A Restaurant Surprise I’m Still Thinking of Two Decades Later

When our twin girls were 8 months old, my husband and I took them out to a restaurant for brunch. It was our first restaurant adventure with twins 1) without the support of extra hands from my parents and 2) since they had transitioned to sitting in high chairs and eating solids (ie not sleeping potatoes in a carrier). We nervously chose what we hoped would be a less busy time and after dealing with the requisite dirty diaper as soon as we arrived, ended up having a lovely meal out for the first time as our little family. An older couple had knowingly smiled as I went to change a diaper as soon as I sat down with “Ah! I remember those days!”. When it came time for the check, we were informed that our meal had been taken care of by that couple who had already left. It was such a sweet gesture that meant more than they could know after we hyped ourselves up to take our two rambunctious girls out into the wild :)

My aunts 4 year old grandson whispered in her ear that he thought I was beautiful. It happened 20 years ago and I will never forget. It was the sweetest thing ever.

Years ago, my two cousins and I spent a weekend in San Francisco, complete with a fancy dinner at a hot new restaurant. At the end of the meal, our waiter told us that the check had been taken care of, and presented us with a note that said “thank you for keeping this family going.” Our uncle had paid for our (not inexpensive!) meal advance, and sent a message via our waiter, about how much it meant to him that we were making the effort to stay close to each other, despite living in different cities. Now that he’s passed away, his gesture is even more meaningful than it was at the time. And I still have that note!

Love this! And love all the stories in the comments.So touching!

Whenever I attend a wedding where the couple is going to another country for their honeymoon. I give them spending money in the currency of that country already changed.

OMG….This is so touching, Feel Like Crying at the moment

As my brand new husband, my dad and I left our wedding reception (two days before Christmas) the lights were turned off, as, not wanting to miss anything, we’d stayed ‘til the last guest left. When we arrived at the Inn at Greenfield Village at 2:30am, the only person still awake was the gentleman vacuuming the lobby. Having spent all that time carefully choosing food for our reception (standing apps—-it was an evening wedding) we’d had no time to eat more than a few bites, and we were ravenous. Entering our room, we were surprised—no, shocked by!—- a tray holding two club sandwiches and a bottle of Champagne that my sweet FIL had had the foresight to order for us. Never so grateful to see any other plate, lo these 40+ years later! And we have done the same a handful of times for other newlyweds. It warms our hearts.

If anyone’s looking for a REALLY big gift, here’s something my husband and I have done for our family members on several occasions: a gift card file. Buy one of those envelope sized files (with a pocket for each month) and fill it with gift cards, either for restaurants or other goods. Twelve dinners, ideally one dinner a month — or things like “the first ice cream of the summer”, “the Thanksgiving turkey” or “the Christmas Tree”. One year my Mom — who understood the concept perfectly well — called me to announce: “we’ve used up all our dinners!” It was February. Apparently they enjoyed the gift.
It IS pricey but a good idea for parents especially who no longer need “stuff.”

So tiny compared to some of these but I had just started seeing my best friend(turning into a boyfriend) and was just having one of those days. He lived in Manchester and I was studying in London, and he Deliveroo’d cake to me from my favourite bakery in town. Not just for me but enough for my favourite housemate!

All these stories make my heart explode with happiness <3 Last year was my best friend's first wedding anniversary, and she mentioned they were going to celebrate with brunch at the hotel they stayed at on their wedding night. I was able to call ahead and arrange two glasses of champagne to be brought to their table upon arrival. She was SO surprised, and sent a photo of the two of them (and she was crying!) I love planning little surprises like this, and all the comments are giving me so many wonderful, generous ideas! I'd love to do something special for a stranger soon. Thank you, all!

Years ago when my husband and I were new parents, we treated ourselves to a night out at a local restaurant while my dad kindly watched our little one. While we were there, these AWFUL teenagers were being rude and obnoxious to an elderly couple, throwing bits of paper and straws at their table (goodness, even typing that down makes me wish that I had been brave enough to say something!)

