Tuesday, December 21, 2010

when you go out to eat...

are your expectations met or are you left hungry and sad?

Yesterday, I had some shopping to do.  It was also my nephews 10th birthday.  My niece wanted to go to a sit down nicer type place to eat ...I am game for that because it is not that often that I go out to a sit down place to eat so apparently my expectations are way to high. 

we went to Chili's  and I have been to this particular place twice and BOTH times it was NOT good.
this time I could not even eat the food it was so bad. 

THREE of us ordered rib eye steaks... My nieces ordered them medium well... I ordered mine medium.  They both got french fries I got the sides that come with ... loaded mashed potato's and broccoli.

Theirs apparently were good and how they ordered them. Savannah ate all of hers,   Kerrie ate most took the rest home... Martha had soup and salad and ate most of it.  Brenner ate his corn dog... BUT, POOR ME... sigh

My potato's were tasteless rubbery and cold so I asked for some butter... that started the fiasco... they were out of butter and could only offer garlic butter YUK... the toast that comes with was so soggy from the veggies that it was inedible... and my medium rib eye was a piece of well done shoe leather.

We went late it was 130 so the place was not packed... it took our poor server girl over 10 minutes to bring us our drinks after we ordered them... Martha and Kerrie got appetisers which both were good but SLOW coming...

I was rather appalled that they had no butter so the girl got the manager.  He of course asked me if there was ANYTHING I would like to have different but ,see the thing to me is when you go in with your family you want to eat at the same time and since I had had a crappy steak there before and WAITED the 30 minutes and made my family wait long after they had finished eating for me to eat I simply did not want to do that again.  plus I just lost my appetite. 

The manager came over three times and my nieces specially Kerrie finally lost it laughing ... because I was not mad and told him I was not  however I was SAD and told him that too... but even I had to laugh when he said mam we don't put butter in our potato's and before I could engage brain mouth filter I said ... maybe you should then they would taste better.

Finally after chewing 10 minutes on the shoe leather I gave up and had them take my plate away... needless to say I was not charged for it but, I am still somewhat sad and I was DARN hungry when I cooked supper last night I made Chicken and rice and Mac and cheese (for Brenner ) but there was enough for Michael Savannah and I to have all we wanted too ! 

I realised when eating supper that maybe my expectations are just too high and it ruins the eating out thing for me because I know I can cook much better and I do believe in that type of place I could improve parts of their menu LOL...

Now to the more funner stuffs  When we went out yesterday I stopped to get gas and told Martha to go inside and get Brenner some lotto tickets for his Birthday ...she got 10.00 worth of scratchers.  When I gave them to him he was soooo cute he said Aunt Laura are they winners?  I laughed and said I sure hope so.  So he gave them to his momma to hold and while we were waiting at that place above... we taught him how to scratch them off as he had never before.

 If you click to embiggen you will see he won 50.00 on this one and he also won 15.00 more on another :)
he was thrilled :)  when I told Michael last night he laughed and said two things...
1. I need to buy him some tickets
2. I have ruined the child forever cause he may be disappointed next time he has some tickets

Martha, Savannah, and I ended up going to Academy Sports, Rue 21, Old navy, Bed bath and beyond and Walmart then it was time for Martha to go to work and me to come cook Brenner's Mac and cheese and of course supper.  Savannah Cracked Michael up when we were eating and she looked up and said I am eating here from now on. :)

about 8 ish I took Savannah  home and took Brenner his mac & cheese and went to have some birthday cake... then came home and watched some TV then called my Aunt.

While we were talking I wrapped the stuff I had bought and started digging in the closet hunting something and found the Big Rubbermaid things full of Christmas stuff I had bought after Christmas several years back... and I decided to see if the little tree I had made would fit on the roll top desk ...

 It fit perfectly... My Aunt has One I made thats, what made me go look for it, and Martha had picked one and taken it home with her
 I see I need to straighten my pictures up HA HA
 then I started hanging some garlands
 wrapped presents and there are only a couple things left to get... stephanies gift certificate for uniforms and soft peppermint candy for Lori :)

at 5 pm taking Martha to work the moon was HUGE so I handed her my camera and told her to get some shots they actually turned out pretty good I think I like the trees she captured with it.  *remember you can click to embiggen any and see great details.*

 it was really pretty dreary out

 I think the one above is my favorite.

