Oh dear. Tonight’s anniversary dinner, mmm, didn’t go quite as planned! 
Ben has to work late tonight, so the plan was to head over to our favorite sushi restaurant – Miyabi 9 – (where we went for our first anniversary!) for a nice dinner during his break. Well, we got there and they were closed until later this evening. Rats…but, ok. We understood, as it was still super early.
Next, we tried a nice little bistro type restaurant in the area – Noodle Zoo. Closed for a private party. After that, Ban Thai, our favorite Thai restaurant. Closed until tonight. Cool Vietnamese place I’ve been dying to take Ben to? Closed on Mondays. Fail. Fail, fail, fail!
As each potential dinner opportunity passed by, time slipped away as well. We had to get Ben back to work, after all! The light bulb suddenly went off – we were right by a Gateway Market! Quick, reliable and always spot on with their dishes. We usually go to a different location, but were certain the quality would be the same. Um, wrong.
It’s true – I have to give a bad restaurant review! You know it’s bad when it comes to this, because I will literally eat anything!
We usually like Gateway Market because it’s super quick and super delish. Tonight’s dinner, though, was super slow and super lousy. I won’t go into the gruesome details, but my would-be tasty and exotic Asian Shrimp Salad was tasteless and greasy.
Not to mention, it took 20 minutes to come out to our table! This is a cafe-style restaurant where meals usually take 10 minutes, MAX, to come out. Plus, we were the only ones dining at the time. What were they doing back there in the kitchen, I wonder?
The usually no-fail, uber tasty Rueben Sandwich I ordered was cold and greasy.
Unlike the salad, I still ate it. Cold or not, this girl loves her Ruebens! 
Ben’s meal was equally terrible. His Italian Sandwich was pouring oil out onto his plate. Poor guy. 
I feel the need to tsk-tsk Gateway Market because I know they can do so much better than this! Crappy dinner aside, we will give them another chance because we’ve had so many positive experiences at our normal location. Here’s hoping they were just having an off night…?
Ben, fortunately, found the humor in the whole situation.
And I suppose all is still right with the world if you get to smoosh your face against this handsome fellow at the end of it all. 
PLUS, as I dropped Ben back off at work, he told me I would find dessert in the freezer at home. I got home, dug around and found…an ice cream bonanzaaaa!!!
Last year we were digging into our champagne wedding cake right about now, but I’ll take Peanut Butter Cup, Apple Pie, Cookie Dough and Caramel Cone ice cream over frost bitten, year-old cake any day! 
I’ll take Edy’s Cookie Dough Ice Cream, to be more specific.
SO MANY HUNKS OF DOUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!! That man knows me too well. Too.well.
For whatever reason, a tasty anniversary dinner was just not in the cards for us tonight, so we’ve decided to try again on Friday. That way we’ll have the whole night to drive around looking for suitable dinner locales after the first 16 are found to be closed… Kidding! Hopefully…
Oh, on a happier note, I took a warm, Spring walk during lunch today!
Until it started raining and I had to power.walk. back to work!!
Some days are just better than others, eh?
Off to eat some ice cream and watch Gossip Girl.
…this day is ending better than I thought…!
ps Peanut Butter Pie recipe is up – pure decadence!
Goodnight!
~~~~~
Do you ever have those days where everything that could go wrong, does?
You have a great husband when he can find humor in that situation! Happy anniversary, beautiful!
I just tried those little Edy’s cookie dough ice creams the other day! SO GOOD- much better than I expected! I have to agree with you-they’re delish;) and perfect in size because no ice cream freezer burn like I usually get when I buy a big container of ice cream!
I just got an email from my husband saying he has to work late and won’t be home for dinner. We always watch our favorite show (Chuck) on Monday’s and I had everything assembled to make us some yummy buffalo tacos. Grrrrr.
I don’t have any Edy’s, but a See’s Chocolate Bordeaux Egg is calling my name after dinner.