We were absolutely mortified and could sense this couple’s discomfort. Knowing that their night would’ve been dampened by what had happened, we waited until they had ordered their dessert and final drinks, then went up to pay for our meal as well as their’s.

All these years later, I still think of them every time we go into this restaurant (with our kids in tow!) I hope they had the biggest, wildest smiles when they went up to pay x

Growing up in a small town, this happened to me & my friends a few times after formal dances. We’d all be out at Denny’s or some other diner after the dance, in our fanciest clothes, and some local had picked up the check. One year for prom, about 6 couples drove to Sacramento (the big city, for us:)) and a couple picked up our check. Dinner for 12 kids! We couldn’t believe it. Every time it happened we would go by the table to thank the people, and they’d wish us a fun night. It makes me tear up just remembering it. Happy to say I’ve done this myself now, too (:

I’m late to reading this, so you may not see my comment, BUT! We celebrated our 25th anniversary this June with a weekend in Big Sur (we live in Maryland). We had planned to have our celebration dinner at the Ventana Inn restaurant, The Sur House, and must have mentioned that to our boys (all college-age). We had an excellent dinner but the best part came at the end, when the server brought out a special anniversary dessert with a card from our boys! They had called ahead and paid for our entire dinner! Not a cheap meal either! We were totally blown away by their thinking of and then executing this gift for us! BEST. GIFT. EVER!

My parents did this for my husband and I on our fifth wedding anniversary! We were at a fancy restaurant on vacation in another city and the server appeared with a bottle of champagne and said “It’s from Mom and Dad.” It took us forever to figure out what they were talking about because it was so unexpected—it never occurred to me that was something you could do!

I live in Indiana, and my mother’s family lives in Maine. We miss a lot. Flights are so expensive. My grandmother was sprung from her nursing home and taken on a trip to the beach and dinner after. I had wanted to be there so badly. One of my sisters, and my favorite aunt was there. They sent me pics all day. I couldn’t stand it! I knew they were at dinner, and I knew were… couldn’t find it online, so caved and called my Aunt, who handed her cell phone to the waitress, who took my credit card info… and just like that, I got to buy my family dinner… and it made me feel a little bit like I was there! My grandmother didn’t make it much long after that, so it was the best thing I ever did. Makes me happy to read this post and think of that day now. Life is so short, so make small or grand gestures because whatever the price it is well worth it!

I love when restaurant surprises come from a stranger. When I was studying abroad, two of my girlfriends and I were eating at a restaurant in Rome and a bottle of wine showed up at our table. A couple in the restaurant saw us enjoying our meal, noticed we were young and choosing all our drinks/food off the specials, and decided to send a bottle of wine we probably wouldn’t have bought ourselves over for us to enjoy. We ended up combining tables with them and sharing a second bottle of wine while walking to the Trevi Fountain together. To this day my girlfriends and I still talk about that night, and it all started with such a sweet kind gesture from a stranger!

I sent some out of town friends to the Gramercy Tavern for lunch this summer and bought their first round of drinks. They were BLOWN AWAY — agree it was such a good investment!

My husband and I went to an upscale Italian restaurant for our anniversary. As a congratulations, the restaurant packed us a doggy bag with all the ingredients to make cacio e pepe at home with fresh pasta! It was so simple and easy for them and it was amazing to have a delicious dinner ready to go the next night!

When I was 21 I worked in a country club in upstate New York for a summer, on a J1 visa from Ireland. One of our regulars won a two night trip to Boston, and gave it to me and my friend! We couldn’t believe his generosity! There was also a really sweet groundskeeper called Jack. We didn’t get to see him on our last day of work, so he got our addresses and posted us cards with a really sweet message and $20. I was so touched and have always regretted not writing back to him to say thanks. I’m definitely inspired by all of these posts to commit a random act of kindness!

