Third Try is a Charm in Edmonds

Creativity is crucial with a $20DollarDateNight. You never know when something might mess up your plans, so always have a plan B…and a good attitude. On our last date night, I will admit I was a little bummed that things didn’t go as I had hoped; but we still made it work and had a good time.

Here is what happened: It was my choice night, so I spent some time looking up good places to get takeout, and take it to the beach since it was going to be a sunny, warm evening. I picked Pho Five Star Vietnamese in Edmonds. They were rated well and had great prices. I could hardly stand it. I was anticipating date night all week. Visions of Hubby and I strolling along Marina Beach Park and the Port of Edmonds, watching the ferries travel back and forth filled my mind. (This is why pulling from the date night jar on Monday is so important. You look forward to it all week. Remember those days when you were dating, and you planned ahead to impress your sweetie? This is the same idea. If you haven’t tried it yet – give it a try and you will see what I mean.)

When date night came along, Hubby and I dropped our kids off at a friends’ house with pizza. We were starved, especially smelling that hot pizza. So, we kissed them goodbye quickly and were off to Pho Five Star. As we pulled in a few minutes later, and the GPS chimed “You have arrived at your destination,” we were smacked in the face by dim lights and a “closed” sign.

“What?!” I was in the first stage of grief: denial. “How can they be closed on a Saturday night?”

“I don’t know, but they are definitely closed.” Hubby said.

We sat and stared for a minute. I wanted to go in and ask them to open up just for us, but that was not a realistic plan B. So, we whipped out our arsenal of options: the Passport Unlimited restaurants list, Entertainment book, and a new discount restaurant coupon source: www.pirq.com (thanks to loyal 20dollardatenight reader Kevin, who told us about it).

My Vietnamese takeout options were shattered. Sadly, we were on a tight timeframe, and weren’t able to find any Vietnamese restaurants in downtown Edmonds. So, we checked out a Mexican restaurant close by. But after looking at the menu and realizing the prices reflected the view waaaay down the street, we said “thank you and have a nice evening” …and left. Then, Hubby took over – and thank God he did, because I was in so-hungry-I-can’t-think-straight mode.

“Let’s go to Demetri’s Woodstone Taverna.” He said as he pointed to their name on the Passport Unlimited list. “And….they have an awesome water view. Come on, it will be great!”

So, we got out of the car and went for a walk, with Demetri’s as our destination. It was a bit windier than I had envisioned, but still amazing. People were walking their dogs, playing, and we even saw an adorable little girl with very big hair and dress up clothes at a traffic light holding her Mother’s hand. Hubby and I laughed as we realized it was a gigantic blonde, Barbie doll style wig. You could see it from a mile away, it was so huge. It reminded us of our daughters when they were that age, and brought back happy memories.

As we strolled into Demetri’s, we realized that everyone else had the same idea as us. The place was jam-packed with lighthearted north-westerners, celebrating good weather on a Saturday night. Young, hip and stylish waiters and waitresses clad in black classy attire whisked patrons plates of piping hot Greek/Italian food. I wanted to steal it I was so hungry.

The four cheery hostesses that greeted us at the door suggested we try the bar, since no other tables were available. I instantly spotted a perfect table for two, tucked into a little corner. We grabbed it and quickly browsed the menu the waitress brought by. By the time she came back to pour us some water, we were ready to order. (That’s how hungry we were).

I ordered the Greek Chicken Wrap ($11) and Hubby ordered the Greek salad with feta, olives, cucumber, and tzatziki dressing ($10).

While we waited, we watched the busyness around us, and the poor people who got stuck waiting for a table. We were glad we snagged one when we did.

“Let’s count how many couples we see on a date.” I said to Hubby.

We counted nine. The rest were groups of people out celebrating, and families. It was pretty cool to see everyone out having a good time together.

I liked the décor. It was swanky and modern, with an up-close-and-personal view of Puget Sound. We enjoyed the view of the giant stone fireplace and back patio, which overlooks the Edmonds ferry terminal (and was closed for a private party).

My chicken wrap was actually three little lettuce cups filled with the most amazing take-me-back-to-Greece flavor. I am getting hungry just writing about it. Delicately placed inside these little lettuce cups were morsels of char-grilled chicken, cucumber, tomato and tzatziki sauce. Hubby’s salad was a nice large portion, and from the look on his face as he devoured it, I could tell he was enjoying it.

I ate every last bite of my wraps. I had to use my cloth napkin because it was a big, drippy tasty mess. Honestly, I could have eaten one or two more. They were deliciously amazing.

The bill was a bit of a shock, though.  We were hoping to get dessert, but the bill came to more than we planned at $18. Hubby had to pull out his iphone and look at the fine print for Demetri’s deal on Passport. Turns out, it was only for 20% off, rather than the standard Passport buy-one-get-one-free entrees. This was the first time we had ever seen this kind of deal on Passport. In our experience (and we’ve used Passport a lot!), we have never seen it only cover 20% off.

“Good thing we didn’t order drinks, or we would have been way over!” Hubby said.

So, we paid and got out of there at $22.50.

Then, we went for a fast walk up Main Street to get our coats from the car. It was deceivingly chilly outside. (That’s another important thing to remember: If you live near Seattle, always bring your coat!) Then, we walked Main Street in downtown Edmonds and ooohed and aahhed at all the cute shops and other restaurants.

“Edmonds is hard to do a date night on $20.” Hubby told a friend later that night.

“Not if my original plan had worked.” I reminded him. “That’s true.” He said.

I am thankful Hubby thought of Demetri’s Woodstone Taverna, though we learned to read the fine print ahead of time next time so there aren’t any surprises.  I am thankful we pre-read the menu at the Mexican restaurant and saved ourselves embarrassment, since we had no coupons for that place. We don’t want another revival of our recent Ivar’s experience.

All in all, I think it went pretty well. I would definitely go to Demetri’s again, especially since I snuck a glance at their dessert tray on the way out. Yum. Happy hour or dessert and coffee would be a great way to enjoy this place without breaking the bank.

• Atmosphere (romantic appeal): 5 Water view, fireplace, happy people. Yeah, that’s a winner. It didn’t matter to us that it was a bit loud in there. We are familiar with loud.
• Budget Friendly: 2 See above about reading fine print. We ended up okay, but would have liked to have had a better discount for this place. Next time, we’ll plan to just order drinks or dessert, to avoid busting our budget.
• Food: 4 Very tasty, though a slightly bigger portion on the chicken wrap would have made it more filling.
• Fun and Unique: 3 Being overly hungry while trying to decide where to go at the last minute was a little tough. Demetri’s atmosphere and beautiful downtown Edmonds helped make up for it.
• Memorable: 4 I’m proud of us for being flexible and making it work. We’re getting better and better at this. Before we went back to get our kids, we took some pictures of the sunset, on one of the beautiful Edmonds beaches. I couldn’t stop laughing because Hubby was trying to take a picture – and the wind kept forcefully blowing my hair into my face. Just remembering it makes me smile.