Yesterday, we had planned a girls night; this consisted of dinner & opera.

Dinner was to be at 6pm, at L’Albatros. This was to allow ourselves a good 2 hours of gal talk before going to see Ariadne Auf Naxos.

Well, at least we thought 2 hours would be enough.

Maybe I should tell you my thoughts on L’Albatros first. I’ve been there waaaay too many times, imo. Everytime has been a disaster. The food was always, always, mind-bogglingly good. But the service has always been atrocious. Not the bread guys; they never left you bread-less. But the other serve staff. If you could get them to come to take your drink/food order. Then, when they finally did, if you asked them any questions about the food, I was prepared to be met w/ a blank stare. I even asked if she would go ask in the kitchen about what something was.

I ordered a goat-cheese tart once, & it came w/ something on the side that wasn’t on the menu. It looked like what I know as athāṇũ. When I asked her to check in the kitchen what it was, she seemed shocked. Not surprisingly, I never did see her again. No response to my inquiry. What if a vegetarian who’s never seen that stuff before had asked, or someone w/ food allergies; b/c of their dietary restrictions? Should I mention that it was a random Thursday happy hour, & the restaurant was pretty empty?

The food & drinks were always great there though, so everytime someone suggested it, I would just heave a sigh (silently), & be prepared for the atrocious service.

Weeeellll…. This time was different! We had the most delightful server, Tiffany. She was AMAZING. She knew everything there was to know, & was so incredibly sweet to us. Not b/c it was her job, but she really was just sweet, & kind, & nice, & smiley. Just a breath of fresh air. She would appear at the exact right moment w/ the exact right thing to say or ask! It was like she was in our heads!

She completely changed my view of L’Albatros, & I now can’t wait til the next time I go there!

Well, by the time we were done w/ dinner, we were no where near done talking. We don’t get a chance to get together as much now as before. Stupid lives got in the way.

We also made the mistake of eying the dessert menu.

By the time we were done w/ dessert, it was 7:50 pm. We took a vote & decided to ditch the opera in favor of martinis & wine elsewhere. Elsewhere ended up being The Bistro.

Now, just a few words about my thoughts on The Bistro before I ever stepped foot in there…..

1. Naming a bistro “The Bistro” is akin to naming your dog, “Dog”. Really? You guys want me to think you’re going to have a creative atmosphere & cuisine, but you can’t be bothered to come up w/ a name?

2. I had high hopes despite the name, b/c it used to be Sage, one of the most delish bistros I’d ever discovered. It didn’t get a lot of traffic, unfortunately, & closed.

So, we went to The Bistro (wow, that even feels weird saying that!). & I can’t comment on the food, b/c we only went there to sit at the bar & continue our chats.

But, of the 3 martinis I tried, I didn’t like a single one! They were horrible. The all had awesome names. I wish I could remember their names! I had some sort of a pear martini, I think, w/ some ginger syrup. But it really shoulda been called a pear-ginger syrup w/ some vodka. B/c it was too sweet, & I just couldn’t drink it. I tried my friend’s Smashing Pumpkin (for obvs reasons), but didn’t like that either.

So, I asked for ole faithful, an espresso martini. I’ve never had a bad espresso martini until that night. Ugh.

Anyway, this post was really supposed to be about bathtubs, but as you can see, I got off track.

But, I do think I’ll try to take more pics when I’m out of food & stuff, so I can share the experience here too. Also, so that I can remember it more; for my own benefit!