My foodie friend Sally and I have been here before on several occasions.
I think I've even shown the menu, too. I don't know why I even look, because I know what I'm going to eat when I come here.
Of course, I always have water with lemon as my drink of choice.
I have a friend who works in the food industry and he explained that (in America, at least) drinks are where restaurants make their money. All prices are in U.S. currency. Including ice, a glass of soft drink costs a bit over SEVEN CENTS to make. Coffee costs a bit more, because any not served must be thrown out after three hours due to the coffee getting bitter. Tea bags are purchased in bulk and cost about FOUR CENTS. Add hot water, and you have no waste with hot tea. Iced tea is usually made from an instant mix.EDIT: In her comments about soft drinks, Lisca brought up a good point and was right about one thing. The drinks I referred to were a regular sized glass or cup like the one shown in my photo above. If you buy a drink and drink it at the restaurant, you might get a refill for free, although I have been to some places that charge a reduced price for the refill. However, if you buy something to go or at a drive through, there are no refills on soft drinks.
It appears my European friends get better deals when they purchase a soft drink. They get the entire bottle or can, and a glass with ice. Just thought you might want to know.
Sometimes the service here is quite slow, but for this visit, I was quite pleased. Sally and I both had their Italian salads, and I asked for ranch dressing, because I can't stand the taste of vinegar and oil.
The food arrived quickly, too. Once again I had shrimp scampi with fettuccini. We also got hot garlic bread. Sally had meatballs and spaghetti.By now, I suspect you know the drill. It's time to share your drink related post this week. It can be photos, a place you visited, movies, postcards, books, sketches, mixed media, drawings, paintings, tags, scrapbooking, or other art that is digital, hybrid, or traditional, as long as it in some way relates back to a drink, any drink. Regardless, please share below and Bleubeard and I, along with the rest of the T gang will be by to visit. Please link only your T post and not your blog in general. Old photos are acceptable because they may be taken any time, not just on Tuesday.
Please don't forget to check the accept box before pressing enter.
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28 thoughtful remarks:
oh, your meal looks delicious - i would love to go there, too!
happy t-day, elizabeth! ♥
Sounds like a tasty meal, glad you and Sally were able to enjoy some time together again. Happy T Day, Valerie
Mmmm,shrimp scampi. That was my Auntie's signature dish. Always nice to get great service to go along with a good meal.
I'm not a big fan of Italian food but you picked some winners. I'd eat those. :)
Happy T day!
I LOVE italian food! Your meal seems delicious. Kisses!!!!!!!!
Now that looks really yummy. I'll come with you next time. That looks like real italian food!
Interesting what you said about soft drinks. I don't drink soft drinks (well, not with food anyway, as I don't like a sweet drink with savoury food). But I always thought that in the US you got perhaps a smaller drink but you are then allowed to go get a refill at the machine. And from my own experiences the softdrinks cam in small, medium and large. Of which the small is still a huge glass.
But water is always a good choice.
Here in southern europe a restaurant or bar cannot refuse a person a glass of water. Even if you do not order anything else, go in any bar and ask for a glass of water and they will have to give it to you (but they are not obliged to give you a table or a seat of course, just a drink of water.) And of course you don't pay for water, unless it comes in a plastic bottle and then you pay for the bottle as water is free. This rule doesn't apply to airports unfortunately.
Can you understand why I get so mad when at airports they forbid you from bringing a drink but then charge you an exhorbitant price for a small bottle of water! I have a habit of carrying a small plastic beaker or glass so that i can get water from a tap when I am desparate.
OK, rant over,
Happy T-Day,
Lisca
Oh, we want to go there! And I would get the shrimp scampi, too! Looks fabulous! Well, I did my scrap page and entered it at Art Journal. I hope I did it right. Be truthful and tell me if I shouldn't have. And thanks for the instructions to add your TSFT logo , I will try it later. I have been busy today. This blogging, more than I have ever done since I hooked up with you, takes a lot of time! LOL And then there is crafting, too! ( don't know how you do it everyday!) Happy T Day! Thanks for all your encouragement!
I'm with you on ordering ice water -- I hate soda and love water so I'm happy and it is cheaper too. But at dinnertime -- I'll have a g;ass of wine. garlic bread ??? Yummy.
well-yum!!! I do tend to have water- never a soft drink. We don't go out often but when we do hubby will have usually a beer and I will have a glass of wine:) Happy T day and glad you enjoyed your meal:)
Yummy looking meal. The salad, main course and bread looks yummy. I haven't had Italian food since last spring. I think once it cools off I need to have some! :)
I did know about the markup on drinks. Especially soda. I guess the reality is that restaurants need to make some money on something, which would be great if they used more of it to pay their staff, which they often don't do all that highly.Especially the chefs and line cooks and kitchen staff. I know my sister-in-law's husband has worked in restaurants all his adult life and that's what he says all the time. But that's business I guess. Good, bad or otherwise. ANyhow, enough about that. Have a super T day.
Great food and the shrimp looks delicious. I had no clue that it was that high of a mark up. I knew there was one but not that high! Wow!!
wow your meal looks delicious-especially your shrimp-yum
I didn't know that they served you a soft drink with the glass-ice and the can of soda-nice.
