This year, my Dad and I decided to celebrate his day on Saturday. First, because the weather was going to be better and second, we figured it would be less crowded. The day started out great, after a tasty breakfast of bagels and fruit, we drove to Newburyport, MA from our home in Swampscott, MA. Newburyport is a quaint seaside city with great little shops to browse in and a good selection of cafes and restaurants, too. The ride was a quick trip up Rt. 95, and we were soon enjoying shopping and strolling along the streets. The place we stopped for lunch is half café and half magazine store. Lunch was a veggie wrap that was overfilled with a variety of vegetables, the coffee was good and so was the service. It was a pleasant break in the day. After lunch, we did some more shopping and also sat in the plaza. It is a lovely part of the city, with plenty of benches to sit and watch the world go by. The weather was pleasantly cool and sunny, and my Dad truly enjoyed sitting and relaxing for a while.  There were street musicians to listen to, and it was fun to watch small children dance to the live music. We observed numerous dogs enjoying themselves in the fresh air, as well.

 Later in the day, it was time to head to the North Shore Shopping Mall in Peabody, MA, where we were going to have dinner in our favorite fine dinning restaurant, Legal Seafood. We enjoy going there to celebrate special occasions, like Father’s Day. We arrived at the mall early, so did a little shopping before going to eat. I went into Yankee Candle, as they were having a terrific sale. The salespeople were cheerful and helpful, so when Dad and I went to Legal Seafood, we were in a great mood, looking forward to a relaxing dining experience to top of a wonderful father/ daughter day. We entered the restaurant, and we were welcomed and seated promptly.

 Then it went downhill from there. That is because, our waitress was just about the worst I have ever had! She never brought our salads to the table, and my Dad noticed that others who ordered after us got their appetizers. However, before we could get our waitress’ attention to ask about the salads, our dinners were brought to the table. As, it was too late for the appetizers at that point; we just cancelled them. Our waitress said that the salads were prepared too late, I find this difficult to believe, as how much prep time does a green field salad need!?!  Our dinners were tasty enough, no complaints about the food at all, however, by the time our second round of drinks came out, we were done with our dinners.

We did want to order dessert, and that is when what upset me the most happened. We were looking at the menus and our waitress walked by and literally threw a few after dinner mints at us! In all my years going out to eat, even at the occasional diner, I have never had anything thrown to me by a waitperson. My Dad was just flabbergasted by this, we have no idea why she even did this either. We did get our dessert and coffee, which both tasted fine, however, to get a coffee refill, I had to ask a passing waiter, as our waitress never came back to the table to ask if we wanted more coffee. In fact, she hardly came to our table all night. However, both my Dad and I observed other tables, served by different wait staff, being attentively taken care of. She did bring the check, with two more mints, once she saw we were finished. (She said the coffee was free due to the appetizer incident).

All this was a shame, because, instead of my Dad having a lovely relaxed special dinner at the end of a great day, we ended up having a very rushed and disappointing meal due to the lack luster service. It is ironic as well, as this is just what I was trying to avoid on Father’s Day.