Not Just on Fridays Anymore

Sometimes you fight and you fight for something you believe in  and you never see any results, but that happily was not the case when I went to bat with Eat n Park to advocate for the return of the Tuna Melt to their menu.

In case you haven't been following the saga as documented in this column, it all began back on Easter Monday back in April 2012.  I wasn't able to get the Tuna Melt advertised online by Eat n Park because it was a Lenten Special (and they hadn't yet updated their website).

I was sorely disappointed.  In the immediate moment of my despair I wrote an online complaint to Eat n Park that included the following passage:

I remember a time when Tuna Cheddar Melts were a regular menu item at your restaurant, and the store manager verified that this was true, and that it was actually a pretty popular item.  May I respectfully suggest that you reestablish the Tuna Cheddar Melt as a regular menu item?  How hard could this be?  I assume that you have everything on hand for the sandwich already except for the tuna, and how inconvenient could it be to stock some canned fish in the store?  It doesn't go bad.

A few weeks later I received a $5 gift card from Eat n Park in apology (a classy move), and then in August 2012 the Tuna Melt showed up as the Friday feature on their 7 Days 7 Deals 7 Dollars special.  I was very happy to again enjoy this delicious sandwich, and made Eat n Park my special Friday place.  I knew it wouldn't be forever, but I was just grateful for what I could get.

Then last week, Diane, my friend and obviously a faithful Rip reader, posted on my wall in Facebook:  "Sharon, Eat n Park has a new menu -the tuna melt is available every day now!"  

Oh, happy days!  I can order the Tuna Melt any day of the week - not just on Fridays! 

So, the Tuna Melt returns to the daily menu just a little over a year after I hit the "send" button on my elegant plea to Eat n Park.  Coincidence? Maybe, but let's indulge me for for a moment and pretend that I had some small part in bringing back the Tuna Melt.  

In my interpretation of this turn of events, Eat n Park deserves a huge shout out for being so responsive to its customers.  It is clear to me why the restaurant is so successful - good fresh reasonably priced food with lots of variety and a commitment to their customers.   

It would also mean that one small, albeit very reasonable, voice made a difference.  Now if we could just talk some reason into those legislators of ours.

The Impossible Sandwich

In case you don’t read my blog on a regular basis, well, shame on you!  You may have missed my compelling, sad tale of my seemingly fruitless quest for a Tuna Cheddar Melt from Eat n Park, which I first published this past April.   You see, on Easter Monday I really, really wanted a Tuna Cheddar Melt sandwich advertised on the restaurant’s website only to arrive at the restaurant to find that it was a Lenten Special.  It was perhaps the only time in my life that I was sorry to see Lent come to an end.

Anyway, I wrote a lengthy comment of complaint to the Eat n Park website and ended with a plaintive plea that the restaurant reintroduce the Tuna Cheddar Melt as a regular menu item.  Several weeks later, I received a nice letter of apology from the restaurant, and a $5.00 gift card for the confusion.  Not one word about adding the sandwich to the menu, though.

Despite my ongoing ache for the taste of the Tuna Cheddar Melt, I resigned myself to the fact that you can’t always get what you want and thought that I would perhaps live out the rest of my days without ever getting no satisfaction.  Yes, my life was now like a Rolling Stones song, or two.

Then it happened.  I went on the Eat n Park website one day, and they were having a 7 Days, 7 Deals, 7 Dollars Special where they were featuring a different sandwich for $7 each day of the week, and Friday’s special sandwich was…. the Tuna Cheddar Melt!  I decided on the spot that I would have one that very evening.  Luckily, I held myself back from getting too excited, because when I got home and told my husband the good news, he gently reminded me that it was Tuesday, and the Tuna Cheddar Melt was the Friday special sandwich.

Drat!  I would have to wait three more days before achieving the dream.  Then I started to question myself.  Had I idealized the Eat n Park Tuna Cheddar Melt?  Would the sandwich be as good as I remembered it to be?  What if it were a huge disappointment?

Friday finally came, and I had a plan.  I had rehearsal that evening, so I would order a Tuna Cheddar Melt to take out.  I programmed the local Eat n Park’s phone number into my cell phone so that I could make the call just as I left work.

 

The Tuna Cheddar Melt was everything I remembered it to be and more. With its lightly buttered toast and the melted cheddar and the slices of tomato on the tuna salad, it is the perfect tuna salad sandwich.  I plan to buy one every Friday until the Special is over.

I’d like to think that my impassioned plea to Eat n Park that sad day in April brought back the Tuna Cheddar Melt, even for a short time.  But I doubt it.