Dirty Bird

So Red Robin has opened in Missoula!! Just like when Hooters opened, this is a BIG DEAL. But, unlike with Hooters, I was almost crazy excited for this to happen. I love Red Robin and everything it stands for. We spent a ridiculous amount of time there when I was in high school and then I somehow let it's awesomeness slip away from me. Then here I am, living in Missoula where restaurants of any kind are few and far between, and all of a sudden the comforting familiarity of bottomless steak fries with sides of ranch, a teriyaki chicken sandwich and lying about your birthday so you can get the free sundae all sound SO APPEALING.

Brittany from one of my favorite blogs, Barefoot Foodie, recently blogged about how she found herself waiting outside Chipotle at 10:45am like a woman out of one of those old Mervyn's commercials... "open, open, open.." - you know the ones. Having ALSO found myself outside Chipotle before they opened more times than I can count (until finally they felt bad for us and started letting us in early), it was an odd feeling yesterday to be considering doing the same thing at Red Robin. Once I got it in my head, it's all I could think about ALL DAY.

Finally, 5pm rolled around, I literally RAN to my car, sped home, let Jackson out, drove to the mall (yes, it's at the mall. Don't judge), illegally parked and pushed my way through the already overly crowded entry way to put our names on the list. Thank God I have friends who were excited about this as I was...

Anyway, once there, several things went wrong:

1. I see this crazy hot man walk by. Seriously, just my type: tall, thin, all his hair, nice teeth, fitted pants, jacket, and HOT cowboy boots. Perfect amount of cowboy and metrosexual. I look at Christy and Kristi as he walks by and go, "OH MY GOD, did you just see that amazingly hot guy??" and Christy goes, "Oh! It's Christian!" Ya. Christian is Christy's gay friend who was meeting us for dinner. And we wonder why I don't date... CLASSIC.

2. We, of course, asked for fries before our burgers come. It's just what you do. Well, they end up coming after we get our meals. I understand it's opening day but shouldn't you be MASS PRODUCING those things??

3. My meal, which consisted of a chicken sandwich and a Corona, cost me almost $20. Ummmm... there is no way we would have eaten there so much if it cost that much in high school. I think the Dirty Bird might be ripping me off...

But, since they fully sucked me in with all their new menu items and the way they call chicken strips "Clucks & Fries" (I love that!), I will be back. I'm going to give them some time to pull it all together and then - mark my words - those servers will know me by name.