Sorry it didn’t turned out as hoped. But now it just gives you a reason to go out for a nice dinner again.
And smoosh faces with your handsome man again.
And those days luckily don’t happen to me too often. But they definitely have before.
I totally how u feel about trying to plan a sweet anniversary dinner. This last 5 months was the first time my husband( married 2yrs/together total 4yrs) and I have EVER spent a Halloween, Thanksgiving, wedding anniversary and our birthdays together. Being a military wife-I dont always have a choice of holidays to celebrate together. After a failed thanksgiving dinner, the turkey burned…I realized everyday with him is a holiday. So nice to see a couple that finds joy in the little things in life!
Awww, what a bummer on all of those failed dinner attempts. It’s funny because most asian restaurants here are closed on Monday’s too! Hmm, maybe it’s a standard thing for them all.
Well, at least you two were together and in love. All that matters on a day like today, right?!?!
Plus, how could life be upsetting when two people are as cute and happy as you!
Happy Anniversary hun!
Sorry to hear about dinner! It’s such a bummer when that kind of thing happens, BUT I bet you’ll look back on it and laugh
Aww man! But I’m glad you two found the fun in it and you are making plans to try again. And got to love a guy who provides the dessert.
What a bummer! Friday will be a fun celebration though, then you don’t have to worry about heading to work the next day.
Edy’s has the best ice cream. I agree, they know a way to a girls heart with all of those cookie dough pieces!
We eat at the west location of Gateway quite frequently. I took my in-laws to the downtown location one evening and we had the same experience! Food was horrible, service even worse and unfortunately disappointed my in-laws! And like you, we had ordered the rueben and it was terrible! I’m sorry you had to have a bad experience on your anniversary nonetheless! Just stick to your normal location!
Happy Anniversary!! I hope Friday’s outing turns out much better.
Thought of you on Thursday – my husband and I hosted a potluck dinner (it’s a weekly thing with some of our college friends) and we tried a recipe my mom had raved about, but we’d never made before: firecracker shrimp from the Whole Foods Cookbook. It was delicious and our friends really went all out, too with the ‘island’ theme for the evening. Do you have the Whole Foods Cookbook? It strikes me as one you’d thoroughly enjoy.
Sorry about the bad-luck dinner, but happy anniversary!!! That line of ice creams looks like it could easily make up for a bad dinner
Awww…bummer!!
. I’ll definitely take that Cookie Dough Ice cream, it’s my favorite!
Enjoy the rest of your evening!
Ahh I guess you can’t win them all! But I think just the fact that you two were able to laugh it off really says something about how much you guys love each other
And I’m thinking the ice cream totally makes up for the lackluster dinner… I would have dug right into the Peanut Butter Cup one.. just me, a spoon, and the carton 
Ok, I don’t know what’s up with that Gateway Market because my vegetarian pad thai has been different every time I’ve ordered it, and yes, I had to wait forever for my food while some server dried silverware while clearly behind her were 5 plates waiting to be taken out. Unfortunately, this one is only like 2 minutes from my house, as opposed to the other in Jordan Creek.
Sorry your food sucked. While mine seems to change on each occasion, it’s never awful. (I’ve only had the pad thai, fish tacos and veggie enchiladas.)
Despite the dinner fail, you two look great together and so happy! Plus, ice cream totally solves everything. Have a great night, girl!
Oh no, sorry to hear about the dinner fiasco tonight but so glad that you two are such good sports! Ever notice how big nights like that always find a way to go a lil’ wacky – guess it’s Murphy’s Law or something? I hope Friday comes quick and makes up for a lackluster meal tonight
Sorry to hear about your dinner, but EVERY time I’ve been to Gateway, it’s been TERRIBLE! I’ve been downtown and west, more than 5 times with friends that like to go… same dissappointment no matter what I order…..
Yikes so sorry about the bad dinner luck!!! I hate it when things like that happen! But at least you have an awesome hubby
And he sure hooked you up with the ice cream!
