What was your last meal from a restaurant? Eat-in or take-out?

This evening we went around the corner (bout 2 1/2 miles) and ate at The Main St. Pub. It's a quaint little local restaurant with a bar and a main dining area. We sat at the bar and I just ordered soup and a sandwich...homemade chicken noodle and a chicken cheesesteak hoagie (hoagie = cooked/slivered chicken or cooked/slivered beef or cold deli meat, lettuce, tomato, raw onion, oregano, mayo or oil on a crusty long roll).

When you eat at restaurants, do you go all out and order the most expensive thing?

It actually depends on the occasion or the day of the week and how much time I have. I'm mostly known as a "cheap date" though. I don't really care for some of the more expensive stuff like lobster. I'm content with a steak and a beer or a nice glass of sweet table wine.

Do you try new things you've never had before?

I'll try almost anything once. I've got to see someone else eat it first and judge by their reaction. I will not eat anything I use for bait though (ie: clams and chicken necks...lol!).

Do you have one meal you know you like from a specific place and stick with that?

Naaaa...I scan the menu and/or order what looks good from someone elses table.

How often do you eat out?

Bout once or twice a month. But it's not unheard of to go out five and six times if we have to travel to see family in any one month. On the flip side, we have gone several months without a bite out.

Is eating out a treat, or do you prefer cooking yourself?

I love to cook but I hate the cleanup! As soon as someone invents cheap/disposable range top pots...I'll be in like Flint!

When you eat out, do you stay within the bounds of your diet, if you have one?

I don't restrict myself of anything. I just eat a reasonable amount. I am not dieting, per say, but instead I just eat the right portions of the right things.

What kind of restaurants do you prefer when eating out?

I'm a seafood and a "down-home beef and beer" kinda chick. I like ethnic food but the portions and/or the seasonings can wreak havoc on me...by way of water retention or heartburn. I don't like fried foods too much but I will splurge on a spring roll or egg roll or french fry from time to time.

Do you have any requirements that need to be met before you eat somewhere?

I like to be seated promptly. I won't wait over a half hour for a table (I coulda got laid in that amount of time!!!). The silverware HAS to be clean! I'll send it back 3 times at most and if it still looks like someone spit on it...I'm gone! The place has to smell good. I've actually been to a place that smelled like human urine...Ewwwww! Needless to say, we left after filling out the "How was our service/presentation?" card. I'll tolerate forgetfulness once or twice on the part of the wait staff but if it becomes out-and-out laziness/stupidity I'll pitch a bitch (and Mr. Lixy will sink under the table). I never send anything back to be "recooked". I just don't eat it. I'll eat whatever is to my liking and set the yucky cooked thing on the bread plate. I will tell them, at the end of the meal, that it sucked...but it was no reflection on the wait staff (if that's true) when we are asked "How was everything?".

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