O'Charley's

A friend of mine had a baby recently and her older (two-year-old) daughter was a guest with us for a few days while she was still in the hospital with her new arrival. We really expected nothing in return, but she gave us a gift certificate to O'Charley's to thank us for our trouble.

Not to sound like we are looking a gift horse in the mouth, but we don't eat at O'Charley's very often (in fact, the only other time we have eaten there was because we had a gift certificate -- and, as luck would have it, said friend was there at the time, so I can see where she might have gotten the idea.) The food is fine, but we tend to prefer Asian cuisine (if it is just Adam and me) or Italian (Sub Shack) if the kids are along. So, to make a long story short, the kids were not overly familiar with the place.

So when we announced to the kids that we would be eating out, they became (understandably) excited, but Miranda immediately launched into, "Where are we going? O'Charley's? I've never heard of that. Why aren't we going to Sub Shack? I want to go to Sub Shack. Maybe we should go to Sub Shack instead." And so on -- not really complaining, but conveying strongly that whatever O'Charley's is, it would not be her first choice.

Well, we arrived at O'Charley's and were greeted by our unsmiling host. Despite his grim demeanor, he had a couple of things going for him as far as Miranda is concerned: first, he was a relatively pleasant-looking college-aged male; second, he had activity books and crayons for the kids. He had her at hello.

Miranda ordered the kid's pizza. It did not come with french fries (a big disappointment), and the pizza itself was not up to Sub Shack standards; in fact, it was so bad that it took great coaxing ("If you eat another piece, you can have dessert") to get her to eat one third of it (originally the bar had been one half of it, but after Adam tried a bite, he lowered the bar.) The ice cream, of course, was a big hit, but she didn't even finish that.

Nonetheless, as we were leaving, as she clutched the cherished activity book to her chest, she announced loudly to our waitress, "This is my favorite restaurant ever!"

(Note: Lest we get sued for giving O'Charley's a negative review, the adult courses were fine, and even Xavier's chicken tender meal gets two thumbs up.)