Fine Dining Friday Night
Remember last week when we had already used most of our budget for eating out? This week, since we were all out of restaurant cash, we took advantage of a gift card to Yia Yia's that Brookie got from work.
She and the other office staff went there for lunch not too long ago, and she said the food was good. But the biggest reason we went there for dinner was because it wasn't going to cost us anything.
We put our names on the waiting list at about 7:15pm. They said it would be about half an hour, so we walked across the street to Crate & Barrel to kill some time. We took a quick tour of the first floor and headed back. When we got back to the lobby, Brookie made sure to tell them that we were back.
And this is where the fun really starts.
Anyone who has ever been a server at a restaurant (especially a popular one) has probably experienced what I am about to explain: Every so often, despite your best efforts, a party comes in and everything goes wrong for them. From the moment they step in the restaurant to the time they sign the merchant's copy of the credit card receipt, nothing seems to go right. And the scary part, being the server, is that you're pretty sure the tip they leave isn't going to be very good—which doesn't seem all that fair because most of the issues were totally outside of your control.
It was almost an hour later when we asked if our name was coming up soon. The hostess was 'shocked and awed' that our name had been crossed off. She apologized and told us that we would be the next to be seated. A few minutes later a manager came and grabbed some menus and led us to our booth, apologizing multiple times for the mix up along the way.
Our server was very nice. He came and introduced himself and took our drink orders. I had a regular lemonade and Brookie, after our server's glowing description of their strawberry lemonade, decided to have one of those. Unfortunately when he came back to our table, he had some bad news. They were completely out of strawberry lemonade, and had made her a raspberry lemonade instead. He felt even worse because of how much he had talked it up. He left our drinks and left us to look over the menu a little bit more.
Before he came back, I saw that the manager grabbed him and told him that we had been skipped and had been waiting to eat for some time. When he came to take our orders he said that he heard that there had been a little mix up, apologized, and said that we must be hungry. We ordered the Bruschetta, and he told us what an 'excellent' choice that was. I had seen it at another table, and it looked really good. Brookie ordered some penne pasta with grilled chicken, and I ordered a pepperoni pizza with crimini mushrooms and garlic.
Unfortunately, he came back a few moments later, apologizing, because they were also out of the Bruschetta. Not a big deal for us. After all, we were in a great mood because we had a gift card. After a few more suggestions on appetizers and another glance at the menu, we ordered ravioli filled with rib-eye meat and a bunch of other fancy stuff inside and on top. It was really good—and quite different than most anything else we'd ever eaten.
The rest of our meal went very smoothly. Brookie enjoyed her pasta, and I had one of the best pizzas I've had in a long time. Our server brought out the dessert tray, but we decided not to order it. The longer we looked at the cheesecake, Dutch apple pie, and the pastry-wrapped brownie covered in strawberry sauce (I'm drooling just thinking about that one again), the fuller we felt.
When he brought our check he told us that his manager had taken off our appetizer as a good-will gesture for the mix up with the waiting list. We were really impressed. But that posed a small problem for us: without the appetizer, we would still have money left on that gift card, but not enough for another meal. So, we just decided to leave the balance of the card to our server. He was very likable, and very good at waiting tables. Judging from the rest of the crowd at that restaurant and the number of wine glasses at most of their tables, ours probably wasn't the biggest tip of his shift, but hopefully it was a pleasant surprise.
Saturday we went to the temple and our friends drove their minivan. They waited while we did a session, and then we hung out with their three boys while they did a session. We had so much fun. And the trip didn't seem quite as long. We love going to the temple, especially when it works out for us to go with friends.
Sunday we caught a flight to Phoenix to meet up with my family for my brother's baseball tournament. Should be fun. Check back next week for all the details.
And that's what we did this weekend!
Go to the board!
She and the other office staff went there for lunch not too long ago, and she said the food was good. But the biggest reason we went there for dinner was because it wasn't going to cost us anything.
We put our names on the waiting list at about 7:15pm. They said it would be about half an hour, so we walked across the street to Crate & Barrel to kill some time. We took a quick tour of the first floor and headed back. When we got back to the lobby, Brookie made sure to tell them that we were back.
And this is where the fun really starts.
Anyone who has ever been a server at a restaurant (especially a popular one) has probably experienced what I am about to explain: Every so often, despite your best efforts, a party comes in and everything goes wrong for them. From the moment they step in the restaurant to the time they sign the merchant's copy of the credit card receipt, nothing seems to go right. And the scary part, being the server, is that you're pretty sure the tip they leave isn't going to be very good—which doesn't seem all that fair because most of the issues were totally outside of your control.
It was almost an hour later when we asked if our name was coming up soon. The hostess was 'shocked and awed' that our name had been crossed off. She apologized and told us that we would be the next to be seated. A few minutes later a manager came and grabbed some menus and led us to our booth, apologizing multiple times for the mix up along the way.
Our server was very nice. He came and introduced himself and took our drink orders. I had a regular lemonade and Brookie, after our server's glowing description of their strawberry lemonade, decided to have one of those. Unfortunately when he came back to our table, he had some bad news. They were completely out of strawberry lemonade, and had made her a raspberry lemonade instead. He felt even worse because of how much he had talked it up. He left our drinks and left us to look over the menu a little bit more.
Before he came back, I saw that the manager grabbed him and told him that we had been skipped and had been waiting to eat for some time. When he came to take our orders he said that he heard that there had been a little mix up, apologized, and said that we must be hungry. We ordered the Bruschetta, and he told us what an 'excellent' choice that was. I had seen it at another table, and it looked really good. Brookie ordered some penne pasta with grilled chicken, and I ordered a pepperoni pizza with crimini mushrooms and garlic.
Unfortunately, he came back a few moments later, apologizing, because they were also out of the Bruschetta. Not a big deal for us. After all, we were in a great mood because we had a gift card. After a few more suggestions on appetizers and another glance at the menu, we ordered ravioli filled with rib-eye meat and a bunch of other fancy stuff inside and on top. It was really good—and quite different than most anything else we'd ever eaten.
The rest of our meal went very smoothly. Brookie enjoyed her pasta, and I had one of the best pizzas I've had in a long time. Our server brought out the dessert tray, but we decided not to order it. The longer we looked at the cheesecake, Dutch apple pie, and the pastry-wrapped brownie covered in strawberry sauce (I'm drooling just thinking about that one again), the fuller we felt.
When he brought our check he told us that his manager had taken off our appetizer as a good-will gesture for the mix up with the waiting list. We were really impressed. But that posed a small problem for us: without the appetizer, we would still have money left on that gift card, but not enough for another meal. So, we just decided to leave the balance of the card to our server. He was very likable, and very good at waiting tables. Judging from the rest of the crowd at that restaurant and the number of wine glasses at most of their tables, ours probably wasn't the biggest tip of his shift, but hopefully it was a pleasant surprise.
Saturday we went to the temple and our friends drove their minivan. They waited while we did a session, and then we hung out with their three boys while they did a session. We had so much fun. And the trip didn't seem quite as long. We love going to the temple, especially when it works out for us to go with friends.
Sunday we caught a flight to Phoenix to meet up with my family for my brother's baseball tournament. Should be fun. Check back next week for all the details.
And that's what we did this weekend!
Go to the board!
That pastry-wrapped brownie sounds amazing! I'll have to try to recreate that one. Hmmm, have you noticed that every time I comment it seems to be about food?
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