Pitfalls of dining out in Graham on a Saturday night

After a long day at the office today, Kathy and I decided to go to the new Pizza Hut in Graham. She loves the personal pan pizzas and I and a fan of their cheese sticks.

I worked until almost 6:00 pm and then headed home. We watched some TV and decided to go grab some food around 8:30 pm. For those who have never been to Graham, TX nor have lived in small-town America, let me let you in one a little secret. Dining out at non fast-food restaurant after 9:00 pm on a Saturday night is possible. However, your choices are rather limited. Extremely limited in Graham.

We arrived just about 9:00 pm and were seated at the back of the place as requested. The new joint is nice and a welcome relief from the ancient one they moved out of just down the street. The menu selection, with the addition of the Wing Street stuff, was much larger.

Kathy knew what she wanted when we left the house, so there wasn't any need for her to study the menu. I had all but decided I wanted a personal pan pizza and some cheese sticks.

We placed our drink order. I noticed the table was dirty and grabbed a paper towel from the table and wiped up the mess and scooped off the crunchy bits as best I could. The waitress delivered our drinks and I was still looking at the menu, so I asked for a moment more. She returned in a reasonable amount of time and begin to take our food order.

It started downhill here.

Kathy ordered a personal pan and was told they were out of personal pans, but she could get the individual pizza. Sure, it's a few bucks more, smart move on their part to be 'out' of personal pans.

'What will you do for tomorrow', Kathy quizzed the waitress, who ignored the question. This would be a pattern this evening, unfortunately. She opted for the individual pizza and loaded it up with pepperoni, green peppers and onions.

Realizing I would have to change my order some, I begin looking at the menu again. I am not a big fan of the Wing Street Wings. They aren't like Buffalo Wild Wings or Wing Stop, where they cook the coating into the wing. Wing Street Wings, at least all of the ones I have tried, are cooked and then appear to be basted in sauce, resulting in wings that is too 'wet' for my tastes.

As I got ready to order some cheese sticks, the waitress threw me into a tailspin saying they were out of anything 'sticks' along with the personal pans. No cheesesticks. No breadsticks. No cinnamon sticks.

Frak me. Yeah, yeah, another BSG reference, but this is a family-friendly blog.

Well, there goes half the appetizers and my whole meal choice. I immediately asked if this was a corporate store or individually owned, since I would be making a formal complaint the next day.

She attempted to say it was a busy night, blah, blah, blah, but at this point I was frustrated and I simply wasn't hearing her.

I looked over at Kathy and she knew I was thinking, 'let's make like Moses and get the flock out of here' at this point. I resisted the temptation to give her 'the nod' for two reasons. I can find something else to eat and what other choices did we have at this point (9:10 pm) on a Saturday night in Graham?

Dejected, I ordered up the Honey BBQ sandwich and stewed, at one point asking aloud 'how in the frak this could happen on a Saturday night knowing they (Pizza Hut) were one of only about two or three 'non-fast food joints' open after 9:00 pm'.

But, alas, I wasn't going to ruin the evening.

Our food arrived and I ate my sandwich. It wasn't bad, the curley fries that came with it were a surprise. I guess in my tailspin of having to scramble to decide on something else, I missed their inclusion. Kathy picked at her pizza. She didn't eat all of it, and basically scraped the toppings off the crust. Those personal pans are much better than the individual, I could tell. Later on, she told me the crust was bland and tasteless and didn't seem to be 'cooked'. It wasn't doughy, but had no crispness to it.

We waited on our check, but it didn't arrive in a timely manner, so we strolled to the register and paid up. When the guy at the register asked how things were, Kathy replied 'not so good' and he ignored the comment.

I grabbed the last business card and found out that I knew the manager. I can't wait to tell her my story.

As much as I love being here (Graham), it is quite frustrating trying to dine out unless you are content with fast food options. If you want a burger, taco or chicken, they got you covered like a jimmy hat.

What I wouldn't give for a good restaurant that actually stays open past 8:00 pm *any* day of the week. Places like The Dinner Bell are only open during lunch Monday through Friday and others like Third Street Cafe close at 2:00 on Saturday or Sunday.

Perhaps when Montana's arrives in the coming weeks it will bring a new breath of fresh air to dining out in Graham. Maybe it will encourage other places to stay open later or maybe someone will move into the old Vetoni's place and offer us an alternative to the fast food nation. What I wouldn't give for a Braum's, a burrito place like Chipotle, Qdoba or Freebirds or a Baja Fresh. I mean, darn, there sits an old Taco Bell across the street from Montana's new location just waiting for a new tenant.

If not, I am gonna have to start my own joint up. People in Graham are starved (pardon the pun) for good food at times other than during lunch. I will either get a new restaurant to come to Graham or I will start my own.