My Birthday Dinner

Wow, did we have a good time! My friends Katey, Kat and Christina took me to dinner last night for my birthday at Parisi and it was so incredible! If you haven't been here, you MUST make time and go!

It didn't start out great, however. Originally, our reservation was for 5:30 and when Christina made that reservation, they told her we'd have to be out by 7 because they need the table. They specifially said, "We'll kick you out." We thought that was a little weird, but okay. We decided to take the 8:30 reservation instead so we wouldn't get "kicked out."

We went for a quick beer before dinner at a really fun Irish Pub just down the street and we walked really quickly to get to Parisi by 8:30. Kevin was babysitting Maelin and they were having a grand old time without Mommy bossing them around. We showed up at 8:30 and they told us we'd have to wait...the table wasn't ready yet. Okay, we've all been in the restuarant business so we know what it's like when a table just won't leave. No biggie. 8:40. 8:50. 9:00. 9:15. 9:30...we've been waiting over an hour now and we had a reservation!

Okay, at this point, we're starting to get really mad. If they hadn't told Christina they were going to "kick us out" because they needed the table, we'd think nothing of it but why were they going to kick us out but they weren't going to kick anyone out for us??

We complained (very nicely) to the manager who also turned out to be our waiter. He was very apologetic and brought us a free bottle of Prosecco...Italian Champagne. Yummy. He also told us he had ordered Antipasti for all of us and as soon as our table was ready, he'd bring it over. Okay, we're all starting to feel much better.

It didn't end there...somehow, the Prosecco kept flowing. No one ordered a 2nd bottle OR a third bottle, but it kept coming. So did another appetizer (capese salad) and a bottle of Savignon Blanc with dinner and 5 desserts: pannacotta with lemon, 3 different gelatos (just like Itlay!) and truffles with coffee.

Here comes the bill...we were prepared for about $280: we figured we had had 3 bottles of Prosecco at $35 each, 1 bottle of wine at $30, dessert, apps, etc. Our bill was......$83. TOTAL.

They totally took care of us for the inconvience. Not only was the food amazing (I had butternut squash raviolis in brown butter truffle sauce), but once we got seated the service was impeccable and we each paid $22. Unheard of.

We left a VERY fat tip (about $100)and thanked the manager/server many times. Then he took our picture.

I had a great dinner with my friends. It was like being back in Italy again...although this time, I was with my girls. Birthdays are great, if for no other reason they get you out with your friends. Thanks Ladies!!