One evening my girlfriend and I decided to go to a local brewery restaurant that we had been to many times before for a romantic evening out. But what we didn’t realise was that a band was going to be practising their rock and roll in the dining hall next door.
My girlfriend and I were holding hands across the table and were just about to kiss when there was suddenly this almighty noise. And then all the surfaces started to shake. The band next door were playing their music so loud it was causing an earthquake. Our drinks and plates were slowly moving across the table from the vibrations. The music was really loud and I could barley hear what my girlfriend was saying. We nearly jumped out of our skins when the band started to blast their music. Even the staff standing behind the bar had their hands over their ears and trying to stop the glasses and bottles from falling off the counter and shelves. Even when you stood up you could feel the floor shaking. We had to yell to each other for the rest of the evening as the band never stopped playing once. When we got up to leave I was sure some of the furniture had moved around a bit and it took a while for the ringing in our ears to go away.
Tagged as:
romance
Hey Dev,
I am going to propose to my girlfriend soon and I would like to do it while we are at a romantic restaurant we are thinking of going to on her 21st. However I am quite unsure about how to do it. I don’t just want to open the box over the table and ask the big question; I want to do something a bit more dramatic. Any ideas would be much appreciated.
- Romantic
Dear Romantic,
Dev is still gallivanting in parts unknown, and since you have a time sensitive issue, and since I proposed to my wife in a restaurant myself, I thought as the site’s owner that I’d personally address your question.
First of all I made sure that I selected a restaurant with a romantic ambiance, one that we’d been to before and I knew that she loved. It was dimly lit, quiet, and had excellent food, and the service was performed the way it should be – attentive only when needed. Also, so we could linger, I made sure to select a day and time when servers wouldn’t be under pressure to turn over tables.
I ordered a bottle of my girlfriend’s favorite wine. When she went to the lady’s room, I dropped the engagement ring into her glass of wine. I made sure that the glass was nearly full so she wouldn’t tilt it enough to swallow the ring, plus I kept a constant eye on her whenever she lifted the glass. At first she didn’t notice the ring, then suddenly she stared into the glass and exclaimed, “Oh my God!” I fished the ring out with a clean spoon, wiped it dry, then proposed to her. Gratefully she said “Yes!” I had made previous arrangements with our server to bring a dessert for us to share after dinner, and to say “Congratulations!” It was a memorable proposal, one that we’ll never forget.
I’m not suggesting that you do the same thing, as I don’t want to receive any blame if the ring gets swallowed! But I do want you to be cognizant of the importance of selecting the right restaurant and dining conditions. Maybe some of the visitors to this site will contribute their own suggestions for you.
I wish you the best on your proposal. Please post a comment to let everyone know how it turned out!
Gregg
[Note: Dev is frequently in parts unknown and therefore is often unavailable to answer dining-related questions. Questions may still be submitted to him (askdev@dinnersfromhell.com), but there's no guarantee if or when he'll respond.]
Tagged as:
romance
My girlfriend and I decided to go to a local Italian restaurant that we sometimes go to eat at during our regular evening dates after work. Being in our late teens we try to spend as much time together as possible. It wasn’t my favorite restaurant but it was still okay. When we arrived it hadn’t opened yet so we had a few soft drinks in the bar before passing through to the restaurant.
The problems started almost immediately. We approached a waitress who seemed to be cowering away from us. She was definitely new and very shy from the looks of her. Instead we were taken to a table by another waitress. As we sat down into the very crammed area I heard what sounded like a shriek; I shrugged it off. But a moment later a couple with their teenage son in a wheelchair comes to sit down at the table next to us. The boy was clearly mentally damaged but he wouldn’t shut up yelling. He would constantly yell and shout and throw things around and bang on the table. I was trying to have a romantic evening with my girlfriend but this was impossible due to this shrieking disabled kid next to us.
I know I should be understanding about this but I was loosing my patience fast. When we had finished our meals the bloody kid starts throwing the menus around yelling madly. As we passed I shot the family my coldest glare which seemed to shock the mother as the parents did nothing to stop their son.
Tagged as:
disability,
romance
Last Valentines Day, my boyfriend and I went to a fancy steak house in Charleston, South Carolina. I am a native of the city and I personally knew the chef for a long time. We entered the restaurant and were immediately seated in the Bar area. This is probably one of the busiest nights of the year and I was not going to be seated in the bar for a romantic meal and watch people get drunk all night especially since I made the reservations three weeks in advance.
So, the snooty hostess told us that she had the perfect table for us. She also said that it was the most romantic table in the restaurant. We were ushered to the second floor and then to the third floor and seated outside the seating area at the top of the stairs right by the bathroom in the hallway. I asked the hostess if this was a joke and I told her that I felt like I was at the kids table on holidays.
Our waiter was nice but not helpful. My boyfriend and I decided to spilt a steak because they were apparently so large and suggested that we spilt the steak. When our food arrived, it literally looked like a big eye staring back at us on the plate. It was gone in one bite for both of us. I was so livid at this time and I complained to our waiter.
No one came out and apologized nor did they deduct anything from our meal. They brought us a piece of complimentary chocolate cake and a big tall glass of milk for our dessert. I told the waiter that I did not like chocolate and asked him if the milk was a joke. He said the cake is so rich that the milk will help with the dessert. The last thing that I wanted was milk especially after drinking a bottle of wine.
I really felt like I was in the VISA commercial where the couple found the perfect restaurant, the perfect food and then ended up going to the convenience store afterwards and munched out on junk food which I must admit that we did also…
Tagged as:
food & beverage issues,
holiday,
romance,
server,
snooty
