My Weekend -- Trying to Get a Meal Edition

While this weekend was a big one, I never had so many problems just trying to get a meal! Honestly, with my own rush (see Friday), poorly managed crowd control (see Saturday), and just plain front-of-house customer service failure (see Sunday), I felt like I had to work much too hard to actually eat out this weekend.

Friday night: Popped into Mo's to meet a couple of pals with every intention of ordering dinner. But after running into more people, a having a few more drinks, and chatting up a storm, I, um, forgot. It was horrible, too, since I ended up with a stale, sad chicken sandwich from McDonald's on my way home.

Saturday night: Locals said Bonge's Tavern was more crowded than they'd seen in years, and with the 90 degree temps and clear skys I couldn't blame folks for wanting to come out and enjoy this Indiana institution. And it showed. We waited a record *4 hours* for our tables (and they still had to break the 12 of us up at different tables.) Luckily, most of that waiting time was passed with cold beers and a few snacks in a friend's home just down the road as opposed to the parking lot, but, as happens, by the time we were seated, it was noisy, crowded, and slow -- and we were hungry. We didn't order until ten o'clock and didn't eat until eleven. And while our meal was good, the enjoyment decreased proportionally to how long we waited. The stars? The elk lasagna, strip steak, and walleye. The chocolate sugar creme cake with sour cherries would have been lovely if we weren't exhausted and cranky by the time they tried to offer us dessert. Plus, the rest of our party was ready to leave. I like this place and generally like the food, but what's more crazy is how they've managed to turn a ridiculous wait -- that honestly is a kitchen and service problem -- into a draw. Still, a great way to spend a summer evening and we had plenty of time to catch up with old friends and new.

Sunday morning: To continue the trend, we *tried* to have brunch at Puck's. I say tried because my companion tried to brunch there Saturday but was told they only do "brunch" on Sunday. The person at the IMA desk told her they open at 10:00 a.m. When we arrived, a hostess told us they opened at 11:00 a.m. She neglected to tell us reservations were recommended and that they were booked until 1:30. We didn't find that out until we went *back* to try to have brunch. We settled for a pastry and 1/2 price champagne cocktails at Scholar's Inn (where we laughed about the seafood surprise "specials".)