well, the first 4 letters of 'waitress' ARE 'wait'...

Today is the day I could sleep in, which is probably why I'm up at 6:34am.

Last night we went out to dinner with some friends. It was a new restaurant for all of us, although my parents have been many times and continually sing its praises.

We get there promptly at 8pm for our reservations. The hostess tells us that she's just delivering the check to the people at our table and that it should just be a minute. The place is packed (what recession?) and when we go inside we notice how uncomfortably warm the little restaurant is.

Due to how tiny the two rooms of the restaurant are, we wait outside on the back deck. It's a nice night, and we have some catching up to do.

At about 8:15pm, one of the servers comes over and tells us that our table contains "older women" who a are a little slow when it comes to leaving. We give him the fake 'no problem' laugh, then talk about him and how hungry we are the minute he walks away.

Now, as an aside, I must tell you that I'm trying to lose maybe ONE pound before the Philly trip, so I'm doing the Special K diet. Here's the thing about the Special K diet: it probably works because you barely EAT ANY FOOD. All day all I've had is two bowls of cereal and two Special K bars. So I'm STARVING as I'm waiting to "eat your usual dinner". One drink and I'm pretty sure I'll be on the floor.

At 8:23pm, the same server informs us that they are finally setting the table for us. AND, that there's also a table on the front deck in the same stage of clearing if we're interested in that. I'm not a big fan of sweating while I'm eating, so I strongly suggest the outside table. It's a beautiful night, and I'm prepared with a sweater.

At 8:35pm: "We're just setting your table."

Um, weren't you doing that 12 minutes ago?

I'm to the point of delirium, and every other sentence out of my mouth is "I'm so hungry."

FINALLY at 8:40pm we are brought to our table.

There are 4 of us.

The table has 3 chairs.

Three place settings.

Three water glasses.

Three menus.

Mr. KK stands while the rest of us sit. They are in no rush to grab him a chair.

Finally our waitress comes over, and Mr. KK and I order drinks (negroni for him, pomegranate martini for me) and our friends order a bottle of wine.

The wine arrives, no drinks.

The waitress comes back at 9:15 to tell us the specials. No drinks.

Finally, at 9:30pm – an hour and a half after our reservation time – our drinks arrive, we place our order, and we toast to finally getting together.

To add insult to injury? Our waitress was falling over herself for the table behind us, that got seated right about when we put our dinner order in. She's visited them at least four times, asking if they want another round of drinks, bringing a tray of forks for their entrees after they've cleared their salad plates and flatware (we had to ask for forks. twice).

The worst part? I wasn't even thrilled with my meal.