Happy T
I think I just might fly over and have the next meal with you and Sally, looks scrumptious.xx
I can see why you like to go to this restaurant. The food does look delicious, especially those shrimps. I think I would have chosen them as well.
It was interesting to read about the drink prices. We have usually to ask for a glass/jug of water and they want us to ask and pay for wine or a flavoured drink. I think they make money here on drinks as well, they always seem to be overpriced to me.
Happy T day wishes.
Yvonne xx
hi again, i went through my fonts and i think i found it: the name of the font is Curlz MT and you can download it for free here:
https://www.dafontfree.net/freefonts-curlz-mt-f120374.htm
hope that helps ♥
Oh my, your shrimp pasta dish looks so yummy! It would be my choice too - yum 😁. In fact all the food looks so delicious including that salad, I can see why you visit often. I'm so hungry now ...lol 😉. Wishing you the happiest of T Days! J 😊 x
yumm yum yum! geesh Elizabeth! I haven;t even finished my morning coffee and now I am hungry, craving scampi! heehee Power of Persuasion-right!
Your food looks delish, those salads... thanks for sharing your fun day day out!
you are right about the drinks!Two glasses of diet Coke with our meal- 5.00 and it varies restaurant to restaurant as to refill charges
Happy Tuesday!
Jackie xo
Thanks for making me hungry dear Elizabeth because of those humongous olives, and the spaghetti looks too yummy. You know I love my trivia, so the info on the costs for drinks is very interesting and good to know. I drink water with lemon even at home and really like the taste. Hugs...RO
Mmmm,shrimp scampi pasta dish! Looks amazing dear Elizabeth!
Happy T-Day my friend!
Big hugs, Susi
Sometimes it is nice to go where you know the menu and know just what you want isn't it? The food looks good to me.
Well that entire meal looks yummy from the spaghetti to the scampi! I have to say usually i make Poorman's Lemonade when we eat out.. I get water and ask for extra lemons that i squeeze into my water then add an equal... If i have breakfast out i definitely have coffee.. and occassionally i will have ice tea. By now we know the restaurants that have good tea..lol Happy T day! Hugs! deb
Isn't it nice to have a restaurant you enjoy so much you look forward to return trips :) It's been ages since I was at a place where they didn't give free drink refills. I'd never go back to a place like that. In these days, there are just too many restaurants to choose from to pay twice (or more) for a soft drink or coffee.
The food y'all had looks delicious!
When there's a place you like and a menu you enjoy, I say go and go often! This looks like one of "your places." I would be inclined too!
Thank you, thank you for the very kind words you shared on my post about Henry. It was a tough post to write -- much to dig through, much to share, to ponder. Thanks for reading through!
I can see why you like this place so much! The food does look delicious! Some restaurants here have water glasses on the table and a jug of water is brought when you sit down! You still get asked what you would like to drink! Other places you have to ask! As you know it is usually our drink of choice with a meal! Happy T Day! Chrisx
That is crazy that soft drinks and tea are so cheap to buy in bulk. I just paid 2.50 this past weekend for a cup of tea and it was a plain old tea bag, not a fancy brand at all. So disappointing. I guess it is good that I mostly order water when eating out.
Your food looks delicious. I love anything with shrimp.
Happy Tea Day,
Kate
that is weird about your comment not showing up-and I was getting concerned that something happened that you had to leave for the day-but now I read you did get yourself hurt too.
Yes we have noticed that some spots have association fees and some do not, and what's nice about all these listings online now you can read everything including the taxes-and the flood insurance-in some spots is really expensive too over 1000.00 a year just for that. so allot to really look into.
My thing right now is my husband is older and more ready for a complete downsize-I don't want neighbors right on top of me either-I need a bit of space on the sides.and finding level to the water is difficult too-the first property we saw was perfect for that but the house and lot were too small. this is going to take some time for sure.
I have been looking up online to find out values for books-everything I gave away didn't have value to sell online for over 4.00-even some pretty new ones by food channel chefs weren't holding value so those went to the library-and my friend got first pick too.
I have a very big box of those church type cookbooks, and also those little vintage recipe pamphlets from food companies-I have not gotten to pricing those yet. on ebay I saw where people were bundling likes and selling a dozen at a time-I am keeping the very old ones that I like though and those nestle chocolate ones have the best recipes in them. I still bake mostly from scratch but try to change ingredients to more healthy I have been doing that since the 80s really.
sorry you had to re write your comment but am happy you did-hugs
oh and I forgot to mention I really love those old old cookbooks too. I have a few that were my Grandmothers-and were written for a wood cook stove-I love reading those
Your shrimp scampi with fettuccini looks delicious, Elizabeth, but I could go for Sally's meatballs and spaghetti too.
Thank you for your lovely comment on my T-post.
The first time I heard the term "done and dusted" was from a South African priest transferred to CA and then Mexico. The phrase charmed me and I loved reading the meaning. Thank you for pointing out the origin. I should have guessed ;-)
I always preferred an electric stove when we lived in the US. But in Mexico, electricty is very expensive and electric ranges are even more so. That's way I'm so delighted to have a high quality gas stove that doesn't scare me to death - lol.
Happy T-day! Hugs, Eileen
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