Let's Go To Dinner

Downtown McKinney is very quaint.  It’s a historic square with vintage shops, artsy-fartsy galleries and it comes alive with a music and bar scene in the evenings.  Our big anniversary celebration began with a hiccup when the restaurant we made reservations at sucked for the last and final time I’m going to try to patronize this place.  I continue to try to have a good experience at this restaurant because the food and atmosphere are amazing.  It has amazing outdoor seating, a gorgeous fountain, tons of romantic twinkle lights, a live band on weekends and the food is really good.  The service however, is awful and has been every single time I have tried to eat or even just have drinks there.   I had made reservations for 7:30.  I adjusted the time of the reservation so we could be seated near the fountain.  We arrived, the 2 hostesses looked to be about 16 and we were barely acknowledged as we approached the hostess stand.  Jason told them we had reservations and gave his name.  They then pecked around on their computer screen, grabbed 2 menus and one began walking.  We just assumed we were to follow her; no one really spoke to us.  As we enter an area of outdoor seating, I can already tell she’s walking us to a table that is really going to hack me off if I discover it’s intended for us.  It was the table furthest back, closest to the restaurant, not near the fountain and closest to the server’s entrance so we would constantly be being walked by and getting whacked with trays of food.  I made reservations specifically to avoid this.  Indeed the table was intended for us.  We sit and debate asking to be moved as soon as we see the hostess again.  A pretty good while passes and no server ever comes to our table.  We finally grab the hostess walking by and asked to be moved and she basically blew us off by mumbling something while walking away.  I’m a very “I want what I want when I want it” kind of girl.  All or nothing so…  I’ll show them!  I snatch up my purse, sling it over my shoulder, grab Jason’s arm and we get up and leave.  I make sure to storm off real good, making sure my heels are click clacking in just the right way, all the way dragging Jason behind me like whipped golden retriever.  My service at this place, even when I did get a waiter, has always been deplorable but the place is always jam packed.  I guess there’s a lot to be said for food and atmosphere.  What-eves.  Café Malaga:  We’re done.

Here’s where the problem comes in…  I said downtown McKinney is quaint.  I didn’t say large.  There are a handful of restaurants to choose from and if you don’t have a reservation, you’re screwed.  It will be a minimum hour wait to get a table and good luck getting a seat at the bar to wait for said table to open up.  We moved on to “Sauces” and it was the standard hour wait.  We put our names on the list and went to the bar.  We waited….and waited….and waited.  No bartender ever took a drink order.  After an extended period of time, a random woman comes and takes our drink order.  I asked if they had a blush wine and she said:  “Uuuuum, we have white zinfandel?”  *Eye roll.  We wait….and we wait….and we wait….  She never brings drinks.  We get up and leave.  By this point I’m in a crazed, almost belligerent state and holding myself back from grabbing random strangers on their way in, while I’m on my way out to say:  “DON’T DO IT!!  SAVE YOURSELVES!!!”  I am walking out of the restaurant aimlessly, cursing the day McKinney was founded and everyone who resides in it and I need a drink somethin’ bad.  Jason is just following me trying to talk me down.  He immediately turns into “the negotiator” and comes at me much like the strategy we’ve seen used between “the negotiator” and the armed gunman on episodes of “Dallas SWAT”  “Misty honey, step out of the dark place.  Come back to me.  Breathe.  Let’s say to hell with eating dinner and let’s just go get wasted.”  DEAL. 

Finally we pass the Landon Winery.  Awe, the winery.  Every single table is full except one 2-top tucked away right in front of the band.  I’ll take it.  At this point, sitting outside on the sidewalk with a glass of white zinfandel was looking appealing to me, ya know….  If I could just get someone to take my cockadoodie drink order!!  We sit, we order wine and try to get into a better disposition.  After a little time passes I notice a group with a prime table stirring.  They’re about to leave, I can tell!  I immediately send Jason over to stalk it.  I stay seated in case we don’t get it and then lose our current crappy table.  BOOM!  He gets the table and I come running.  The mood shift is happening!!  The band was good, the wine began to flow and Jason’s phone goes off and it’s “Sauces” saying our table is ready.  We agree we’ve decided to drink our dinner.  Go to hell “Sauces”.  We were seated near some cool folks who were friendly and talkative.  Jason went to the bathroom at one point and an older gentlemen seated close to us decided he wanted to talk to me.  It was mentioned that we were out celebrating our anniversary and he said we were a lovely couple and he’s in the middle of a divorce from a 35 year marriage.  That immediately intrigued me and I scooted closer because my nosy self was going to get THAT story.  I asked him:  “You put in 35 years and you quit now?  Do you miss her?”  He informed me he’d checked out about 10 years earlier but was just hanging around and going through the motions on account of his daughter.  Apparently his daughter has stopped speaking to him over the divorce.  Jason returned and I introduced them and discovered he’s a high school economics teacher.  We discussed marriage, kids today and their lack of respect and lots of other stuff but it got a little wine soaked so ya know…  We wrapped it up and agreed we’d enjoyed meeting each other and had enjoyed the conversation.  This morning I couldn’t help but wake up and look over at Jason and say:  “How do you know you’re not going to just wake up 35 years down the road and want out?”  He first knew that chance meeting was going to provoke me to ask him that very question.  He second answered correctly:  “I just won’t”.