A Dining Adventure

Today's little safari took us up I-4 a bit to the Altamonte Mall.

That's right, ye socks, yours truly actually stepped foot inside a mall. (Shudder.)

Surprisingly, despite a thriving food court full of the stereotypical variety of eateries, there is only one full-service establishment on the premises: Elephant Bar & Restaurant.

Ye native socks may remember the location from its previous incarnation as a Ruby Tuesday's, near the Barnes & Noble.

But, this place is far from Ruby Tuesday's with a pan-Asian menu and a jungle themed dining room.

Unfortunately, the only good thing I can say about this place is that the greeter and hostess were very nice and got us seated quickly. Our server, on the other hand, left much to be desired. Maybe, I was expecting too much on a Sunday afternoon . . .

Anyway, I ordered the sweet and sour chicken. But, as Linda Richman would have said on Coffee Talk, it was neither sweet nor sour: discuss!

The presentation was . . . interesting. It arrived with some peculiar dry stringy things sprinkled over the top, and a generous bowl of white rice on the side. Never did figure out what that stuff was on top, though.

The only remedy I could come up with was to douse this culinary disaster with some soy sauce. Of course, they didn't have any condiments beyond salt and pepper on the table, so I had to wait for the painfully slow waiter to bring it . . . and, then only after he gave me an annoyingly quizzical look.

Add to this the fact that we were given the best seats in the house, next to a window overlooking a bank of Pepsi machines. Oh, the parade of mall rats that were buying cold sodas this afternoon up in Altamonte!

Fortunately, I had some pretty interesting dining companions to ameliorate these annoyances.

The bottom line: unless dinner service is ten times faster than lunch, and you can get a seat with a better view, you might want to consider some other place. Maybe, even invest in a good wok and try stirring something up in your home kitchen?!