a fiery dinner!

After two weeks of travelling through England, Ireland and Scotland it was nice to have a catch up with Clare and Sadie. We organised to have dinner at a restaurant near their place so we can tell them stories of our crazy adventures. We went to a Italian/New York style restaurant called Frankie and Benny's. We arrived a little earlier than they did so we sat near the bar and had some cocktails. I can't go past an Amaretto sour!

A few drinks later we sat down at our table ready to order our meals. Enjoying our great pizza and pasta, we sat and talked about what we had been up to when all of a sudden the restaurant started to become filled with smoke from the kitchen. Very shortly after, the fire alarm started howling and diners were looking around wondering what to do. The alarm soon stopped and the wait staff calmed everyone down and we all carried on with eating our meals. Not too long after that, the alarm started again and this time there were flames coming out of the pizza oven. The restaurant staff came around and told us that we had to evacuate the building. Not wanting to waste his food, Roy picked up his plate and we all filed out of the exits. We were told to assemble at a nearby signpost where Roy carried on eating his pizza.

We stood and waited for them to put out the fire and clear away the smoke and were constantly being reassured by the staff that they were truly sorry for the inconvenience and that we would soon be able to go back inside and carry on with our dinner. The minutes ticked by and we were still waiting.. being the good people we are :-P we stuck around so we could pay our bill but were expecting a hefty discount after spending so long outside. A few frustrated people walked off and the restaurant staff kept coming and apologising to us and telling us that we would have to wait until the fire brigade came to give them the 'all clear'. Frustrated and sick of apologising to patrons, the manager then came and told us that because it's taking so long we wouldn't have to wait around or pay our bill but we were welcome to stay and have some dessert and drinks once they were ready for business again. Since the fire brigade hadn't arrived yet, we decided to go to a nearby cafe for a coffee and some dessert. I'd say it was a pretty well timed fire since we all got to finish our meals and we didn't have to pay our bill.