Hey Trish!
Need your advice my husband and I don’t go out to eat very often, but when we do we make sure to pick a place where there should be good food and good service. The tricky part is not all of our friends have the same discernment. There is a particular couple that invites us out to eat and picks places where we know the food and or service is not good in a place we would not go on our own, but they think the food and service are good. The invite us so it’s awkward to suggest another place, on the other hand when we go, we don’t enjoy ourselves despite the company! How would you handle these dreadful dinner invites?
TIA
Dinner for Four? Maryland
Hey Dinner for Four,
I distinctly remember my mother telling me when I was a child that whenever I was at a friend’s house I was to eat what I was served. She did that because I was a picky eater and because it was chapter four in mom’s book on how to be polite. The fact is that some people just have different tastes and expectations when it comes to food and food service.
I believe that what you have here is the proverbial fork in the road (or rather fork on the plate). Do you choose the table for two with better food and less company or the table for four with food that leaves something to be desired but includes your friends? My advice to you is to do both. When my children were growing up we always went out to eat every Sunday after church. All four of us have very different pallets. My daughter is vegetarian. My son likes anything with nitrates in it and has been frozen before fried in a deep fryer. My husband loves barbecue and I enjoy any place with a great cocktail. As you can imagine it was very hard to find a restaurant that met all these criteria. We decided the best way to handle this situation was to take turns. The only rule was that when it was not your week, you were not allowed to groan or complain about the choice. If you did, then you lost your choice when it came time for you to pick the next food establishment It always made the corn dog or hummus I was eating on that particular Sunday taste better knowing that I was choosing a grande margarita and chips with queso next Sunday.
Honestly those memories are what I remember most. I can’t tell you my favorite meal I had but I can tell you some great conversations we shared. I can laugh at some of the roadside food stands that my son wanted to stop at for the worlds biggest pork sandwich. I remember the time when my son thought that venison was camel butt instead of deer at a BBQ joint. I am sure this tradition would work with your friends too. Maybe by exposing them to restaurants that you and your husband like it will help them choose better when it is their turn to pick.
Remember … It is never polite to yuck someone’s yum!
Trish
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