Second Chances

Many moons ago, one of my girlfriends slept with some random guy, told us all how horrible it was, and then went and did it again. When we asked her why on earth she would do that to herself, she responded, “I just wanted to be sure.” Yeah, okay.

With that response in mind, I went out to dinner with two friends last week to, you guessed it, my much maligned new restaurant: Tasteology. And I’m thrilled to report that we had an absolute blast. Yep, you read that right.

For a multitude of reasons, the entire experience shifted enormously for me. The barren cafeteria-like seating now is flanked by potted “plants” (they’re actually bamboo-like sticks artistically placed but my lame description doesn’t do it justice – they really do warm the place up!) and, more importantly, you no longer have to order at the counter. There is now tableside wait service and Ben, our server, was as sweet as could be. In addition, they’ve added an organic wine bar (where the walk-up counter used to be), there are jazz bands scheduled to play throughout the week, and the side room is slated to become an art gallery. Honestly, it is not-so-gradually taking shape into a fabulous place to spend an evening out.

The night we dined there, the restaurant was hosting a “Culinary Smackdown” where two teams of local high school kids were competing in an Iron Chef-like competition. As such, the atmosphere was light and festive. If only we could have sampled their creations! And our food? I daresay it was good. I, of course, being risk-averse, ordered one of the dishes that the owner said was his favorite (i.e., the Southern Charm) and it was delicious. Mind you, at 12 points on Weight Watchers it’s much healthier than the calamari I had at JoJo the week before but also 2X what I should have ingested on my diet. Next time, I plan to share! My girlfriends’ meals were also good but one felt hers, the Panang Panache flatbread, was way too small (i.e., the calories appear to be in the peanut sauce that’s drizzled over the top) and the other thought hers wasn’t nearly as good as ours (i.e., the Sizzology – which was the best meal we had at our table last time oddly enough).

But the best part of the evening was when the owner stopped by to chat and treated us all to a glass of wine. He was a hysterical combination of extreme politeness (i.e., taking notes on all of our “ideas”), self-deprecating humor (“I can’t do that; I’m much too tired”), and complete honesty. He shared some of the many challenges they faced upon opening and how they promptly dealt with them. And he talked about how he takes all of his customer feedback, both good and bad, to heart. He is attempting to perfect the model before expanding/franchising too quickly and, in my opinion, he’s doing a fantastic job.

With that said, I actually look forward to going there again. Yikes. What’s next? Armageddon hungry.