I went to bed at 2 am... and of course woke at 6 when Michael left for work... OHHHHH AND
He told me last night that he  had gone yesterday and PICKED ME OUT SOMETHING all by himself...THIS IS HUGE PEOPLE REALLY HUGE :)  He spoils me to a point that I am HARD to shop for so for him to go pick something out all on his loney is GREAT and makes me Happy....

Oh one other thing... just so you are not deceived... NO I am still not in the mood or happy with things but I do believe that sometimes faking it will eventually make it ...and I did promise to try :)
Love Hugs and happy Tuesday to you all.

8 comments:

Tracy DeLuca said...

I have high expectations when we go out to eat. Steven is a chef so I know what is possible in a kitchen! LOL I always tell my server straight out that I am demanding but tip well if I am happy. Then I tip accordingly. If my server does a great job they get a great tip. If not, no more than 10%. I WILL complain and send back food and make them do things over. I WILL speak to a manager. I WILL be a bitch. I am paying my money for the experience as well as the food and it had better be good! LOL

Jenna says my name and picture are up in all the restaurants around as someone nit to piss off! *giggle*

mARTHA said...

ohwee--->Just so everyone knows I WAS THERE- I TASTED THAT YUCKY STUFF...tasted meaning it entered my mouth and exited my mouth. certain things are just not meant to be swallowed...the toast was inedible and mom likes her steak medium--->its just not that hard. as a server i tip servers who i feel are on my caliber very well-others...fifty cent to a dollar per person because even if its a crappy service the service was still rendured-plus sometimes we just get super busy and its not an easy job dealing with a needy complaining table of folks-but...the place was DEAD. ten minutes for sweet teas is ridiculous and then it was old sweet tea and my lemon came after my glass was empty. tink tink tips walk away just as easily as dissatisfied customers.
ick-anyways...
the holidays are what you make them. make them happy and so it will be. see your glass half empty and refills will be charged for-period.
The baby will be here soon-dont think ima make it another week---if she gets anylower inside me she's gonna fall out. :)
Love to everyone-MJ

Debbie said...

I also have high expectations. I don't want to pay the high prices and be disappointed!

Glad you are sort of getting in the spirit and you have up just enough decorations to do that.

I'm still anxiously awaiting the birth of Halo!!!!

joanne said...

we rarely go out anymore to eat. I hate paying the high prices and then being disappointed by the service and the food. It just isn't fun anymore...I must be aging!
Those pics are fantastic...great job M...;j

Bluebird49 said...

I have high expectations, but seldom get what I want. Tonight I ordered a mdeium rare Filet Migon--I got med well; my husband ordered a medium rare rib-eye--and his was perfect! I think they started cooking the filet when they started his ribeye and it got too done. I didn't complain--hubby had already started eating his. I had to ask the waiter to bring the bread, then he didn't bring the bread plates until I asked. Honestly, I don't know why we tipped him 25%---just because it was Christmas, I guess. I did ask for my dessert to bring back to the hotel room, and he threw that in for free---of course, HE didn't have to pay for that anyway. He didn't write anything down---and it showed, but he was a 'big man' and thought he knew everything. Oh well--at least we had butter! And the sweet potato fries and banana chutney dip for them were both good.

We enjoyed being together eating, cause we don't get away much, so we just didn't let it bother us; he was attentive, but just didn't really "have it together". He coudln't help that my steak wasn't cooked right, I figured.

Love your little tree--you've really gotten busy, huh! I've never won more than a dollar on a scratch ticket--WOW--he WILL be spoiled!

Anonymous said...

Ha! You are a great mom and grandmom Laura. The tree is adorable! you made that? I am impressed..

now about Chili's. I have NEVER had a good meal there. We have lots of sit down places here, my favorites are Red Lobster and Texas Roadhouse. you never get a bad meal at either of them.

Hey, next time go to Cracker Barrel! We dont have them here, I really miss them.

Chris H said...

MERRY CHRISTMAS MY friend... I love you very much, even though we have never met in person. One day I hope we do!
When is MJ due??? I keep expecting to see baby photos on your blog!

Mental P Mama said...

Baby Halo is gonna be here soon! I cannot wait to see what your Christmas surprise is!!!