Today I am cheating on a plan, cheating on the blog, and cheating on my friendship with Cassie. She doesn't know; she's out of town. I guess this is my way of telling all of you: sorry, Cassie. Ok see, it was our plan to try a new coffee shop/wifi hotspot each month and then at the end of the year evaluate and discuss to pick our "home plate". For the month of September, we were housed and cared for in Republic Coffee. The chicken salad is decent, the hot chocolate is better, and the service is friendly enough. For October, we've packed our bags and headed to a new location: Otherlands on Cooper. Let me just say this: I don't do well with change.
So, today - Cassie is out of town and I was supposed to stick to our plan with or without her. I packed my weathered, tiny green notebook, my work laptop, and my fading felt-tipped green pen and started to drive the long way from East Memphis to Midtown. I took Walnut Grove. You know where this is going, don't you?
I couldn't help it. Honest. When I approached Republic, the parking lot was only half full, whereas I rationalized in my mind that it would take me too long to find a spot at Otherlands. And really I only had time for a blog and a cup of hot chocolate. So... here I am. Not moving on. Not wanting to. (although, I did just spend all of September preaching forward motion- whoops)
I am sitting in my favorite booth - the one on the far west side right next to the restroom. I have a perfect view of the Burger King Cinnabon billboard, which used to make me angry when I first started dieting because I just knew it was there to smirk at me. I didn't even mind that they may be out of just about everything that I tried to order. To date, they have been out of Coke Zero, Diet Coke, wraps, portabella mushrooms, potato salad, Splenda, barbeque sauce, and avocado. I might have missed something in that list, but regardless - it had become a guessing game of sorts to see what they might be out of on any given day. At least they always had grapes for their chicken salad. At least there's that. Small victories.
The waitress I had today was the one that I think I might like the most. She's not the friendliest. And she's not the short bitchy one either. She's the one that would walk away without saying anything until she heard Cassie mutter things about the service under her breath. Then, instead of just letting it go, she came back to our table and jovially apologized and addressed our concerns. You see, their credit card machine and all fountain drinks were out that day and she had to write everything by hand. I liked her from then on. She was very human to me. I like people who can apologize.
So why am I here? I am justifying this by making this my restaurant review of the month. The food is okay. Bacon can be particularly good, but remember - that's only on some days. I think they try out different pig varieties, chefs, oils, and food suppliers every five minutes. Don't come here expecting the food to be predictable. It won't be. The service may be great, then again, they may not see you sitting there drinkless for hours.
But they have board games! Wait - whoops. Just looked up and they are no longer there. Let me walk around and see if they are just somewhere else. Yup! Back corner - score! They even have a "Friends" trivia game, y'all! And a book selection that includes a tell-all about Monsters, Inc.! And let's face it, the atmosphere is cool as shit. It's a dark, middle English tavern coupled with a metropolitan northeast American coffee shop. And they have cool art always. The coffee is good. And it feels like home. So don't expect me to avoid coming here all month, because that just won't happen. Sorry, Cassie.
One thing you might want to know, however: If you accidentally leave your card there, they will cut it up. You can't even leave it for a second. I repeat - they WILL cut it up. After all the reflecting I have done on this restaurant I have done today, I realize that I cannot fairly review it. It is like a member of my family and I am too biased. Next month I will do better. I promise.
Grade: N/A
- Morgzz
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