Mommy & Daddy Date Night

Last night was our 3rd date night since the girls were born and let me tell you.. it was amazing! We were given some money as an anniversary present last year to go to Il Fornaio, and we just never made the time to go out. Finally, we decided to just go. I made reservations online, and that was it. Meemaw & Peepaw came over to watch the girls for us, and they even brought pizza for them… well, among other treats. We knew the girls were just going to have a blast, so we didn’t worry about anything. We got all dressed up for dinner, and off we went.

The reservation was for 530pm. We got there a little early, but they seated us right away. We were actually very lucky and were seated in the Piazza. The sun was still up, so we got to see the sunset through dinner. We were greeted by our server, Christopher, and given some freshly baked bread… and I mean fresh! It was still steaming! He asked if we knew what we wanted to drink. I wasn’t sure since I knew I wanted wine, but had no clue what I wanted for dinner.. and you know the wine you pick really depends on what you eat for dinner. So, we picked an appetizer and thought about the meal a little bit longer. When he came back, he answered our questions, and ended up basically picking our meals, and then my wine for us. I’m always so indecisive when it comes to a menu with so many good choices.

For an appetizer we got Rustichella ~Housemade flat bread topped with goat cheese, mozzarella, tomatoes, red onion, kalamata olives, basil, oregano; baked in the wood-fired oven, and it was so good. I did get wine early on, a Chardonnay that was so good. Not too long after, our entrees came, and they just looked and smelled delicious. When I first tasted my chicken, I was in heaven. I ordered the Pollo Toscano ~Rotisserie chicken seasoned with rosemary; served with saute´ed vegetables and mashed potatoes. It was so good, I can not even begin to describe it. Daddy got the Tagliata Chianina ~ Beef tenderloin grilled rare and sliced, balsamic vinegar and green peppercorn sauce; served with organic saute´ed spinach, roasted Yukon Gold potatoes and uccelletta cannellini beans. I tried his meal too and it was outstanding. The staff there didn’t hover over us, but rather came to check on us a few times, and they were always the right times. They made sure everything was good, and asked us if we needed anything. They offered more bread, tea, wine, etc. We were just in awe at how well they took care of us. When we were finished with our meal, Christopher offered dessert. We were curious as to what they had, so we accepted. He brought out this table with 8 different desserts on it. We ended up getting a plate that had a mix of the Crespelle con Vaniglia ~Crepes filled with apples and grappa infused pastry cream; vanilla gelato and caramel sauce, Tiramisu ~Lady fingers, rum, zabaione, Galbani mascarpone cheese, espresso, cocoa powder and the Rosina al Cioccolato ~ Chocolate mousse, fresh raspberries and sponge cake soaked with Triple Sec; served with orange crème anglaise. We thought we had ordered it just for the taste, but we ended up eating the whole plate.. We received our check after our dessert plate was cleared, and we were pleasantly surprised! We had thought we were going to go over our gift, but we actually didn’t. The service and the food was beyond exceptional, and the price was very reasonable. We left our payment and tip and left the restaurant. On the way out, Daddy stopped one of the Dining Room Managers and told him how much we enjoyed our experience, and he promised he’d pass the word on to Christopher.

As we walked out to the front, we noticed how busy the restaurant was. There were so many people waiting to be seated, the dining room was full, and noisy now. It was so different from when we arrived. The reason I note this is because we never noticed. We didn’t hear anything where we were seated. The outstanding service and attention to detail was not hindered. We really felt like we were the only people there. It was the best dinner we’ve had in a very long time. We will most definitely return to the Il Fornaio in Sacramento for another date night. We hope to be able to bring more of our family there as well!

After Dinner, we decided to walk around Old Sacramento for a little bit. We walked in and out of a few stores, had a good time talking and just enjoying the atmosphere. We stopped in at Sacramento Sweets to pick up some Caramel Corn, English Toffee, and Chocolate Dipped Red Vines for my parents as a small token of our thanks for gifting us the opportunity to go out, just the two of us.

This morning, we had to take Daddy’s truck in for some repairs. We were told they were only going to take an hour or two, so we decided to stay in the area rather than drive all the way home. Well, we drove out to Sunrise Blvd to a restaurant called Brookfield’s. We had been there once before, but it had been 2 years since we were there. Monkey See and Monkey Do were all excited about going to eat breakfast at a restaurant. Unfortunately, the experience wasn’t as good as we had hoped it would be.

We got there and were seated very quickly. It took a while for our server to come to us, and when she did, she only took drink orders. She didn’t even give us a chance to order our food. We had ordered mochas for us and milk for the girls. She came back and dropped off our drinks and left again. Ok, so it’s been nearly 20 minutes and we still have yet to order our food. Oh, and the mochas.. they seemed like they were instant. They were very watery and the bottom of the mug had a bunch of chocolate powder that still needed to be mixed in. Anyway.. She finally came back and took our food order, and when the food finally came out, it wasn’t hot. I had ordered the Western Skillet, and my cheese was all rubbery already. I guess I should’ve just ordered the Pancakes.. All in all, we spent almost two hours there. It was a bit of a disappointment, and we probably won’t go back there anytime soon, unless there are no other options. They do advertise that they are a WiFi Hotspot, and that would have been one good thing going for them today, except it was down the entire time we were there…