The Worst Dinner Out Ever and Cedric Meets Cedric

OK, so every Friday night Michele and I go out for dinner. It's a tradition we started several years ago, and Cedric has done nothing to change it. :-)

This past Friday night, Michele and I, though, had the single worst night out ever. Oh, we've had some bad food (I'm looking at you T.G.I. Friday's), but this was different.

The evening starts out with Michele picking me up at work downtown. She'd gone to the zoo with Cedric and so was nearby. Yippee! No Light Rail needed!

I jump behind the driver's seat and we head off to Cheeeeeeeeeeeeeesecake Factory at the Park Meadows Mall. Yummm! Well, first, some dude nearly hits me when we turned into the same lane at the same time. The Honda has never been so close to imperfection, but after a stressful and trafficy drive all the way south, we were at our favorite restaurant.

We wait around for about 10 minutes, with an edgy Cedric, for the table. We hear a weird noise, but not sure what it is. The waitress comes by and says her usual and then says, "Excuse the noise, but the power is out and we're running on a generator." Oh. Weird. Yeah, so the droning noise is a generator. Uh...OK?

We get some bread (and oh baby it's good) and eventually order. After a while, the waitress comes by and says, "I've just been told that the kitchen is closed. They can't run the equipment. All we're serving is cold food - sandwiches, salads, etc."

NOOOOOOOOOO! I was literally (OK, not literally) *DYING* for the Factory Meatloaf. Uggg! OK, OK. Well, how bad could maybe a turkey sandwich be?

I shoulda thought better. Michele had already ordered a start salad and we'd scarfed bread. We had to stay, right? Well, we shoulda left.

The manager comes by and repeats what was said. Apparently, a transformer had blown outside and a witness reported what sounded like "a gunshot." OK, OK. Let's order the Turkey Club.

So, the waitress comes back and I say, "We'll each have the Turkey Club." Michele does her usual and orders hers with all the good stuff off: lettuce, tomato, cheese, bacon. SERIOUSLY, who asks for no bacon?

Michele does. :-P But, I get off track...

So, we're waiting for our new and less than optimal order when the lights suddenly grow dim and a couple of groans come from our right. Apparently, the LIGHTS HAVE GONE OUT in the KITCHEN. The TV's went out and these weird emergency lights were trying to come on. They rotated in their cases on the ceiling but had some power trouble. The sound was scary. I was literally waiting for the lights to black out.

I was totally waiting for the waitress to come over and say ixnay on the club-ay, but never happened. Eventually, they brought the sandwich out. Wait? Just one? Yes, the waitress got the order wrong as well. They brought out ONE sandwich, without the stuff Michele didn't want -- but, randomly, TOMATO! Some weird hybrid of an order. Oh, and the bread wasn't toasted.

Yeah, and since I couldn't get fries, I had to get casesar salad. *sigh*

We decided it was just unappetizing enough that we'd just go ahead and have the one sandwich. It was huge, and who was interested in buying another $12 sandwich at this point? It was thoroughly unappetizing.

During the meal, the lights flickered some more and the emergency lights were going in an out. Everyone in the place was constantly looking at the ceiling, prolly with the same idea I had, "When is the ceiling gonna cave in?"

Ambulances and fire engines were showing up, too. What a crappy night. And to top it off, they did nothing to the check. Charged full price. Lame, Cheesecake Factory, LAME!

...

To make up for it, we went out to Toast Saturday morning, the great little breakfast eatery here in Littleton -- hey, we have something! Breakfast was excellent, but we had the most fun when we got the bill. Our waiter's name was Cedric. :-)

Michele told him and he got a kick out of it. They were quick pals. It helped that Cedric smiled at him the whole time, too. :-)