 Fleming's
All this talk of being disappointed with a restaurant made me think of the last time I was actually surprised that the dining experience turned out to be far better than I thought it would be.
About two years ago, the last time my DH and I got a weekend away from the kids, we went to Birmingham for some banquet for his work. After the traditional rubber chicken lunch with potato flavored rosemary (I think they managed to get an entire rosemary bush into my serving) we went to the hotel room and planned an evening out. When we are all by ourselves he likes to treat me to the best steak dinner he can find. The concierge recommended Fleming’s Steak House. We’d never heard of Fleming’s and knew nothing about it, but since it was located near prime shopping (my husband’s favorite sport) we decided to go there.
We thought it was going to be just another chain steak house, mediocre at best. It wasn’t and we were impressed.
The food was excellent, really, really good. But that wasn’t the best part. The service was out of this world. We joked that the wait staff had been genetically engineered in test tubes to be that good.
I was pregnant at the time and wanted to order the cheese for dessert. Since they rotated what was on the cheese tray it didn’t list what was on it on the menu. Pregnant women can’t eat certain types of cheese and so I needed to know exactly what was on it before I ordered it. The waiter brought out the wine and cheese manager, who gave me an uber complete rundown on the cheese (he might have actually been on a first name basis with the cows who produced the milk) and then he comped it to us! I don’t know if it was because I was pregnant or if he was just happy to see someone who loved cheese.
Either they bugged the table or the waiter had a bionic ear, we talked about going to see a movie at the theater across the street (no kids meant we didn’t have to watch cartoons, big excitement for us) the waiter quietly and with out fanfare brought us a print out of what was playing at the theater. Never intrusive just totally anticipating our every need.
It was just very nice. The décor was warm, inviting and chic. We felt like we had had a very intimate dinning experience.
Back then they didn’t have too terribly many locations across the country (I visited their web-site when we got home, I never do that.) They have more now. Sadly there aren’t any near me that wouldn’t require booking a hotel room.
I know it has been awhile since we were there and it could have gone down hill since then, but if that one visit was the chain’s example of a standard of excellence if I’m ever near one again, I’ll go. They are owned by a big corporate entity that also owns Outback and some other places.
Has anyone else ever been to a Fleming’s?  | 
