Comedic Restaurant Parodies!~

[deltadoc]

Ok, so three times we got coupons from Macaroni Grill to buy two entrees and get an appetizer of your choice free. So the wife has to drive right by there on her way home from work, so we started using the coupons for take-out.

The first time, the crab-meat stuffed portabella appetizer had crab meat smelled like it washed up on shore. Couldn't eat it, but it was free, so we just enjoyed the rest of the meal which was outstanding.

The second time, we tried the artichoke dip appetizer (artichokes, spinach and shrimp, topped with mozz and browned under the broiler, served with crispy thin slice parmesan cheese bread). But it was ice cold, and had instructions for heating it up for 30 minutes in the oven. Well, not gonna do that because my entrees would be cold by then, so we just ate it cold, even though the menu says "Hot artichoke dip".

The third time, we tried it again, and the wife specifically asked them to make sure it was hot this time. It was great although the amounts between the first time and the second time were noticeably less. Didn't really matter cause there was plenty to eat. I got the lobster stuffed tarragon pasta ravioli in lemon butter sauce with chopped tomatoes, asparagus and shrimp. Excellent. But when I was finished and reached for the rosemary bread loaf, there was none included with the meal!!

Ok, I'm callin' the manager and let him know that "strike three" three separate take-out orders and somethings wrong with each and every one of them, whatcha gonna do for me about this?! (in a very friendly manner of course).

Guy turns out he was a very eloquent writer which we could tell by the letter he wrote to apologize and was accompanied by $25 in coupons. He also asked that we introduce ourselves next time we come in so he "could associate a face with the voice over the telephone".

So, next time the wife went in, she introduced herself, and he comped the whole meal! $47.00!

So, today, me and my friend went there for lunch. Been dreamin' for 3 days about that artichoke dip appetizer. We asked for the manager, and explained why I was asking, because he asked me to ask to introduce myself. Well he wasn't in.

So, the manager that was in, Tammy I think it was, comes out, and she's kneeling by our table and we're chattin' all three of us during most of the meal. Especially her! When I got to thinkin' about it, I had immediately noticed that my lobster stuffed ravioli didn't look the same as when I got it in an aluminum take-out dish. It finally dawned on me to ask the manager, "Isn't the ravioli supposed to be stuffed with lobster?" And she said "Absolutely". So I showed her the three remaining ravioli, and they were flat. No stuffing whatsoever. She exclaimed "My goodness, they're flat, I think you deserve some more!".

So she disappears for the longest time, and I joked with my friend "I bet she found that all of them were unstuffed." What is really funny, is that whilst we were talking with her during most of the meal, I was telling her about all the wrong things that I had experienced with the take-out from them, and all the other restaurant episodes over the last 30 years. And believe me, there's been a lot of episodes!!

So, while I'm talking all about how restaurants seem to just have it in for me, I'm eating a lobster stuffed ravioli dinner with no stuffing in the ravioli!

The comedic parody is that I just started a very strict diet a week and a half ago, and suddenly she appears with a complete new dish of Lobster stuffed ravioli. I mean these suckers were almost an inch thick with stuffing!

So all my diet progress over the last 10 days has just been reversed in one fell swoop of a meal.

But boy was it delicious!
doc

[Mezzaluna]

Great story, Doc! Too bad your diet progress was waylaid, but you did make good points on insisting that you get what you pay for. In cases like this I don't sweat the mistakes unless they don't "make it right".

I've seen locations of chain but had the impression that it was to Italian food what Taco Bell is to Mexican food. Maybe I'll give it a try next time we've got it as a dining choice. If your location's customer service ethic is the corporate ethic (at least in terms of customer satisfaction), maybe it's worth a try.

[shel]

Some years ago my then GF and I went to a local ice cream parlor. The service was bad, the place was dirty, and the staff didn't seem to give a rat's patoot about any of those things. When we went to pay our bill, Janet complained and the schmuck behind the counter said, "Mind your own business. Whaddaya, own the place?" Janet said yes, she did, and showed the jerk her driver's license to substantiate who she was. The name on the license was the name on the sign over the door. It was her family's ice cream parlor! <ROTFLMAO>

Shel

[shroomgirl]

umpteen years ago I was co-chair of a professional culinary group's holiday party. The other chair and I met at a high end restaurant with the owner to discuss arrangements for the party. We started talking about pastry chefs in town and I mentioned that "shroomgirl (only my real name) makes wonderful blah blah", he said he didn't know who that was.....so I winked at my co-chair buddy and said since she was a personal chef it'd be difficult to try her products unless he hired her. This would not have been so funny except I'd introduced myself prior to the discussion and had talked to him several times prior to the meeting.