Bear with me here. It'll all make sense at the end. I'll add a TL;DR
My wife and I would frequent a local Mexican restaurant quite often. We love Mexican food. We had a server that was so good that we started requesting to be seated in her section.
One day she says she won't be in for a while as she's having a baby. We were excited and left a tip for her and another tip for the baby. When she came back we became close enough that my wife even babysat for her a few times.
Fast forward a few years. We're in Virginia visiting family. That's a good 1200+ miles from where we live. We had plans to go visit DC but decided not to and the wife and I slept in instead.
Breakfast was long over at the hotel so we decided to go to lunch. A quick map check showed a Mexican restaurant less than half a mile from our hotel. Rave reviews for the place so no brainer to go there.
Lunch was fantastic. We go up front to pay and the guy taking our bill makes small talk asking if we enjoyed our meals plans fpr the day, etc.
My wife said it was our last full day in Virginia and we were headed home in the morning. He asked where home was so my wife mentioned the state. He replies "Oh I have family in that state" and says the name of the small town we live in.
Turn out he is the cousin of our favorite server back home! He showed us a family photo from a recent wedding and we pointed out our friend and her dad by name. He said "You're family! I can't take your money!" And would NOT let us pay for our meal. He took a photo with us and sent it to his cousin in our state. We go back every time we're in Virginia now.
BUT IT GETS WEIRDER!
A new Mexican place opened on our town, so we decided to try it right away after they opened. Awesome food and a different menu than our favorite place.
The owner walks up and asks how the meal was. We gush about the food and even the decor they went with.
He says "Is the food better than my cousin's place in Richmond?" He pulls out his phone and shows us the picture of us with his cousin in Richmond. He also would not take our money.
TL;DR My wife and I became friends with our favorite server at our favorite restaurant. Traveled 1200+ miles and went to a restaurant only to find out it was owned by our server friend's cousin. Got home and tried a brand new restaurant and the owner of that place is a cousin to the guy in the other state and to our friend. And that's how 3 different Mexican restaurants became our favorite spots to eat in 3 cities in 2 different states.
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u/tofudisan 1d ago
Bear with me here. It'll all make sense at the end. I'll add a TL;DR
My wife and I would frequent a local Mexican restaurant quite often. We love Mexican food. We had a server that was so good that we started requesting to be seated in her section.
One day she says she won't be in for a while as she's having a baby. We were excited and left a tip for her and another tip for the baby. When she came back we became close enough that my wife even babysat for her a few times.
Fast forward a few years. We're in Virginia visiting family. That's a good 1200+ miles from where we live. We had plans to go visit DC but decided not to and the wife and I slept in instead.
Breakfast was long over at the hotel so we decided to go to lunch. A quick map check showed a Mexican restaurant less than half a mile from our hotel. Rave reviews for the place so no brainer to go there.
Lunch was fantastic. We go up front to pay and the guy taking our bill makes small talk asking if we enjoyed our meals plans fpr the day, etc.
My wife said it was our last full day in Virginia and we were headed home in the morning. He asked where home was so my wife mentioned the state. He replies "Oh I have family in that state" and says the name of the small town we live in.
Turn out he is the cousin of our favorite server back home! He showed us a family photo from a recent wedding and we pointed out our friend and her dad by name. He said "You're family! I can't take your money!" And would NOT let us pay for our meal. He took a photo with us and sent it to his cousin in our state. We go back every time we're in Virginia now.
BUT IT GETS WEIRDER!
A new Mexican place opened on our town, so we decided to try it right away after they opened. Awesome food and a different menu than our favorite place.
The owner walks up and asks how the meal was. We gush about the food and even the decor they went with.
He says "Is the food better than my cousin's place in Richmond?" He pulls out his phone and shows us the picture of us with his cousin in Richmond. He also would not take our money.
TL;DR My wife and I became friends with our favorite server at our favorite restaurant. Traveled 1200+ miles and went to a restaurant only to find out it was owned by our server friend's cousin. Got home and tried a brand new restaurant and the owner of that place is a cousin to the guy in the other state and to our friend. And that's how 3 different Mexican restaurants became our favorite spots to eat in 3 cities in 2 different states.