I Shoulda Done That

We decided to go to a nearby town of Bandera for lunch. This is a very small town that claims to be the Cowboy Capital of the World. With just over 900 inhabitants, this claim seems a bit far fetched. Although, every town wants to have some claim to fame. We have visited here several times in the past and enjoyed the pretty drive through the hill country and the excellent barbecue once there. Well, we could not find our favorite restaurant and finally decided that it was now closed and tried a new place, sitting on the patio near the street. As there was a considerable amount of traffic, this was not apparently a good choice, but, we persevered and merely talked louder. We then were asked by the waitress if we wanted any appetizers or something to drink and happily ordered a Texas favorite - Shiner Bock Beer. She returned to inform us that this particular beer was still warm and did we want it over ice or a lot of crushed ice. ( A little voice began to nag inside my head) I do not care for beer over ice nor does HW2. We listened to the other types of cold beer available and ordered frozen margaritas, since we do not care for light beer either. (The little voice kept nagging). The margaritas arrived and had been made from a mix and were quite sweet, but we sipped them and ordered.

I wanted barbecued brisket, and HW2 wanted a medium rare fillet mignon. Sides of salad, vegetables and fries were finally agreed upon. The waitress returned to inform HW2 that they had not made the blue cheese dressing and after some discussion she ordered vinegar and oil, to be told they had raspberry vinegarette. So she ordered ranch (not her favorite). (The voice was nagging much louder now) Salads arrived with ranch dressing and were eaten. The main entree arrived. I was served green beans but had ordered corn. HW2 got a strip steak, not a filet, which was well done and called the waitress over to ask to speakto the manager. She brought out another waitress, who found a small bit of pink and stated, " That is a rare steak, and that is a fillet mignon." Now HW2 does not suffer fools, explaining what a fillet looks like and exactly what rare means and sent the whole thing away. The only satisfaction was to have her part of the order removed from the bill. (talk about the nagging voice now yelling in my head) I was supposed to eat while she sat there. I ate some, ordered a box, and mentioned to the waitress that my beans did not look like corn. She replied, "I said to the chef, "he ordered corn," but he replied we only have beans, take it out there." None of this was her fault for sure. She tried to be a good waitress but was not backed up by the people in the kitchen or other wait staff.

I paid the bill and tipped our waitress. I felt sorry for her. As we left, as is usual for us, we both said in unison,"Why didn't we get up and leave in the beginning?" (THE NAGGING VOICE WAS OUT IN THE OPEN) We drove down through town to discover that the restaurant we had been looking for was still there, further down the street. Maybe we will return some day, however, we will listen to our nagging voices, as we "shoulda done that" in the beginning.