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BY LISA KAMPETER

The Dining Divas’ restaurant choices haven’t lived up to our expectations lately so we’ve learned not to get our hopes up. We live, and we learned again this month.

The Dining Divas enjoyed dinner at Travena’s in Cottleville. Yes, we enjoyed our outing, but no, we weren’t too impressed with the food. For this Diva, it was such a let down as I had visited the place on a couple occasions and had a great time and great food and was excited for the Divas to try out this Greek (or is it Italian) restaurant.

Travena’s is located on Highway N in Cottleville. It has a somewhat upscale appeal but with a St. Charles flavor. And on this night especially, the locals were out, dressed to impress.

Unfortunately for us, our waiter didn’t seem to be out to impress anyone. Typically, I’d cut him some slack, but the restaurant wasn’t that busy. The impression I got from our waiter was that we were an inconvenience for him. In these kinds of situations, it seems to work best for us if you (the waiter) just spill it. Tell us you’re having a bad night. Tell us another waiter called in sick. Tell us you’re just too upset about the Luke and Lorelei situation on Gilmore Girls. Just tell us something, and we can be very understanding. He told us nothing. And that’s basically all we got out of him. Nothing.

For some reason I tend to be called the “Sally” in the group (from When Harry Met Sally) whenever I order my food. I occasionally have questions about my order. This night, I was going to “try something different” which is so unlike me. I decided on the special, as prepared by the chef. Not difficult. Seems that wasn’t such an easy request after all. “We’re out of the special,” I was told by the waiter as he stared at me when he returned from the kitchen. He continued to stare at me as if I should have had a contingency plan already prepared. What was I to say? “I’ll take Plan B.”

When I didn’t, his persistent stare turned into a glare. The waiter didn’t think it was necessary to bring me a menu from which to make another choice. So I went with something almost every restaurant offers, a basic pomodoro pasta served with “shell noodles,” he claimed.

A couple Divas went the Greek route and shared Greek pizza, egg lemon soup, Feta cheese, hummus, spanokopita, and more. Unfortunately, they weren’t too impressed. The Newlywed Diva, who also had visited Travena’s before, had the beef kabob and was disappointed too. It was her first bad meal at the restaurant.

Grandma Diva had the seafood pasta, and she felt the food and the restaurant were easily forgettable. Not Diva worthy by her standards.

This night we had a Brave New Diva who joined us for the first time. This courageous soul took a giant step in her life and dined with this unfamiliar group. Unfortunately, she, too, was let down by her dinner choice.

Here’s where the Picky Diva comes in. Some people would say noodles are noodles. Not for me. I prefer cavatelli noodles (shells), and the waiter told me the dish I ordered was with cavatelli noodles. Well, it wasn’t, but I didn’t say anything. Plus, the pasta had olives in it. As soon as it arrived, those in the group who know me well enough collectively shared a loud sigh when they saw the olives on my plate. I was not happy. But being the pleasant person that I am, I graciously picked them out of my pasta and shared them with the group. Our waiter, Bo, asked if my meal was “going to be okay, Ma’m”, and I didn’t dare request he take it back. Again, I got the “stare”.

Perhaps I’m being slightly hard on poor Bo even though my drink sat empty for quite some time, and I patiently waited to begin my meal so I could request parmesan, but he really blew it when he didn’t offer anyone coffee or dessert at the end of our dinner. Bo obviously doesn’t know about women and sweets? It wasn’t just me this time. All the Divas agreed. Bo doesn’t know diddly, at least about pleasing the ladies out for the night. Or maybe he was just having a bad night.

We didn’t allow Bo or our disappointing food to bring us down. The Newlywed Diva shared her wedding album with us and her news of leaving her job of eight years. Grandma Diva just returned from visiting her son and grandkids in Burma. She is so excited for the new arrival of a baby girl this summer that she’s planning to go back to Asia in June. And the Greek Diva was getting ready to take off for Italy.
We all have bad nights. Maybe this night was Bo’s. Or maybe it was my bad night. But Travena’s is a cool place with a happening bar (live music Thursdays and Fridays at 9PM) that caters to a slightly older crowd. The slightly older Divas would go back for that. And that’s not all bad.
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