not my blog

Well the Wife and I went out last night for a evening alone. We had a couple month old Olive Garden gift card I got and decided to go to Bahama Breeze since we had never been there and the gift card is valid their as well. What a pitiful mistake did we ever make.

I must say, the restaurant is beautiful. The design, and atmosphere are both amazing. Beyond that, the experience was bunk. We got there around 7:45PM and were told 15-30 minutes for a table. Not bad considering it was in Towson on a Saturday. Very nominal wait. We go over and sit at the bar and grab some drinks while we wait for our table. Order their house Micro Brew and got the wife a Bombay Sapphire and Tonic. The beer was passable, nothing to write home about, and the Bombay was near perfect. Good, seemed like the night would go well. So I check with the bartendar and confirm that we can move our tab to the table when we get called. Some time passes and we debate just staying at the bar (wish we had at this point), until we are finally called. One of the other bartendars comes up and says “You guys are closing our your tab right?”. I told him, “No” and that I wanted it moved to our table. He then proceeds to tell me that he can’t do that and we have to pay now. I got kinda ticked and said told him whatever, give me the check. $10 for those two drinks, and the Aruba Red beer is some special price like $3-$4. Come on, Bombay is nice and all, but not $6 worth. Strike 1.

So off to the table we go, we get there and Keith our server stops by the table. Asking if we wanted refills. I told him yes since I was at like 1/4 glass at this point. Reorder a Bass Ale since I wasn’t impressed by the Aruba. So off he goes while we peruse the menu. Keith was back two more times after that to check if we were ready and to get our appetizer order. We got some Roasted Cuban Bread, which was actually very tasty. Good choice there on our part. Finally my beer came sometime after Keith took our bread order, but my glass had been empty for at least 5 minutes. Wife ordered their Ultimate Pina Colada at that point as well. Soon after that the Pina Colada came along with our bread. So we finally get to eating (I was starving, hadn’t eaten since noonish). Strike 2 for letting my beer run empty.

Now the table next to us had a pair of couples that looked to be near 40, who spent their entire conversation talking about their sex toys running out of batteries among other disgusting things (the chicks were FAT!) which really just killed any amount of enjoyment for the atmosphere of the restaurant. So I push Keith off a couple times regarding the main course (I hate chain restaurants and their get you out ASAP policies) until we had just about finished the bread. My wife orders the Island Teriyaki Steak and I get the Fresh Ahi Tuna. My wife orders her’s Medium, while I get my Tuna rare (is their any other way?)… I also order brew three at this point. Wife gets a coffee.

I head off to the bathroom to get rid of some of that 40oz of liquid I’ve consumed so far, and find the bathroom very clean and inviting. Small issue though, there are no paper towels (they do not have the blow dryer things). So I leave the bathroom with wet hands. Strike 3.

Food comes at some point later, following small talk and whatnot with the wife (beer and coffee arrived while I was in the bathroom). The presentation is quite good, and I look forward to enjoying the meal. First thing I do is steal some of the mash potatoes off my wife’s plate. They were really good. Good sign. Time to dig into the Tuna… which looks perfect, just seared on the outside and good and red on the inside. Then I take a bite… OMG… it’s ice cold. I’ve eaten tuna a million times and never had my rare Tuna taste like it just came out the fridge. My wife starts to eat her steak and notices that it ended up pretty much Well Done. We pay almost $40 just for the entrees and neither one of which ends up being very good at all, mostly due to kitchen issues it seems. My Tuna probably ended up cold cause it had to sit and wait for my wife’s steak (which they over cooked). Strike 4.

So finally the bill comes, we pay and leave. Overall for the night with Drinks + Food + Tax/Tip we ended up paying almost $90 for the night. Which amazes me, I’ve never been one to be bothered by paying for good food and service (I’ve tip 50% on a $100 bill before because the service was that outstanding), but I decidedly did not get $90 of quality from our experience last night. I’d say overall, with everything totalled up, the night was worth maybe $45 plus tips… so maybe $60 total.

This leaves me to say, that I’m just going to stick with the Bill Bateman’s in Parkville, where everyone knows me and I can sit for hours on ended with just water and no one cares, when we want to go somewhere and sit down for dinner, unless we plan on going somewhere nice. It also mean, don’t bother going to Bahama Breeze (at least the one in Towson, MD)… it’s not worth the effort.