I believe we left off where I dumped a glass of ice water in Mr. Riba's lap. Note: If you are just joining us, you may want to go back and scroll down to the beginning of our adventures, or at least go back two entries so you know what's going on now.
To set the scene, Dave and I have been invited to Join Dave and Abby Riba for dinner at this great Hungarian restaurant in Cleveland, Ohio. Dave Riba (from now on known as "Riba", his wife Abby and I are now switching to a new table where the linens are dry but Riba is not. My Dave, who will be known from now on as "Dave", joins us after hunting down a parking place.
We get all settled in and then we wait for a waitress, and wait, and wait, and wait. I guess us changing tables confused the wait staff and they proceeded to forget all about us or punish us, I'm not sure which. Finally we were able to flag down an elderly man whom we assumed was the owner of the restaurant. We wanted to place our drink and food orders since it is now about 7:30 p.m.
According to our hosts, the portions that they serve at this restaurant are humongous so Abby and Riba were going to order one entree' to share. Dave and I are enthusiastic eaters and we decide we each want our own entree'.
The presumptive owner, who looked to be about 85 years old was shuffling around pushing a little cart, finally arrives to take our orders. The Riba's order their one entree' and two dinner plates so they can share and Dave and I order our separate entree's along with a glass of wine for me. Forty-five minutes later and after three requests, my wine finally arrives and then we wait for the entree's.
Finally our food arrives. The waiter brought the Riba's entree' and one plate. Mr. Riba reminded the server that he requested two plates. The server responded, in a heavy Hungarian accent, that there was two plates. The clean plate for the second guest and the plate that the food was on. Again, it took a few minutes of discussion and words were exchanged but eventually server acquiesced and provided a second plate. Let me tell you he was not happy about it and did not go down without a fight.
Just a reminder, reservations were at 6:00 and we did arrive a little late but it is now 8:00 and we are just getting served our meals. I have to interject here that the food was magnificent and we have returned to this restaurant every year for the past 3 years. Not just for the food, the floor show between the elderly gentleman and his waitress who wears slippers when serving guests, is a draw in and of itself.
At 9:00 p.m. we have finished our meals and desserts (again a reason to go if you get the chance). One of our party has to stop to use the facilities so we wait in an open space of the dining room. The owner approaches us and tells us to move over by the front door. He didn't ask, he just pointed to the door and said, "You go wait over there".
Epilogue: Dave and Abby Riba have become very dear friends over the years and we can't thank them enough for introducing us to some wonderful people in the Sewing, Quilting and Craft Industry. It's because of them and other vendors like them that have welcomed us into this unique family.