This post is written by guest blogger #CruiserByHeart
Usually, I blog about my fascination for cruises, but I was so inspired by our restaurant visit on Saturday that I had to write this post. We, #EventAnne and I, took part in this year’s Dining Week and this time we had opted for Gorm’s Pizza in Fields Shopping Center.
We’ve taken part in #dwdk the past six years and always find it interesting to sample new restaurants and especially to see how these restaurants use Dining Week to promote themselves. One restaurant, this was when #dwdk was just ‘a baby’, had added so many extra tables to the dining room that we could barely squeeze in and they had thinned the French onion soup to the point where we almost couldn’t recognize this famous dish. Another year, we had a great meal and found great service at a café style place, but still had a feeling of please-hurry-and-eat-up-so-we-can-get-ready-for-the-next-group.
It was a bit of a coincidence that we chose Gorm’s in Fields this year. But admittedly this was the best #dwdk experience we’ve had so far. And this is where this story connects with my fascination for cruises: The service experience we found at Gorm’s in Fields seemed just as complete as on the many cruises we’ve been on – nothing was left to chance!
Do you know Gorm’s in Fields? This is a fairly new restaurant located on the ground floor of the new cineplex addition just across from the main entrance to the mall. The dining room is open, with a high ceiling and tables casually arranged in tiers with couches on one side. As we presented the vouchers we were shown upstairs to a more intimate dining area with tables in a more traditional setup. At the top of the stairs we were greeted by a young girl who immediately stopped polishing wineglasses and smilingly took our vouchers and found us a great table for two.
Part of the Dining Week concept is a fixed three course menu served with a complimentary bottle of water. At Gorm’s we found a menu showing the details of the in-the-price three courses including a choice of four signature pizzas as the main course. And there was even a wine menu customized to Dining Week. As we settled at our table, the girl came to formally welcome us and explain the details of the “Gorm’s Dining Week”. We asked about their choice of beer and lemonade and were brought tasting samples before we ordered our beverages. As soon as we had placed our order for a glass of grapefruit lemonade and a glass of beer, we received both drinks and the starter.
The starter was a delicious pasta dish with slow braised ragout of wild boar. And with no sense of rush, the other of the two girls serving the upper level dining area offered to clear our table and quickly came with fresh silverware to prepare for our pizzas. 
Piping hot pizzas that were! Made to order! No problems with our requests to have the pizzas without blue cheese. Just smiles and great service. The pizzas were served whole and a pizza cutter was standard issue on all tables in the restaurant. We shared the Margherita and Casper Braid Special with spicy sausage (minus the blue cheese, that is :o)).
As the empty pizza plates were cleared from our table the girl politely asked if we would like a cup of coffee with our dessert. We opted for a double espresso and a cappuccino. The coffee was fresh and warm, the desert was a deliciously new take on the Italian classic of Tiramisu; almond cake with berries in sweet Marsala, white chocolate mousse and a coffee cookie crumble.
When we were all done with this delicious meal, the waitress came to ask if everything had been satisfactory – we were happy! And then came the proverbial cherry on the sundae; a box of their signature pizza flour so we can remember the experience by recreating a genuine Gorm’s pizza at home…just add water (and find more details on their website).
We had a wonderful couple of hours, left the restaurant with full tummies, and had a fantastic experience thru and thru–nothing was left to chance at Gorm’s in Fields.
And what does all this have to to with cruising? Well, as I mentioned the service was great, which is something we treasure and mostly (only?) find on our cruises. And the great service is a big part of our fantastic experiences and memories from the cruises and something we often find ourselves needing when dining out.
Regarding experiences, #EventAnne adds that the genuine interest from our kind waitress as well as the memorabilia we got to take home (the flour) are some of the defined elements of an experience. Add to that the incorporation of your senses (our sense of taste got very engaged this time) and a bit of storytelling (this post) and you almost have yourself a true experience.
