Today, we had a birthday party for Boy. He will be 21 on 3/24, but that is during the week and thus it is easier to schedule family together on the weekend. I decided on Pappadeoux because I thought the meal should be a little fancy, and special.
My parents came along with my younger brother and Wife's parents came along with her younger sister, brother, his wife and about six kids total. My boy added another three friends of his for a total of 20 people.
Wife had called ahead and was able to reserve seating for us at 4pm. Of course, we left the house at 330pm and took about 40 minutes to get across town. They held the table for us. It was crazy packed in the restaurant, considering we went in for lunch time. Wife heard a girl getting told while we were up front waiting to sit that it would be a three hour wait. Good thing we called ahead.
I sat at one end of the table with Wife to my left, my parents to my right, followed by my inlaws next to Wife. Boy and his friends filled in after my dad and brother, then all the rowdy kiddos at the far end, Chubs holding court as the centerpiece on the other end. He said he would entertain the kids menu, but within two minutes was suggesting to my wife he would rather eat the half chicken thing at $19.99. "Uhh, no. You can eat the chicken tenders at $5.95" was my response. Uncharacteristically, he gave in without too much arguing. As long as they made it spicy. I told him to tell the waiter and back to his seat he went.
I had the chilean bass with crab pieces on top and a side of red mashed potatoes. It was really good, but delicate in flavor. I like hardier stuff usually, but this is not a steak restaurant, so I chose not to order from their cow section. By the way, Pappadeoux is kind of a cajun/Louisiana type place.
Wife and my mom and dad for that matter, all had the fried fish combo platters. I was tempted to get that, but most of the time, that stuff is too greasy and leaves me feeling sick. They do fried fish well, the batter was very light, it was mostly fish, not covering, both my wife and mom gave me large chunks of fried fish, tilapia, I think. It was delicious when I added just a touch of lemon.
Plenty of pictures were taken, Boy even got a piece of key lime pie which I tasted as well. I liked that too. All in all, everyone said the food was good. My brother kind of complained that it would have been better going to Red Lobster, but he enoys complaining. I think if I gave him $500, he'd complain it made his wallet look fat.
Anyways, my brother in law was teasing my wife about us paying, or it's not a party, it's a gathering, so we were prepared to swallow the bullet, but my parents, brother, in-laws, and brother in law all coughed up some serious cash to help out. The only ones that got a free meal were Boy's friends, but they're in college, and I am happy to pay for them.
The bill was $598, which would have hurt, but we got more than half the money from everybody contributing. I can't say enough nice things. The restaurant was top notch, and this is why I didn't mind cutting our vacation short by a day. We live in a great city with ample opportunities to do things right. My boy was a happy camper at the end of the night.
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