WTHHLN @ Red Lobster

I don't know WTHHLN at the Topeka Red Lobster, but they sure weren't about to serve us dinner...

The original Saturday plans were for a picnic out at Rock Springs 4H camp. Rain changed those plans. The weather guessers said the rain would be gone by Saturday morning, but they guessed wrong. So we went to plan B. That was a Topeka run with shopping at Kohl's and Barnes & Noble, lunch/dinner at Red Lobster and a Topeka Roadrunners hockey game. The shopping and hockey worked out just fine.

Red Lobster was something else, though. They apparently were short of busing staff because we had to wait to get a table cleared off. Keep in mind we'd specifically arrived at 3:30 to miss the lunch and beat the dinner crowd. There were loads of empty tables in the place...almost all covered with dirty dishes. Our waitress passed our table twice with assurances she would be right with us before she did in fact come to take our drink order. We finally had drinks at 10 minutes after seating. Another 10 and she took our order. Maybe it fell apart at that point because we both decided to order something different. We are creatures of habit. No Lobster in Manhattan so we pretty much order the same favorite thing whenever we do go there.

10 minutes later we had salads and those yummy cheese biscuits that I love sooooo much. And then...nothing. Tables fill around us, orders are taken. 45 minutes later we have two assurances from our waitress that she's dinged the kitchen twice about our order, but on the second stop with us she takes the time to write our order down all over again! Did she forget to turn the first one in? After seeing the table of five that were seated after we arrived get their entrees, I flag down the manager, who is in the area to bus tables, and ask about the delay in getting our main courses (which, by the way, were promoted specials). He stands there pathetically, shaking his head, no explanation but to say he's very sorry. Magically our waitress appears with our order. Unfortunately it is too late, we've got a hockey game to get to...

And boy was it a game. MAHL hockey. The stars of tomorrow in action today. The players all seem so young, and no wonder! The oldest of them was born in 1987. They'd beaten the TX Tornado the night before and we were hoping for a repeat. When the Tornado scores two goals in the first five minutes, our goalie is thankfully yanked and replaced with last night's goalie, but is it too late? I watch the mascot for the Roadrunners and wonder why it looks like a Cardinal to me. Big, red, yellow beak. I don't recall ever seeing a roadrunner in quite those colors and I lived in the southwest for most of my life. If you're going to bring a team from Sante Fe and change the mascot to a Cardinal, a bird quite commonly seen in Kansas, why not simply rename the team the Cardinals? I don't get it. The Roadrunners manage to tie the score at 3, but the Tornado is relentless and pulls ahead by another goal. We manage to tie it and remain tied through the first overtime. It is not until the shoot out that we fall to the Tornado.

There were a couple of good fights, which surprised me, but maybe it was more to generate fan interest than an honest altercation with the opposing players. Still both teams netted severe 10 minute penalties on players for misconduct. Our team even caught two of those 10 minute penalties.

I hadn't planned on buying anything except maybe a pair of jeans, but I totally lost all resolve when I saw the price and selection on Henley's and 3/4 sleeve heavy T's. I love Henley's. My favorite shirt. I bought eight shirts and managed to keep it under $100. Score! We then adjourned to Barnes & Noble for S*t*a*r*b*u*c*k*s coffee and desert to the meal we never ate (I did end up having the worlds smallest, yet most expensive Brat at the game).

In all fairness to Red Lobster, I have to admit that it's the first time I've ever had bad service there so I will probably give them another try when next we get the craving for seafood. All in all, not a bad day at all.