Oh, Raven!

D and I ran to Raven last night for a quick delicious dinner, and once again I was SO disappointed in their service. We probably eat there at least once a week and I usually have some complaint about the service or the people that work there. Sigh. I have to watch myself because I don't want to be the kEr-Azee a$$ woman who ALWAYS complains about stupid things. BUT, I do eat there all the time!

When we walked in, the place was slow on a Sunday night. I asked to sit at a table over by the window, which was not where the hostess was going to seat us. I noticed that she sat a couple at the same table about 5 minutes after we had been seated.

Ten minutes later, we had decided what we wanted to eat, but we still had no water, bread, or drinks. Did the couple who had been seated 5 minutes after us? Of course! Drinks from the bar, water, and bread were on their table. The manager on duty saw us sitting there with our menus closed (the universal signal for "We are ready to place our order"). SIX other waiters saw us with our menus closed. Yet no one chose to come by and take our order. I was getting a bit angry, so I finally went to the 16 year old hostess and told her we would like to be served. She was on it like white on rice, and appropriately mortified that we had not been served. I saw her speaking to the woman who would become our server. Yet, even after the server KNEW that we were ready to place our order she went to the table next to us FIRST. They had been seated for 10 seconds. Bye bye fantastic tip! I'm a decent tipper, and D is an EXCELLENT tipper.

We finally got our order placed, and of course the food was perfect. I highly recommend the wood fire grilled trout. So delicious.

I'll give more details about why I love Raven later, but give them a try sometime.

Canopy Houston

The birthday boy and I went to Canopy this evening. I'm extremely tired, so I'm just going to sum it up in bullet points:
* excellent calamari with a lovely harissa lime mayo
* lovely wine (Del Fin Del Mundo Malbec)
* spicy and creamy avocado soup (perfect for a hot summer day)
* the scallops: OMG fantastic
* lovely atmosphere

My complaints:
* Our waitress seemed incredibly distracted and not attentive
* The manager chose to tackle the various stains around the restaurant when there were still customers. Resolve stinks. Especially when you're enjoying your dinner.

Loved the food. I'll give the service another chance.
That's all for now.