"He's the guy in the Burberry shirt."

A sad thing happened tonight. Something that may change the course of my life henceforth.

I was very excited to enjoy a fun girl dinner with Sarah and Anna at Bento. If you know me at all, you know that I LOVE Bento. It is by far my favorite restaurant in Tuscaloosa, and I eat there almost once a week. I'm there so much that I said hey to my usual waiter from there when I passed him on the Quad one time. I would gladly swim in a pool of their shrimp sauce.

So needless to say, I was pumped to catch up with my friends and eat some yummy teriyaki chicken dinner. I love every component of this meal. I devoured the house soup and ginger salad as soon as they were placed in front of me. I grew increasingly frustrated though as Sarah's sushi arrived, and Anna and I were left waiting for our dinners. Finally, the waitress brought our plates. As she set them before us, I immediately noticed a problem. In place of the delicious, salty noodles that usually lie between the rice and veggies was... edamame. I hate edamame. My face falling, I asked the waitress if they were out of noodles for the night when she informed me that the owner had decided to REMOVE NOODLES FROM THE MENU ENTIRELY. As reality set in, I pushed the green, furry beans to the edge of my plate and ate as usual.

As I got up later to go to the bathroom, I passed the restaurant owner in his Burberry shirt. I stopped him and introduced myself as a faithful customer who has brought him a great deal of business through the years. I expressed my extreme disappointment about his decision to 86 the noodles. He muttered some excuse about time efficiency and number of employees which I barely listened to. My anger turned to sadness as I realized his decision was final. I didn't bother threatening not to come back because we all know that would never happen. So I asked with one last glimmer of hope, "So are the noodles really gone forever?" He replied with a simple, "Yes."

I returned to my seat and defeatedly finished my fried rice and chicken. I offered my edamame to Sarah. She declined, leaving the steamed veggies cold and lonely on the plate. I hope it was worth sacrificing my noodles, Bento owner guy.

Feel better soon, rooms!

Katie K.