The Place at Perrys: Not a place to which we will return

A climbing antique rose from my rose garden.

May 26th, a Thursday night, was our four year anniversary! I really cannot believe that it has been four years. The years have really gone by in a quick breath, and yet it also seems like we have gone through so much and really grown up together in the past four years. I am big on anniversaries and birthdays and things like that, I think that they should be remembered and special, something to look forward to with anticipation and look back upon with smiles and lovely thoughts. I am sad to report, that this May 26th was not one of those happily remembered anniversaries. Without sharing too much, we have had a very hard year. Our hearts were broken by the loss of our daughter early this year, something from which I know our hearts will never fully heal, never be full again. We have grown together through our loss, and are now closer than I imagine two people could ever be. We are only four years into our marriage, but I feel as though we have been together fifty years, forever bound together as one.

A picture from our wedding day.

We really wanted to treat ourselves to a quiet and intimate evening this year, and as we have just recently returned to Dallas, we were not really sure where to go for our special evening. We settled upon The Place at Perry's on Cedar Springs. We went to this restaurant, when it was known simply as Perry's, for many special events when we lived in Uptown about four years ago, and we had really not been since then. We thought this would be a wonderful place to go, as we had so many happy memories with family and friends, surely it would be the perfect venue! Well, we were sadly mistaken.

Upon entering the restaurant I noticed a different ambiance, not based on changed decor or table settings, but based upon the clientele and the large number of people at the bar and a pharmaceuticals power point presentation in the large seating area. Due to this presentation we were seated off in a dark corner, which at first I thought was great so that we would have a nice quiet evening. However, we quickly realized that our evening would not be quiet, as those sitting next to us were some rather over-served guests who were basically yelling  at each other the whole evening! Also, despite the fact that there were relatively few diners, our waiter took about 10 to 15 minutes to come to our table to ask for our drink order. The rest of the evening just went down from there: didn't have the wine we wanted, the waiter seemed irritated we had delayed his exit for a date or something far more interesting then us, my Cesar salad seemed as though it was from an out of the bag mix preparation, the bisque was just not quite right, Bunker's potatoes au gratin were really just sliced potatoes topped with sandwich sliced cheddar cheese and about a cup of oil, Bunker's bone-in was about half fat, and the bread was almost stale! On the other hand, my steak (Filet Mignon, rare plus) was actually delicious and perfectly prepared as were my whipped potatoes. I hate to give such a bad review, but I really was so disappointed, we so wanted and needed a nice evening where we felt taken care of, and that just did not happen. I suppose this is now just a restaurant, and not a place you go for a lovely evening or a speical memory. Very dissapointing. So much so, that we are actually on our way out to dinner this evening for an anniversary dinner re-do! We are going to Fearings at the Ritz......pretty positive this will give us the evening we so very much wanted on Thursday night!

So take this post for what it is worth, perhaps we hit The Place at Perry's on a bad night, perhaps we were not in the best moods, but regarless, we will not be returning. I hope you can take away that you can always re-do a special evening!

Also, hold those whom you love close to your hearts and hold their hands whenever you can.

Sleepy Shafer.