Great Expectations

Have you ever planned a nice date night with your husband, complete with dinner, dessert & a movie only to have things certainly not go as planned?

With Hubby being out of town the last couple of days & a gift certificate to a great local restaurant burning a hole in our pocket, we made plans for a legitimate date night. Sure, we go out to eat 2-3 times a week but I wouldn't necessarily consider those true date nights.

I came home from work, got all dressed up in a new dress from Francesca's & waited for my Prince Charming to come home. He changed as well & we headed out--all excited for a fabulous dinner & dessert, capped off with a movie on the couch at home. Perfection.

Hubby had made reservations for 6:30 & when we arrived the place was packed. The hostess told us a table was paying their check and would be leaving shortly. Well 35 minutes later, a table is finally ready. Ughh...I know this isn't the restaurant's fault, but this was already not going well.

We sat down at a nice table & checked out the menu. An employee came by and filled our glasses with water & then quickly went on his way. About 10 minutes later, the same employee came by and asked if we would like something to "munch" on. We do order calamari, but at this point we still didn't know who our waiter even was. No offer for something else to drink, no memorized paragraph detailing the night's specials, & no introduction to tell us who would be serving our every need during what was supposed to be a fabulous dining experience. After another 10 minutes and a short discussion of getting up & walking out--the same employee comes over & asks in a monotone, hushed voice..."Are you ready to order now?" OF COURSE WE ARE!!!! Hubby had to ask for a Dr. Pepper without ever being asked by the waiter. Seriously, this is supposed to be our fabulous date night?!?

Our food was certainly great as it has always been at this restaurant, but the waiter had just put a very bad taste in our mouth. We tried to have as little conversation as possible with him as we couldn't understand or hear him with his low-tone mumbling. When he offered dessert, we considered but I opted for a trip to Orange Leaf (our fabulous new frozen yogurt place). Unfortunately the line was out the door & I settled for frozen custard instead. Still good, but not Orange Leaf.

I realize these are all very minor details that went awry, but I had such huge expectations for a romantic night out with my hubby. We headed home, changed into some comfy clothes & found our respective spots on the couch & the recliner. After such a frustrating meal, we were certainly not still in our cuddling, lovey moods!

I just hate it when I build up some experience and create these huge expectations only to be completely disappointed when things don't go exactly as planned. Those great expectations prevented us from laughing off the horrible service & instead created a tense situation that was completely unncessary!

Thankfully, we did cap off the evening with a long, much-needed conversation. That was probably worth all the frustrations of the rest of the evening...I was just hoping to have my cake (or Orange Leaf) and eat it too!