Valentine's in Houston

To celebrate Valentine's Day, Travis and I decided to go to PF Chang's in Houston. Usually for this holiday Travis surprises me with something that he has planned. This is always a huge treat since I'm generally the one to choose and set up our dates or other plans. This year I REALLY wanted to go to PF Chang's because I have heard so many good things about it. It's been difficult to get up there because it's in the middle of Houston and a little more pricey than we usually do. So what better time to make the trip than Valentine's Day?!

Anyways, I left work a little early so that I would have time to get ready. Our reservation was at 8pm and we had no idea how long it would take us to get there (ie, because of traffic). We got to the restaurant 30 minutes early and I was very impressed with the atmosphere. We were seated within 15 minutes and even in a choice location. One of my pet peeves is being seated near the hostess stand, restroom or kitchen. I blame this neurosis on my father. Because we were STARVING, as soon as the server came to greet us I ordered water and steamed shrimp dumplings, thanks to pre-reading the online menu. While we were waiting for that we perused the menu. I chose the Dan-dan noodles and Travis chose egg drop soup and Chang's Spicy Chicken. To drink we ordered a bottle of Cabernet.

The food came and everything was delicious - wine, food and all. The server was awesome and we even each had a mini-dessert shot. Our only hiccup was when the bill came. We were shocked to see that our bill was twice the amount we were expecting. Turns out, we ordered the Seven Oaks Cab, but were brought the Silver Oak Cab. There is a large difference between the cost of these two. Silver is three times as much as the Seven. That was bad for us because Travis okayed the wine when the server presented it to him. The manager was nice enough to only charge us for half the cost of the wine we drank That means we still had to pay more than we had expected. But it was better than our original bill. We still tipped our server generously, as she was good to us. This all put a damper on the end to our evening, so we didn't leave as excitedly as we came. We will go back again and I still very much recommend PF Chang's to anyone who lives in the area. I just advise paying full attention to the wine you order. Especially if it is a Cabernet Sauvignon.

I think because Travis was unable to plan a surprise date for me this past Thursday, he reserved Sunday afternoon with me. He won't tell me what we are doing, but that I should dress as I would to go to work (which doesn't mean much since I can wear pretty much whatever I want to work - the joys of not being in the hospitality business). I hope the end to this date is more successful than the last. I will update on you on this as soon as I have more information.

This is a photo of us before our trip into Houston. I crouched a little because I'm taller than Travis when I wear heels. ;o) I hope you had a wonderful Valentine's Day!

PS - I added a photo to my February 11, 2007 blog. I didn't have the photo handy when I wrote that one...