The Bermuda Triangle of Bryan
It has been an interesting, and exhausting, night. It began with my roommate asking me if I wanted to go to dinner. Of course I always take advantage of any opportunity to do something rather than nothing, so about when 7:30 rolls around we decide to head out. I had always passed by a place in Bryan that I wanted to try, so we swung by. It was Carney's Pub, and I misread it as Carney's Pub and Grill. It looked promising as we drove by at 40 mph, but we wanted to check out downtown before making any final decisions. And downtown did look very appealing, but there were lines out the door at nearly every place. So, we went back to Carney's. Inside were some middle-aged drunks and a picked over buffet of cold-cuts. Needless to say, this was not what we were looking for. We walked right back out and headed back to downtown. Every place was crowded still; every place but this new restaurant. I didn't catch the name, but there was no crowd, and it looked so warm and welcoming. We went in and waited to be seated, but this is not a place where they seat you. In fact, it isn't a place where you even get your own table. So upon telling us this, the waitress motioned to the one half-empty table in the house. She must have seen the hesitancy on my face and reassured me that we would talk with these strangers and become friends. I wasn't concerned about that. This table, that could probably seat 10 comfortably, had 2 at it: my young project management professor and his date. I felt terribly uncomfortable, and I believe I must have given him an awkwardly concerned smile as I sat. After sitting in silence for a full minute, I motioned to the menus that were at his end of the table and politely asked for them. It was going to be a long dinner...little did I know how long. Half the menu was in German, and there was not one American dish to be seen. That's cool. German food isn't quit my favorite, but I was excited about the prospect of having authentic German cuisine in downtown Bryan. My roommate however, was not. I had ordered a grasshopper, as it was on the menu and is one of my favorites, before we both decided to go somewhere else. 10 minutes of ...some conversation, later, my drink came. Another 20 minutes, after I had finished it, we asked for the bill. The waitress seemed frustrated with us. 15 minutes later we were frustrated with her. Unfortunately, she had disappeared ...just in time to avoid any wrath. When she finally resurfaced and checked on our table she said, "Fuck, I'm an ass. I forgot your bill." I was just tickled to hear that, and my frustrations dissipated completely. My roommate's did not. She asked how much my drink was. "Five and fifty" or something like that. After enduring another few minutes with no bill my roommate put a five on the table. I finished it off, wished my professor a good evening, and we both split. At this point it's just after 9 and we still haven't eaten. Pizza it is. But when we opened the door to Mr. G's the manager yelled at us to come back tomorrow. It was beginning to look hopeless, but then a girl sitting on a bench outside of Mr. G's pointed us to one more restaurant that would be open at this hour. The door of Square One said it closes at 10, and we happily went inside. What a charming little date place. We ordered and chatted and listened to the two men playing guitars and singing in the corner. Suddenly, they began playing 'I Kissed a Girl'. Perhaps they were being nice, catering to us, the only same sex couple in the place. Who knows? But gradually the place started to empty. We began to fear that the fates had conspired against us yet again, and then it happened. About 25 minutes after ordering, our waitress comes up to us to apologize. Apparently she had typed our order into the computer, but it never went through. At this point it was almost more entertaining than irritating. Luckily our food came shortly after so that I could continue to enjoy myself. The rest of the night was uneventful, and we finally ended up getting back home at about 10 till 11.