess we'll have to leave.

We walked down to Von's and had raspberries, chocolate and vanilla ice cream, and a banana smoothie. We sat at their little service bar and had a wonderful quiet conversation (minus all the noise and bright lights of Jerry's) at well under $5 per person, and no tax and tip on top of that. Fuck You Jerry's. You were already too expensive (somewhere in the late 90's they decided to go from a moderately priced 24 hour deli to a hip, expensive deli, all while leaving their food and decor exactly the same), and now you force everyone at the table to pay a minimum. You've lost my biz permanently.