If you know me at all, then you already know how much I love eating out. It’s like one of my favorites. I don’t actually mind the act of cooking, all in all, but it just seems like such a chore to do anything when I’m hungry that the idea of trying to work with food when ALREADY hungry is just sometimes too daunting of a task. hehe. Eating out is like an escape from the kitchen duties of normal life, and I also like the factored in “quality time” element that it involves. (I think I’ve talked about that before!) Well, lately, we’ve been getting all kinds of incentives that have made eating out actually kind of lucrative! It’s funny how all of this has happened right together in the last few weeks too.
Case #1 – David and I went to Olive Garden a couple of weeks ago. We like Olive Garden, but this particular trip was unlike no other. I’m not sure what was going on, but I everything about the trip was just “off.” We had issues with ordering, issues with drink refills, issues with them being out of breadsticks (oh no!!! I must have bread!) :) and after I looked at David and said, “Where ARE WE? This is not normal.” I finally got annoyed and asked for the manager. I did not really know what to expect with my complaint, but he totally took care of us! He comped our entire meal, AND gave us a $40 gift card so we would come back and have a better experience another day. That’s pretty amazing! Yay for Olive Garden’s problem solving skills. I wasn’t expecting that at all.
Case #2 – I went to visit my grandparents this week and made a stop at Freebirds World Burrito on the way down. We don’t have a Freebirds anywhere near us, so I always try to go to one when I am nearby. I like it there! (I just wouldn’t choose to dine in if I had any other choice — the music level is so loud that it makes you want to squint. hehe, yes, I am old!)
Anyway, the first time I went they gave me one of their loyalty cards. I was aware that I was earning points for each purchase, but I really had no idea how it worked beyond that. (One point per burrito, as it turns out.) I remembered to get out my card on this trip too and I gave it to the guy to scan during my checkout.
He scanned it for me and was like, “Okay, so with today’s purchase you now have….”
“Probably like zero points!”, I butted in laughingly.
He smiled and said, “Yeah. Now you have two points. Did you just redeem some points or something?”
“No, that’s all the points I have so far. I live really far away from here so I just never get a chance to come.” (I think I looked very sad here, hehe.)
“Oh! Well, let me see your card again.” He took the card, pushed a lot of buttons and then hands it back to me. “Well, now you have 11 points! You get a free burrito next time you come in!”
Woohoo, free burrito! It takes 10 points for a free burrito, so that saved me like a million visits to get my free one. It seriously would have taken me YEARS to get 10 points. That made me happy.
Case #3 – This weekend, David and I went to Jalapeno Tree for lunch before I had to head to CVS for the day. We go to Jalapeno Tree pretty frequently anyway, and we’ve become friends with the manager there. We were there just after they opened, and it had gotten really chilly during the night and the restaurant was very cold inside. I was huddling up in my jacket (my usual look for this time of year!) when the manager came by. He greeted us and then said, “Do you think I should turn the heater on in here? Is it cold?”
I was like, “Yes! I am freeeezing!”
The next thing we knew, he was telling our waitress to go get us two cups of soup, on the house, to help warm us up. Nice! She brought out two cups of their new beef taco soup. Of course, that meant that David got to eat both bowls. He was happy about that outcome because the soup was really good!
—
So, do good things tend to come in groups of three, just like the saying goes about bad things? If so, then we’ve had a great run! :) If not, then let’s keep the good things coming!
Jan 30, 2012 @ 00:02:38
I think there is a Freebird’s in the 5 Guys shopping strip near me. I’ve never been – it just sounds like a repeat of Chipotle, which I’m not a huge fan of.
We usually get free stuff by being nice and not complaining – Russ has the weird ability to be helpful without complaining when pointing out problems other customers would make a fuss about. We once got a gift card at PeiWei just for offering to move to a smaller table when one opened up during a really really busy night! They told us not to move but gave us a gift card for being so thoughful!
Jan 30, 2012 @ 23:12:50
That is cool about Pei Wei! That was lucky for sure.
I have discovered that there are a lot of people who aren’t crazy about Chipotle. I have only been there once (the one in Plano/Frisco!), and we were there during the very very busy lunch rush. It was harried and crowded in every part of the place so I didn’t feel like I had time to really make good choices. (I felt like the one person in the world holding up the line for hours at Starbucks, hehe.) I have been lucky enough to only go to Freebirds when it has been at a slow time, and I’ve had really nice employee encounters, so right now I am favoring them, but I’d give Chipotle another try. I’ll plan ahead at home next time, right!
The funny thing is that the Freebirds I went to is ALSO in the same shopping strip as a Five Guys! Odd! Hey, does your Five Guys have the new Coke Freestyle machines? I want to play with one of those.
Jan 31, 2012 @ 08:45:47
Not sure what you mean by “freestyle” coke machine, but our 5 Guys has the standard push button fountain. If by freestyle you mean something that has a touchscreen selection with favored syrups and only one place to put your cup, Russ has seen one of those at the Fuddrucker’s in Denton (not sure if the Frisco location has same kind).
Jan 31, 2012 @ 09:49:02
I am not completely sure what I mean, hehe. I haven’t actually seen one in person yet. There’s a restaurant chain around here called Firehouse Subs (not sure how widespread they are) that heavily advertises the Freestyle machines in their radio ads. They sound neat! I was reading about them and they are slowly making their way throughout several chains. It mentioned 5 Guys, Burger King and some other larger names. I think Wendy’s might have converted too, judging from some of their ads, but I haven’t been there in forever.
But yes, the machine where you can customize everything with tons of choices and add-ons. I just want to know if the add-on flavors are in predetermined “shots” or if you just guess and hope that you get the ratio right. I want it to be predetermined! Like, 1 oz cherry flavoring for a small drink, etc. Otherwise the flavoring will never be consistent!
Jan 30, 2012 @ 00:25:09
Olive Garden is in a mad dash to bring back customers. There was a big article about it recently in the chron. That’s nice of freebirds. They really are a good company with ethics. Beef taco soup??? That sounds amazing! I’ll have to try it next time. Sounds like Dining Right with Athene should be a segment on Good Morning East Texas. Suggest it! You’d do well. (-:
Jan 30, 2012 @ 23:23:50
hehe!!! I would LOVE to do a commentary on food! That would be the greatest thing. :)
And you know what? I’d completely watch a show called “Good Morning East Texas”! Do you know how entertaining that would be?? It would be sort of like “Open Line” or “Swap Shop”, which is a program that comes on our Marshall radio station every morning. Anyone can call in and try to sell anything…..cars….puppies….cattle….USED MATTRESSES. It’s life changing!
http://www.myeasttexasnews.com/swapshop.htm