Dinner (and a Movie) Impossible

I had been looking forward to last night all week. Ty and I were going to do dinner and a movie at the Robinson Film Center. We regularly have "date nights," but they're often spent with a group of other couples. It's always a lot of fun, but I was really looking forward to a night out with just Ty.

He had never been to the Robinson, so I was waiting on the perfect movie for us to go. I couldn't do a foreign film, documentary or old-timey black and white picture show. Not really Ty's thing and sometimes a stretch for me, too. "Weather Girl" was going to be perfect. Written, directed and produced by two Bossier City natives, everything I'd seen on the film looked fantastic. A romantic comedy but not nauseatingly girlie.

We decided to do dinner at Abby Singer's Bistro on the second floor of the Robinson. I thought it would give Ty a full picture of all the place has to offer. We arrived in plenty of time, picked a seat on the balcony and waited for service. We waited and then waited some more and then Ty decided to make sure the staff knew we were there.

At this point, I already had a nagging feeling that this meal would not go so well, but I fought the feeling and ordered a glass of wine. We also ordered an appetizer and two entrees. Unfortunately, an hour and a half later we still hadn't seen the appetizer. With 10 minutes to showtime, we canceled our order and got in line for popcorn. It was a massive disappointment. Not to mention, the void left in my stomach from my dinner that wasn't.

The movie was excellent. It was well-written and filled with intelligent humor. The final showing is today at 7:45 p.m. — go see it. However, if you want to order dinner and actually eat it, opt for somewhere other than Abby Singer's. As we left the theater there were numerous people talking about being hungry. They too had to abandon their dinner orders.

What a shame. What's the point in having a restaurant at the movie theater if you can't get your patrons fed in time for their movie. I didn't want to eat a full meal at 10 p.m., but I had to do something — my stomach was tickling my backbone. No worries, Abby Singer's. With each bite of my Ham and Cheddar Lunchable, I thought about the pork tenderloin I intended to eat about three hours prior.