Saturday, March 29, 2008

Chuck E. Cheese's Outback Steakhouse


OK, call me a cranky old man.
I just like to enjoy a good meal in a restaurant with a minimum of annonyance and distraction.
Maria brought home a gift certificate for the local Outback Steakhouse yesterday and we decided to use it immediately.
Like many other restaurants in this "dry" county, Outback Steakhouse has two sections - one for the general non-drinking public and the other designated as a "private club" in which you pay a $5 annual membership fee and can have all of the beer, wine and liquor you can stand.
Since I enjoy a beer with my dinner, we opted for the club side, noticing that it was probably three or four times the size of the "public" part of the restaurant. It was a 20-25-minute wait for a table on the club side, while the wait was considerably shorter on the public side.
But I'm glad to wait longer if it means I don't have to dine with people who are OK with laws restricting my right to a beer with my dinner.
Shortly after being seated, we noticed the local "Balloon Lady" making funny hats, animals and other shapes from her pouch of balloons. She was working the big family tables across the aisle from us and her specialty seemed to be long balloon swords to put into the hands of young boys.
A few minutes later one family cleared out and were replaced by another group with four young boys. In short order, she outfitted each with a balloon sabre and guess what happened.
Yep.
The boys started dueling with each other from their seats, flailing away wildly.
Now, I expect that kind of crap at Chuck E. Cheese's where the basic premise is to let kids run amok. But it's not what I care to see when I'm dropping $50+ on a couple of dinners.
What the hell are they thinking, letting the Balloon Lady crank up the chaos?
To her great credit, one of the moms quickly confiscated the balloon swords, and order was restored.
So the Balloon Lady moved to the next table where she fashioned bizarre headpiece for a teenage boy who was celebrating his birthday with his family. That's when I shot this picture with my cell phone camera.
As far as the food went, Maria's steak was excellent. The three steamed lobster tails I ordered tasted like they had been too long out of the ocean and what should have been drawn butter was just melted butter, or maybe even margarine.
And both of my beers were only slightly below room temperature. I took the waiter up on his offer of a frosty mug, but he came back from the bar empty handed, explaining that all of the mugs just came out of the dishwasher and were still hot.
Whatever.

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