“Babe, I got a letter in the mail,” I said, standing somewhat confused by the front door. I was reading a piece of correspondence from an outfit called My Mystery Date.
“That’s my boy.” She was washing dishes.
“Some company wants to send us out to dinner and an event for free. To evaluate their date-planning service.”
“You tell ‘em you already tried to take me to Sayler’s this week, but it was too expensive, so we walked right out.”
I continued reading the letter of introduction. If my intuition was right, this was going to be something like The Game, starring Michael Douglas, only with the protagonist wearing significantly less-expensive shoes.
(more after the jump)
A few days later, having agreed to participate in the service in an evaluative, professional sense, we found ourselves holding two wax-sealed envelopes: one to be opened an hour before dinner, one to be opened during dinner. Two hours before dinner, I cracked under the strain of needing to prepare a fresh, appropriate shirt: it would be Trébol, an upscale Mexican eatery and tequila bar I had never heard of. In my line of work, that’s a really nice surprise, so I picked out a Mexican eating shirt I got off of eBay.
The restaurant part of this date package (retail value: $179 for the entire evening), having been fully pre-paid as it would be for any client, set us up with a custom menu including a three-course dinner, cocktail, dessert, and tip. (Dietary preferences are listed during the online sign-up.) It is a luxurious and wholly nice thing to leave your wallet in your pocket at the end of a meal, never see numbers, and know that the staff has been well-compensated. Our servers at Trébol were well-informed of our situation, and had a cozy table reserved for us, complete with a printed menu that had two options for each course. The element of surprise throughout the evening put us on a level playing field—and kept the excitement level steady. Trébol, for its part, was a good fit for the package’s price point, and we enjoyed food we probably wouldn’t have ordered given our old habits.
Somewhere during the entrée we opened our next envelope: a pottery painting session at Mimosa Studios. (We were told we could pick out $50 worth of merchandise to paint.) Again, something I never would have conceived of doing after dinner, or maybe ever, turned into a stimulating curveball of an event that generated its own freestyle conversation and pleasant challenges. After an hour or so of painting, she was awarded a “dia de los muertos” butter dish, and I a coffee mug with blue polka dots. Our Mystery Date complete, we found ourselves across the street for a wind-up cocktail at Aviary, another nice bit of subtle planning: finishing the event in an area with nightlife, should we wish to carry on.
In sum, the service was fair value for money, given the amount of planning and small premium My Mystery Date adds to the market value of the food and services. If you’re out of ideas, feel like a lark, or congenitally unconfident in your ability to plan a night out, I’d say letting My Mystery Date shoulder the responsibility is a safe bet for a refreshing, interesting time.
Note: BOOO Trebol. Surprisingly expensive for average food, average drinks, sub-average service. Some friends and I gave the place about 4 chances, and there was some awkward service issue every single time.
The happy hour deals are seductive but don’t be fooled.
I’ve heard of a Mexican jumping bean, and I’ve seen a Mexican eating chicken, but…a Mexican eating shirt?
with a name like Onstad I guess you don’t have to worry about being eaten by that shirt?
This reads like an advertisement, Chris. And since they basically paid you to write this review ($179 + $50 = $229), it actually is advertising. Congratulations.
NOTE TO EDITOR: Fire Chris Onstad. He is a mediocre reviewer and has poor grasp of journalistic ethics.
I like the lesson on ethics by a person calling themselves ‘implosive farts’… Do people pay for cd’s before reviewing them or are they sent in free to review? And where do you get your math from? He said the price is $179 for the entire evening… I assume the $50 in goods included in the date is part of the cost. Please correct me if I’m wrong.
I suppose trying to rationalize with someone who willingly chooses the screen name ‘implosive farts’ is time wasted though. Carry on with your hating 🙂
The company sounds interesting enough to look in to. Thanks for teaching me something new Chris!
@5 and others. this nonsense that someone without a registered account, a silly profile name, or stupid avatar can’t have a valid opinion is horseshit. Stop it.
@4. That’s was critics do. They get free stuff in exchange for their opinion. They may even get paid. Get over it.
This is like the anti-Groupon – businesses pay to get lucky customers shoved through the door. I don’t feel good about being given an “opportunity” to try something new when it’s just as likely to be an empty table (or ten) that need to get filled. I can throw darts at a map and get a wider selection than the client list of MMD. Short version: something skeeves me out about being sold as a prize to local businesses (and having it presented to me as an exclusive opportunity).
Hey @ParanoidMike, my name is Nicolaas and I am the co-owner/founder of MMD. It’s important to me to clarify a couple things about your comment if you don’t mind.
We work really hard to use high quality establishments in town and make it abundantly clear to the businesses we work with that we expect nothing but the best from them. Because of this, we have yet to have a single customer complaint after a date. In fact, our customer feedback has been exceptional.
We do indeed use our company to bring exposure to businesses/restaurants/b&bs etc., that truly deserve it. It works well because many small businesses don’t have the means to advertise and sadly go through Groupon and other sites that rob them blind to bring customers through the door. We actually pay the businesses to take care of our customers, they don’t pay us a thing.
All in all, I would love the opportunity to change your pre-judgments about our company if you ever wanted to give our product a try. Just tell us who you are in the pre-purchase comments and I will personally set you up with a great Mystery Date.
Sincerely,
Nicolaas D Byma
You’d never heard of Trébol? How long have you been in town? The place isn’t exactly obscure…
nice posting.. thanks for sharing.