How do you say Happy Valentine’s Day to your one true love?

I know, you’re jealous.

But yeah, this year I decided to take charge of Valentine’s Day plans.  Considering how low the bar is usually set, it’s not that hard to do exceed expectations.  We just aren’t Valentine’s Day people- I don’t have an actual vase for flowers (those are still in storage in our house in California), Mike doesn’t like chocolate and I lack the self-control to keep it around the house. As for restaurants, those usually scare me on Valentine’s Day- too many people, too much waiting, too much planning required for Mike.

But this year, I decided to break my rule and tried to really surprise Mike with a trip to a very special restaurant he’s been talking about going to for like, years.

(Mike refused to pose in front of the sign and only let me take this picture if he could pretend to be nonchalantly talking on his phone.  Because that makes the whole scene normal.)

Some background on how we ended up at a Red Lobster 25 miles from our house on Valentine’s Day: Mike calls me a food snob- this is mostly true.  He, unlike myself, appreciates chain restaurants in a way that makes my skin crawl.  He talks about burgers at Rubys with an enthusiasm that makes you almost want to eat there.  Most of his family’s most important meals took place at Black Angus.  It’s really entertaining, but kind of terrifying when you realize that he’s not joking.

But one chain restaurant he’s never been to is Red Lobster.  For whatever reason, Mike has never partaken in Lobsterfest or All You Can Eat Shrimp-o-Rama (or whatever it’s called).  But he HAS  seen the commercials, and he really wants to believe that the commercials tell the truth.  He’s spent the last 2 years trying to talk somebody, anybody really, into going there with him, but nobody will ever go.  So this year, to express my love, I decided to suck it up and surprise him with a trip to Red Lobster.

We left the house at 4:30 and proceeded to drive 30 minutes to Lynwood, home of the nearest Red Lobster.  I hadn’t told Mike where we were going until we drove up to the restaurant (which, unsurprisingly, shared a parking lot with an Olive Garden).  As soon as we drove up, he started claiming that he totally knew what the surprise was going to be.  Lies.

What did surprise us, but probably shouldn’t have, was that there was a 2 hour wait for a table for 2!  Evidently Red Lobster is the very definition of romance in Lynwood.  I mean, with signage like this, who could resist?

Seriously?  Zagat, we need to talk.

Unfortunately, even Mike couldn’t hold out for 2 hours, even if it would have meant a giant bowl of cheddar biscuits as a reward.  I promised him that we would return one day (hopefully a LONG time from now), and we headed back to the city for another super romantic dining option- hole in the wall Chinese food.

Nothing says love like an empty Chinese restaurant!   Especially one with a really strange name- Jack’s Tapas Cafe.  I still have no idea why they even put the word “tapas” in the name, but their hand-shaved noodles and scallion pancakes are so super delicious that I don’t really care.  I was soon full and happy, and I was with a guy I kind of dig.  Even if he sometimes has truly terrible taste in food.