so, we had dinner reservations for 8:30pm @ fabiani's which is normally an awesome place to eat. so we arrive @ 8:15p and seee a large crowd out front.. was there a fire inside? were there louts without reservations? did they stop serving? Goodness no, they overbooked. so, we checked in with the door lady, and went back to stand outside in the cold with the rest of the shmoe's. Wine was being offered to those who waited, but they only had one wine corker for the entire restaraunt, so getting wine into a glass was a big problem. 3 times i tried, 3 times i failed. so we're waiting, waiting, commiserating with our fellow shmoe's and swapping reservation times. the average wait seemed to be 1hr+ over whatever your reservation time was. we were seated around 9:30p, and had our food by 10:20p excellent service. oh wait, no. the lobster bisque was horribly salty and had a surprise. i'll get back to the surprise. Dinner eventually arrived. before it did arrive we had the pleasantness of being seated between one horribly boorish couple, and one couple hell bent on getting pregnant there in the restaraunt. the couple to my left, quite loud, refusing to chew AND swallow before loudly proclaiming all their wealth. it was the saddest type of proclamation as well. that of the person who acts like they have big money, but more than likely eats peanut butter on saltines for dinner. by the end of the evening i knew that her coat was $300, her diamond was $2500, they ordered 2 $40 plates, she was portugeuese, they were both in their 50's. they had a cat they both loved, they had been married for 1.5yrs, they had some trouble in the past but its fine now. let's see what else. oh, they wanted to go dancing, and what kind of dancing well, BUMP AND GRIND. the couple to the right of me, then said "I CANT BELIEVE THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT THAT" very loudly when the couple to the left mentioned the bump and grind thing.
The couple to the right of me had pulled their chairs into adjacent positions, instead of facing one another like the rest of us. the gentlemen who's chair was pulled adjacent kept rockign back and knocking our table. he also happened to be leaning up against the candle on our table, eventually i moved it. It took so long to get seated and get food that i wasnt going to let a burning pervert ruin it. the ladypart of the couple to the right of me seemed terribly embarrased by her gentlemen friend. that didnt stop them from swappin' the ol' spit during dinner though.
Dinner arrives. the host-lady mentioned above has been spending the last 10 or 20 minutes comparing diamonds with our lovely couple to the left. i had the petrole sole, steph had the lobster fettucini. LOBSTER BISQUE SURPRISE surprise! the lobster bisque and the lobster fettucini are the same food, only one has fettucini. i thought it was odd that there was fettucini in my bisque. i was only hoping they hadnt poured the remains of someone's fettucini into the bisque-pot. My sole was horrible. if you could imagine a sweet dessert cake, then put fish together with that, you might be near what this was like. only it was as if it was topped with bread pudding. not the consistency, the flavour. the greens were good, lightly steamed seasoned well. the fettucini that came with my sole, blah. their menu there said "petrole sole" and had no mention of pastry. on-line their menu for last night does indeed list it as sole in a puff-pastry. disgusting. steph was not too impressed with her meal either. in fact noone in the restaraunt seemed to be into the food.
While i had wanted to stay for espresso and tiramisu, i couldnt suffer the eternal wait that 2 simple cups of coffee and a slice of tiramisu would have wrought.
AND NOW FOR THE KICKER:
we got home at 11:20p~ abotu na hour later i got the severe urge to throw up, isnt that lovely? shitty meal, shitty atmosphere, shitty service i paid to enjoy it and now i get to pay to throw it up too! luckily i was able to calm my stomache enough to just goto sleep.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
fabiani is a good place to eat. just go there on a tuesday in the middle of the month as early as possible and not anywhere near a holiday. I think this was possibly the worst valentine's day i've ever had. (so far)