Bill takes in the scene.  I was momentarily amused by the unicorn horn like napkins on the table.  I did refrain from putting one to my forehead, which is a good thing.  A tuxedo clad gentleman sitting behind us kept shooting us looks.  Or maybe he was just looking at the pianist.

A server brought us some bread and we ordered two glasses of champagne and some sparkling water.

We enjoyed the bubbly with the amuse, a heart shaped savory bread with a bacon wrapped date and a goat cheese spread that was hidden under the petals of the flower.  The amuse wasn’t bad.

Service was rather leisurely.  Well, for us it was, anyway.  I’m sure the servers didn’t think it was leisurely at all, as four of them looked after everyone in the restaurant.  I don’t think they had a full house, but the dining room was fairly busy.  They probably could have used at least one more set of hands.  I finished my champagne and kind of wished for a glass of white wine to go with the next couple of courses.

Meanwhile, the pianist was playing a curious selection of hits.  He’d play a romantic song, then lapse into “Just a Gigolo” or a James Bond theme.  I noticed the adorable elderly couple next to us were really enjoying the pianist’s musical stylings.  They burst into applause when the pianist stopped for a break.  I mostly enjoyed the pianist too, at least at first.  More on that, later.

After the elderly couple applauded, they got up to leave and bid us a pleasant farewell.  They were so cute.  I hope if Bill and I make it to true elderly status, we’re still going out and enjoying dinners on the town like that couple was last night.  It was lovely to see, and probably my favorite part of our evening.

Our server brought out the first course, two sea scallops on vegetables with a heart shaped “frame” of smoked salmon.  The scallops were “speared” with lemongrass, in the style of an arrow.  I enjoyed the scallops and the horseradish themed dressing that came with them.  This wasn’t too bad.  I did order a glass of white wine at this point, which the server promised he’d bring for me.  I finished this course before the wine came… (and have actually only now noticed that the salmon was arranged in a heart shape.)

Then came course two, a tomato soup with “trout chips”, a soggy heart shaped piece of bread, caviar of some sort, and a basil leaf.  It wasn’t bad, but really didn’t blow my mind…  and I also finished it before my wine came.  I had to remind the waiter to bring it.  And then when he brought the wine, it also didn’t thrill me.  It was a very buttery, locally produced grey burgundy that was slightly effervescent and kind of mediocre.  It wasn’t bad, but I like my white wines crisper. 

Before dinner started, we made sure to tell the waiter that I can’t eat mushrooms.  He said he would make sure my main course didn’t have them, which led me to believe that if we hadn’t asked, I’d be presented with a plate full of fungus.  I know it sounds silly, but mushrooms are the one food that make me want to run screaming from the room.  They give me the creeps (long, ridiculous story that makes me look even crazier than I am).  Anyway, more than once, I’ve been unpleasantly surprised by fungus on my plate.  I didn’t want that to happen last night.  We made very certain to confirm and our waiter assured us it was no problem.

The main course, beef filet with vegetables and a heart shaped puff pastry garnish.

Bill’s dish was the same as mine, which immediately made me nervous, since the waiter had originally indicated that mushrooms had been part of the dish.  The beef was covered with a an unappetizing light brown sauce.  It made me suspicious.  I asked the waiter again about the ‘shrooms.  He said there weren’t any.  Bill tasted the beef and said he couldn’t taste the nasty little parasites.  I tried the beef, too.  I don’t think there were mushrooms in the sauce, but unfortunately I was so turned off by the thought of them that I couldn’t really enjoy the main course.  I ate maybe a third of the beef and half of the vegetables.  In retrospect, I should have asked the waiter to hold any sauces.  I’ll remember that for next time.

On the positive side, the waiter did pour us a lovely Italian primitivo, that was very nice on its own.  I wish I’d thought to take a picture of the bottle because that was a wine I would love to drink at home.

