While out for dinner last Thursday, local grandparents Richard and Helen Boulding were seen acting visibly bewildered by the size of their meals, which they ultimately agreed constituted twice as much food as they really needed.
Richard and Helen, who were dining at their local Romano’s Macaroni Grill in celebration of their granddaughter Catherine’s twelfth birthday, knew they had made a terrible error in judgment as soon as their food was within sight.
“Are those ours?” Helen reportedly remarked as the waitress sat down a tray of food on a
collapsing table nearby. “My goodness those are huge.”
After Richard’s and Helen’s meals of lobster ravioli and fettuccine alfredo, respectively, were placed in front of them, the two continued to ogle at the magnificent bounty that they had received.
“We should’ve known. This is how it is with pasta,” said Richard. “We had so many other options. Gosh, Helen, there was even a specific ‘small plates’ section on the menu. There’s no way we’re ever going to finish all of this.”
The Bouldings explained that when they go out to eat, they usually split one meal or order something small. They claimed that what had caused them to make such an error in judgment this time was the fact that they had never been to a Macaroni Grill before.
“That menu really threw us for a loop!” said Helen. “There were so many options I don’t know how anyone could ever decide. So I just settled on one of my old favorites. I had no idea it would be so big!”
As the Bouldings consumed their meals, Richard and Helen made a point of commenting on the size of everyone else’s plates as well. Helen took the opportunity to mention that her grandson Henry’s order of a full rack of ribs was very ambitious and that he would surely need to ask the waitress for a to-go box. Later in the meal, Richard reportedly alleged that the meatball on their youngest granddaughter Annie’s plate was “almost as big as her head,” which was received by the dinner party with raucous laughter.
Upon completion of the evening, the couple stated that they had learned their lesson and would now know to just share a meal if they went to this establishment again, which they said was likely to occur. Helen was reported to have made a passing comment about adding it to some sort of list.
At press time, the Bouldings were at a new seafood restaurant in town ordering enormous fried shrimp plates that they would later affirm could feed at least a family of three.
Originally Published October 2014
