Afternoon Snacks at Max Brenner's

After doing some shopping in the area, this afternoon we decided to stop in at Max Brenner's in Union Square for a quick dose of chocolate to tide us over until dinner. One of our guests had had heard good things about it from friends, and this was the first time we had a chance to try it out.

Of course, on this particular afternoon, the majority of the Manhattan population plus quite a few visitors had the very same idea, and so there was quite a crowd by the time we got there at 1:30. We were given an estimated wait time for a table of 25 minutes, which turned into 40 before we were actually seated.

This just heightened our anticipation, though, and so we were happy to sit down at last and peruse the menu. After thoroughly browsing the options, we decided to share the fondue sampler for the table, with a couple of us opting for various forms of hot chocolate as well. For myself I chose the Mexican spicy hot chocolate.

One odd thing that happened right off is that when the waitress first came to take our order, I was first to jump in and order to hot chocolate. The rest of our part of five, though, spent a minute or so hemming and hawing about what they wanted and do the waitress, eyeing the crowded dining room anxiously, quickly jumped in with an offer to give us more time. It was clear that we were not ready to commit to an order, so it is certainly understandable that whe would want to move on. We agreed, although I had my usual pangs of regret knowing that once you send a waitress away once, they don't return on their own.

After ten minutes or so she finally returned after a nod in her direction, and took the rest of our order. What was strange, though, was that at the end of the ordering process she indicated that she had already turned in my order for the hot chocolate, and sure enough just a couple of minutes later it arrived, far in advance of the rest of the items we ordered. Strange that she didn't wait until the whole order was complete, since I was long finished with my hot chocolate by the time everyone else started. It was extremely busy, though, so I can forgive the small inconvenience. I just though it would be easier for her to combine it all into a single order.

Overall, temperature of the hot drinks was a problem (somewhat ironic given later events with the hibachi grill). All the hot chocolate orders and my wife's coffee were lukewarm at best. My wife wet so far as to ask the waitress to exchange hers, not only because of the fact it wasn't hot but also because the outside of the mug was coated with some kind of sticky chocolate residue.

When the fondue sampler arrived, it came with the promised mini-hibachi grill for toasting the accompanying marshmallows. We all tried our hand at toasting a marshmallow, with some difficulty since the grill didn't seem very hot, providing heat in only a couple of spots.