And the appropriately jazzy “Moon Over Bourbon Street”, is also a little creepy…  

While we were finishing the main course, I noticed the pianist’s song choices were getting a bit strange.  I can’t be sure, but I think I heard mashups of pieces that included “Moon Over Bourbon Street” by Sting and, curiously, “The Winner Takes It All” by ABBA.  I was especially perplexed by the ABBA song.  I happen to love “The Winner Takes It All”; it’s a beautiful song with a lovely melody.  However, although the song itself is moving, the lyrics are about divorce and the loss of love, so I wasn’t expecting to hear it on Valentine’s Day!  Ditto the Sting song, which is romantic and interesting, but it’s basically about a lonely vampire who is tormented by his urges to destroy the things he loves.

Dinner ended with a dessert panoply, which we shared.  There were two scoops of gelato– strawberry and mango, I think.  Two frozen chocolate mousse bars, fresh berries, a rather dry, heart-shaped chocolate brownie, and what tasted like a strawberry mousse.  The gelato was a little soft, like it had been sitting out a bit before it reached our table, but it could be they just had the gelato out of the freezer for easier scooping.  I was glad the brownie wasn’t a lava cake.  The whole thing was capped off by a heart shaped piece of white chocolate.

Around this time, I was starting to get a bit antsy and, if I’m honest, kind of annoyed about how dinner turned out.  I also felt a little guilty, since not enjoying Valentine’s Day is truly a first world problem.  For many years, I didn’t even have anyone to celebrate Valentine’s Day with.  Now I have a sweet husband who is willing to indulge me.  Yes, I know sometimes I’m an asshole.  We all have our moments.  Unfortunately, then Bill and I started talking about my hair, which is now natural and rapidly going grey.  Bill saved the conversation by reassuring me that he loves my hair.  The neurotic moment mercifully passed and we decided to call it a night.

Bill called for the check, which came to 179 euros.  He paid our waiter, who reminded me to take the rose in the vase, which I did.  After a quick visit to the restroom before our drive home, we stopped at the coat rack.  Normally, a staff member gets your coat for you, but I guess they were busy.  So Bill and I helped ourselves and, as I was struggling to put my coat on, our waiter came over to say goodbye without offering assistance.  That was no big deal, I guess.  Maybe you could say it sort of capped off my overall impressions of the evening– a big “meh”.

But at least the rose is pretty! 

And my hair does look blonde in this photo, which was taken last night…  so I’m going to resist the urge to break out the hair color.

I did notice a couple of patrons ordering from the regular menu.  Or, at least it appeared that they did.  I never think to ask about doing that, especially since having worked in restaurants, I know that kind of screws up things for the kitchen.  Sometimes it’s hard to go from server mentality to guest mentality, even if you’ve been out of the business for a long time.

I’ll be the first to admit that my attitude sometimes sucks.  I certainly wouldn’t say last night was a disaster.  In fact, having once worked as a waitress in a nice restaurant, I should have realized that if you really want to have a good time at dinner, it’s best to avoid eating out on popular holidays like Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day.  Those are the days restaurants have “special menus” that can lead to disappointment, since you don’t necessarily have a choice in what you’ll be eating.  Those days are also when people tend to go out to eat, which means service can suffer.

Since this was our third time eating at Refugio and the first two times were good, I can truthfully say last night was probably an aberration.  No one can bat a thousand every day.  As always, it was a treat to be out with Bill, who is my favorite person.  That, in and of itself, makes any Valentine’s Day a success.  At least he was home and not deployed or TDY, right?

This weekend, we are going to the Czech Republic, staying in a town very close to Plzen, which is an excellent venue for beer lovers.  I probably like beer even more than I do wine, so I’m expecting to have a good time.  We visited Chodovar, a beer wellness land/beer spa/ brewery in the Czech Republic in February 2009 and, for many reasons, had an unforgettable experience.  So I suspect we’ll make up for last night this weekend, if all goes according to plan.  I don’t know if we’ll manage to hit the beer spa (or a wine spa, for that matter), but I’m sure we’ll find great things to do.  And this time, I won’t forget to bring my camera, like I did last time.