the extra "ingredient"

I love to eat out. We used to eat out a lot more when we were DINKS (dual income no kids). We'd drive to Greensboro and eat at Carrabba's, Olive Garden, Outback, you know, nice restaurants. Now our idea of a nice restaurant is one where we can all eat for under $15 and don't have to leave a tip. Places we frequent include Arby's, Chick-Fil-A (that one will never get old), and Sir Pizza (a small chain).

Now it makes complete sense why, when we were little, the only place where we ate out was Po' Folks!

Before I digress any further, let me get to the point of this post.

The plan was to take mom to a special "expensive" restaurant for Mother's Day. I won't name said restaurant but I will say it was/is in Charlotte. I think I was probably no older than 12 or 13 which would make my brother around 10ish.

We sat down at our table, placed our drink orders and perused the menu. I probably ordered chicken fingers and fries or something just as healthy. My brother placed an order for a personal cheese pizza (it probably had some other toppings that I can't remember), followed by everyone else's orders. We waited a normal amount of time, received our food, then bowed our heads to pray. Following the "amen" was a quiet gasp from my mother. She said (in a very calm voice), "Daniel, don't eat your pizza." Now, if you're going to tell a prepubescent male not to eat, there better be a darn good reason. This particular "reason" had two black antenna poking out from under a layer of cheese. Clearly, the extra ingredient had been added prior to the baking process and the brick oven had simply sealed its fate.

I think my response went something like this: "Eeeewww. Gag me with a spoon."

Daniel was simply without words. I think he considered passing out. He was kind of squeamish as a kid.

My mother promptly reported this unfortunate incident to the wait staff who promptly sent the manager to our table. The manager was totally embarrassed and apologetic. He was even generous enough to offer to refund Daniel's meal and offer us free dessert. Wow, so generous. My brother could have died from eating a baked roach and you want to offer us free dessert? Do you really think we want to continue to eat food after seeing that? Yah...thanks for coming out.

We finished eating (somehow), and left the restaurant. I have yet to return. My mother, however, says its under "new management" and has been back several times. She reports that the food is "very good". I bet she has yet to order a personal pizza.

I would love to hear your dining out mishaps. Do tell.