This week on Truthful Tuesday, hosted by Thoughts and Theories, asks:

When it comes to dining out, does superb quality of food make up for subpar service, or does stellar service make up for lackluster food?

For me, oftentimes is the latter. In my opinion, we don’t eat with our eyes first. We eat with emotions.

I don’t dine out often but when I do, I (and probably everyone) expect great service like the food is quick to come, I don’t have to wait forever for someone to come over to take my order, and the atmosphere around the table is positive. Any one of those things can impact my emotions.

I remember there was this one time. I will never forget it. My mom, stepdad, and I were moving from California to Texas. We were on the road. My stepdad was hungry and decided to stop at the first restaurant he saw from the freeway. I was still groggy from my nap.

The restaurant wasn’t crowded. “It’ll be a few minutes,” my stepdad said.

5, 10 minutes had gone by, my stomach started to rumble. Where’s the food? I peeked at the counter, the employees were popping gum in the back. What are they doing?

“Excuse me,” My stepdad said loudly as he approached the counter.

“May I help you?” The person asked in thick accented English.

“How much longer do I have to wait for my order?”

“5, 10 minutes.”

Another 10 minutes went by. I was getting irritated. My stepdad went up to the counter and was told again it’d be another 5, 10 minutes again. He began swearing.

In the end, it took nearly an hour for us to get our food and no matter how great the food tasted, I couldn’t taste anything but the disappointment of the service.