Black Beans and Ruby Slippers

I'm a bit torn about this morning. How to separate the restroom from the restaurant? I LOVE Darby's. The college town style breakfast joint is the best in Olympia. The funky atmosphere. The cheerful hip hop and funk music blasting from the speakers. The the way the servers are both intimidating and warm (I think of them, as i think of myself, as "cheerful misanthropes"). The over the top Wizard of Oz decor always entertains. The food is great. I really like a place that gives you an option to get black beans with your eggs instead of meat. Not that I ever order the beans; I adhere to a pretty strict "as much breakfast sausage as possible" diet when I'm out. By the way, I had the latkes this morning, which pretty much guarantees that there will be napping when you get home (I didn't disappoint on the Saturday nap -- though the girls did their best to prevent it).

Also, Darby's has a panel from "Get Fuzzy" up on the wall (one of the panels from the week that Rob wore a Darby's t-shirt).

I even like the fact that Darby's is small enough that you have to wait for your table OUTSIDE -- usually in the cold and rain. It makes me feel like I've payed a bit of penance before breakfast. But once you get in, it's like a scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark when Indy enters any manner of secret treasure room. All the snakes and poison darts are worth it in the end.

But then you visit the restroom, and are completely underwhelmed. Aside from the walls being an attractive hunter green, the restroom is about as boring as can be. It's clean enough, but not remarkably so. I just heard the Elie Wiesel quote this week that goes something like this:

"The opposite of love is not hate; it's indifference. The opposite of beauty is not ugliness; it's indifference.   The opposite of faith is not heresy; it's indifference."

You get the point. The opposite of a great restroom is not a horrible one. It's a boring one. Nothing notable. Nothing distinguishing. How do you really rate something like that?

Yes, it had a minimal amount of graffiti, but not enough to really make any kind of impression. But there's NO art on the walls. The toilet is unremarkable. There's even a boring black metal patio table in there, but was oddly free of ANYTHING.

I hate writing this kind of review. Not only is the restroom a let down (a disappointment on its own merits), but I had such high hopes because of how much I love the place. Anyway, you'll at least be happy to hear that this won't prevent me from eating at Darby's whenever I can.

Rating:

Cleanliness: C+

Decor: D-

Facilities: C+ (it has a decent sink)

Overall: C (indifferent).