John\’s birthday was on Monday June 1st and I found that 90% of the time I almost always get him the same things.  Its not that he\’s \”hard\” to buy for per say but there\’s not a lot of things that he\’s into and my choices are limited in the gift department.  So I thought this year I\’d shake things up a little bit and do something different.  I commissioned Krystal to make him a birthday cake because he loves star wars and Krystal\’s quite gifted more so then I am.  Granted she\’s a pastry Chef and I\’m not and she was up for the challenge.  She did a good job on it since it was hard to find a decent stencil to work with.

Anyway we rarely go out so I thought it would be nice to go to the old port for dinner to my favorite restaurant Le Merville.  When I was there last summer the service and food was fantastic!  This time around, the service left A LOT to be desired.  Most restaurants in place Jacques cartier are pricey and fairly high end.  This place is classier, not too expensive depending on what you want and the food is awesome so that\’s a good deal for me.  We went out Friday night and since we both had to work I got ready after I got home and purposely wore something nice but made a point of showing off my 85% of my tattoos in said outfit.  It was a beautiful evening, a nice warm 25 degrees out and it wasn\’t humid and I was curious to see the reaction I would get whilst going out to dinner.

We show up, there\’s a wait for the terrace and I hate to be crowded and didn\’t want to contend with bugs.  We were given a nice table with a big open window so we had the outdoor ambiance without actually being outside.  Our server was only 1 of 2 working the floor and she was French and I could tell that her English wasn\’t too strong (which is fine) but she gave me a look of utter disdain when we sat down, I mean seriously if my tattoos/appearance horrify you please be more discreet about while your serving me.  She asked us what we wanted to drink, dropped some bread off at the table and left. Since I was only 4 days post op I had to stick with something easy to eat so I ordered one of my favorite pastas and John ordered steak.  So when she returned with our beverages we placed our food order at the same time.  So we sat and talked and munched on some bread and our food came out in a timely fashion, our serve accidentally touched my boob while placing my food in front of me (which happens often lol) which she apologized for profusely and then we never seen her again!

Granted I don\’t like to be bothered while I\’m eating but if I order steak or someone at my table does especially you REALLY should make a point to ASK if its done to your liking!  Its common courtesy to check up on your table a few minutes after they\’re delivered their meal on the off chance there\’s something wrong.  So it takes me longer to eat then John so I\’m watching her check on her tables, offering them water or beverage refills, smiling and blah blah blah being all attentive and nice which we got NONE of.  Every time she walked past us which was often because we were seated close to the little bar they have set up it was like she cringed every time!  OK granted John and I don\’t look nearly as old as we are and yes I understand that tattoos AREN\’T to everyone\’s liking and I respect that but it pisses me off when people ASSUME because I \”LOOK\” young and I have tattoos that I don\’t deserve decent service like she was obviously giving her other tables.

So we finished eating, had to wait about 10 minutes to get the bill which I specifically asked for ( they usually give the bill to the man I\’ve noticed) because dinner was on me that night and then I had to wait another 5-10 minutes for her to take me to the bar so I could pay with debit.  I tip generously, especially in Quebec because I know first hand how hard a servers job can be, and I also know that they automatically have to pay 10% of their total sales to the government in taxes to claim tips so even if your table doesn\’t tip 10% its coming out of your pocket  & you have to tip out to the bar & kitchen in some cases however I have yet to work in a kitchen here in QC where the kitchen get\’s tipped out with the exception of my current job.  Anyway I generally add the taxes which is 13% and tack on a few dollars.  Except this time I used the calculator on my phone and worked out 15% on the bill which was $53.50, worked out to $8.06 so I rounded up the bill to $63.00 dollars leaving her a $9.50 tip.

WELL!  What a CHANGE in attitude, she was all smiling and being really nice to us, said good-bye/have a good night about 5 times, come back soon blah blah blah.  John was like WTF was that all about.  So I told him, I left her a nice tip which she likely didn\’t expect.  I will admit that it was partially out of spite, I generally don\’t tip as well for such low quality service but I wanted to prove and point and kill a stereotype at the same time.  Which I hope that I did, but maybe I didn\’t, I don\’t know if I\’ll ever find out.  My mom wants to go back when she comes here in the summer and we\’ll see if she\’s my server once again.  Because one thing is for certain that she\’s most likely going to remember me and I hope that its in a positive way.  After all one should never judge a book by its cover because appearances can be deceiving.

As for dinner itself, I told John that if he ordered fillet Mignon which he was welcome to, he wasn\’t allowed to order it well done or *I* wasn\’t paying for it lol.  I said it would be sacrilegious to the cow that provided it so he manned up and ordered it Med which I know he hates blood and medium is cooked enough that its not bleeding but still nice and tender like a steak should be!  I had fettuccine Alfredo which was nice enough, I could tell that it was made the simple way using fresh cream, butter & cheese.  Didn\’t detect any garlic or black pepper which to me makes an essentially good pasta and I LOVE garlic but the pasta was cooked perfectly and even though it was epically fattening it was still pretty yummy overall.

Then we went on a horse and carriage tour which he had never done through the old financial district with Nina as our guide and our lovely horse Charlotte who I got to feed a carrot to after the ride was over.  John didn\’t want to go anywhere near her and after I fed her she looked at him and seen that he had nothing snorted and looked away ha ha.  Then we walked around the dock for a bit but it was starting to get cold and bugs kept flying up John\’s nose so we went home and had cake.  Overall it was a really nice night and the most \”grown up\”  & expensive date I\’ve ever had but it was well worth it!  😉