Swing and a miss

We really don't go out to dinner regularly. And me, ME, coordinating a handful of mouths to go out for pizza in the Albany area, basically unheard of. Don't think it has ever happened.

Thursday night, I loaded up the mini van with me, my wife, both daughters and a boyfriend and headed off to finally try Romo's Pizza. I'm excited. I've heard good things about it. I drove past the new, larger restaurant on my way to get apples for Thanksgiving. Pretty sure they had a pizza do well at the pizza convention in Vegas. Been meaning to go for a long time. It is incredibly rare for me to be excited about trying pizza this close to home. 

A co-worker offered some tips for things he and his wife had like there (they are regulars). In fact, I'm told last time they were there with their two kids, his wife asked, "What do you think Jon would say about this?" Now, I find that hilarious for two reasons. First, I have never met her or discussed pizza with her. Anything she knows about me and pizza is second hand from my coworker, who has been over to the house for my pizza - at least once a year I bring the gang over for pizza and call it team building. And second, I can't believe that anyone thinks about how I would react to a specific pizza. That's nuts.

So, we get to Romo's at 6:30. The parking lot was a little exciting, and I eventually find a spot to park the family truckster and we head inside. Looks crowded, but no lines and no customers standing. There is a completely open 6-top directly behind the host stand. Here we go.

Table for 5, please.

Do you have a reservation? 

I didn't know you took reservations (most pizza places don't unless it is for a large party, would have thought that start at 6 or 8).

We take them for parties of 5 or more. Unfortunately, we are completely booked up for the rest of the night. It's trivia night.

There's no more seats for the night?

No, I'm sorry.

OK. I thought trivia nights were in places that featured a bar. This looks like it has a bar, but it is mainly food. Not a place you would stop for a few beers. I also thought Trivia Nights were Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday to drive up traffic on slower nights. Thursday through Sunday, I would have expected a pizza place to want to turn over tables. 

There was a brief discussion about takeout, but I didn't want to do takeout pizza (depending on the place, it can really lose a lot in transit). We drove past something that looked like a Japanese restaurant on the way. The map on my phone said it was good so off we went. It was good, service was very friendly and we had a really nice time, but totally a swing and a miss. Probably late May will be the next time I have enough people at the house to order a lot of food at Romo's. Oh well. If current events teach us anything, there are much worse things than a failed pizza night.