Opa!

On Saturday night I left my house with one purpose: to celebrate my best-est running buddy in all the land.

Our initial plans involved hamburgers and drag queens – but we couldn’t get a reservation (who knew they were so high in demand?) and our venue changed to Opa! Taverna instead.

Now, when I got this email I went into “whiny Michelle mode.” I had a little pity party and emailed back that I didn’t know if I was going to make it. It’s about a 40 minute drive for me – and it had been raining for 3 days straight without any sign that it was going to let up.  I then slapped myself a few times and got over it (and bonus! the rain cleared!). Birthdays are meant to be celebrated – as loud and obnoxious as possible.

And when I mean loud and obnoxious I mean: “WHAAAAAT??? DID YOU SAY YOU BOUGHT A MONKEY SMOKING A BIKINI??

*Not actually talking

Holy wow that was one loud restaurant. The DJ had the music pumping and we were sitting right by the speakers. We didn’t want to hear anyway. The way the restaurant works is that you can stand up and dance on your tables at any point during the meal. When you dance, people go around throwing napkins at you. Opa! 

Most of the music was American or Greek Dance/Electronica — but you know they had to play the Zorba. The Greek in me really wanted to get up and dance, but then I realized that a) I hadn’t had enough to drink and b) it was super crowded. I don’t do well in crowds. So, I just clapped along and imagined myself dancing. And it looked glorious.

For dinner I started with Dolmades (stuffed grape leaves) and wine.

And then ordered a Souvlaki Platter. Or what I thought was a platter.

*Note that this was after I ripped it apart

Instead, I ended up with the words most expensive Gyro. I was not happy and might have made that known to the waitress (who then, ugh, had the manager stop by – not that I could understand a SINGLE WORD he was saying). Apparently they now wrap their platters. Which…is not what the menu said and makes no sense. They offered to switch it out – but I had already started eating. The food wasn’t bad (the meat was VERY flavorful, in fact), but the point of a platter is that IT’S A PLATTER. And if it’s NOT a platter anymore – TELL THE PEOPLE WHEN THEY ORDER.

/vent

All things aside, I would rate the food a 6/10. Of course, I am VERY picky about my Greek food – and when you’ve had the a lot of good Greek food at less than half the cost – it’s hard to compare. So I won’t.

The best part of the night BY FAR was when this happened:

And then somehow I got dragged into it as well (thanks for the pictures Paula!).

You guys, I need a thumbervention.

(In case you were wondering 2 small glasses of red wine was all it took)

FYI – This is what the restaurant looks like from on top of a table.

After the dancing and deafness, we headed to another bar so we could cool off and actually talk to each other. And then because I have been doing a LITTLE too much partying lately, I called it a night – with the promise to party like a rock star later in the month. After all, June IS a good month to celebrate a birthday