That sounds like such a frustrating evening.
Friday should be much more fun! Do you know where you’re going yet? Trying new places is always my fave 
So weird about that Gateway… I seriously have to stand up for that location because I am WAY MORE of a Sherman Hill type person than a Jordan Creek type person and I love that Gateway. Every time I have ever eaten there, it’s been amazing. I’ve never been in there when no one else is eating, so maybe it was the timing? Or new employees? Anyway, it looked/sounded awful, but I swear that never happens when I’m there. I used to go with my office a lot and we were all obsessed with it. WEIRD!!! Hopefully Friday goes better for you!
I recommend Centro, Django, Spaghetti Works (haha…an old classic)…I could go on. Have fun
Kristin C
Awww, I’m so sorry your anniversary dinner date didn’t go as planned! The Gateway Market is on my list of places to try, but I think we’ll hit the one you usually visit instead of the one you went to tonight. At least you came home to some yummy goodies!
It hailed here today for about 5 minutes, so at least you just got wet and not pelted! I took my son for a short walk and we made it home literally just before it started! Took my shoes off and it was beating down on the house! Close call!
And yes, I have days where everything goes wrong. . . hey, I’ve even had bad WEEKS. So you’re not alone!!
Here’s to wishing you a better and brighter tomorrow, as you start another year together with Ben!
I’m sorry about dinner, love your positive attitude. Nothing like finding some goodies in your fridge!
Ew, that sucks! At least you have a redo planned for Fri! And what a seriously awesome dessert to come home to!
Happy Anniversary. Sorry it didnt go quite as planned. But you guys have each other
and ice cream of course.
Oh I’m sorry it was such a bad experience, poor you guys!! At least you’ll appreciate the next meal out more
It’ll be crazy good in comparison!
Way to still be positive even through the bad experience. And it’s so wonderful that hubby can laugh about it too! Luckily my hubby is the same. At least the ice cream looked good though!
Happy Anniversary!
and MMMM Vietnamese. My eyes glazed over when you mentioned having that. Sadly, most Vietnamese places are closed on Mondays- since they work on Saturday… but yeah- they have some GOOD food.
Have you ever had Vietnamese before? Scott & I eat it probably 2 times a week! There are tons of good Vietnamese places here in NOLA since we have a big Vietnamese population.
If you go for Vietnamese, try out Pho Tai or Bun Thit Nuong (those are my two favorite things!!!) the Pho Tai is a yummy soup with sliced beef and rice noodles. It’s the best cure for a sore throat (or hangover) LOL
Bun Thit Nuong is Grilled, seasoned pork over a bed of pickled veggies and rice noodles and then topped with fish sauce and peanuts. SO freaking good.
the best part? It’s all super healthy and light!
I’m sorry your anniversary dinner didn’t go as planned, but you guys seemed to make the most of it. I’ve had some very bad experiences eating at Gateway, which always upsets me because that place is so great otherwise.
I have to agree with the last commenter that Vietnamese is wonderful, and seems so healthy and fresh compared to other restaurant food.
Aw, bummer! But I’m glad you guys made the most of it
Have you been to Appare? They have 30% off their sushi rolls on Mondays…
Rats! Ben was so thoughtful with your array of ice cream though, that can put a good ending to any day!!!
Did I understand your blog right? Did Ben seriously go to the store & surprise you by stocking the freezer w/ all that ice cream himself? Surely I misunderstood. No guy could possibly be that sweet, thoughtful & romantic? Did he seriously do that?!?! Does he have a brother???
The last time I ate at Gateway (about two months ago) I was also disappointed. Like you, I waited a loooong time before my food arrived, but not so long as my lunch companion. About five minutes after my meal came she went to inquire about hers only to be told there’d been a shift change. I finished eating (forgetable clam chowder, lukewarm) before her meal arrived, and I’m a slow eater. To their credit, they gave her a coupon for a free meal but they’d better be careful; it doesn’t excuse poor service.
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