Not quite the same but I love to listen to the little clues people give away when they’re not really thinking about it. My mum is super selfless and she’s my favourite person to treat. In March one year she spotted a lovely jacket but said it was far too expensive for her. I spotted it on sale later that year and secretly bought it and saved it for her birthday in October. Another year she mentioned how Carmen was her favourite opera, so for her 60th, my Dad and sister all saved and bundled together to send her and my Dad to La Scala in Milan to see Carmen (we live in Ireland so it’s not as expensive as from the US). I made a little booklet for her with each page revealing another clue about the trip until the final details were revealed. She was blown away!

My Dad often mentioned how Parsifal was his favourite opera, but it’s rarely performed as it’s so long. He’s always regretted the time he and my mum had been walking around Paris years ago and had come across a performance, but they were too tired and not dressed up enough to go in. My sister and I scoured the internet and found a performance this time in Madrid, so we clubbed together and bought them tickets for their 40th wedding anniversary. His face when he opened the envelope and saw the tickets will always stay with me, he jumped out of the chair with tears in his eyes.

The seats for both operas were way up the back, the flights were cheap and the hotels the best we could find in our budget, but none of that really mattered. It’s meant so much to me to be able to do these things for the people I love, and who’ve been so good to me.

I can’t imagine how nice it must be to get a completely random treat but I’ll definitely try a few small things!

Last year on my birthday, I left my 5 week old baby with my best friend and went out to dinner with my husband for the first time she since was born. I was nervous and excited and awkwardly dressed up my post-partum bod. When we got to the restaurant, the manager came over to our table and he said “Are you Dana? I’ve had lots of conversations about you today.” Soon thereafter, two glasses of champagne appeared, courtesy of an old friend and former boss. After dinner, two glasses of dessert wine appeared, a gift of a newer friend. And when we asked for the check, we were told my parents had called and taken care of it. Apparently the old friend and new friend tried to do the same, but my parents had beaten them to it, so the manager had to just create more things they could buy for us. In my joyful, emotional, slightly fragile state, the thought of friends and family clamoring to provide me this kindness was utterly overwhelming. So many tears that night!

This post inspired me last week! I manage a sales team and my employees’ jobs are incredibly high stress. While the majority of my team was having a high revenue week, one of my team members got bad news after bad news (and way too close to the end of the quarter). As I was leaving the office I remembered comments from this post and venmoed her $15 for a drink on me. She deserved it and knew I was cheering for her regardless of a tough week.

I love this! It’s so thoughtful but so lovely because you weren’t expecting it. I knew the chef at Langdon Hall (a super lovely restaurant just outside of Toronto) and was there with a friend for a fancy lunch. We contacted him to say we were coming to say (and honestly, were not expecting anything). He added little amuses in between our meals and came to talk to us but I definitely was not expecting him to pay our whole meal including the tips for all of the waitstaff. We sat there mouths agape and immediately wanting to tip the staff more. Even though we felt slightly guilty, it was such a kind gesture and I’ll never forget it.

I do this often with small things like paying for the car behind me in line at the drive-thru or at tollbooths, but I stink at getting up the courage to pay for someone’s declined credit card or similar, though I truly want to. This post has made me realize how much other people would appreciate it, and maybe next time I have the opportunity I can muster up the gumption to do it!

I had just gone through a terrible break up, and my friends convinced me to dress up as NYPD and go to a Halloween party with them. I was miserable there and hailed a taxi from the Upper West Side down to the West Village where I lived. I cried the whole way. To my surprise, my taxi driver stopped the cab and jumped out close to my apt. He returned 2 minutes later with a slice of pizza, “best pizza in NY, you look like you could use it.” We sat on his hood, me in my police costume, and shared a slice.

I got mugged a few years ago. I was unhurt, but it was terrifying and the guy stole my purse and phone at a time when money was tight. My best friend from the other side of the country ordered flowers to my office and in the florist’s neat, curly handwriting she had written out the note, “Sorry that shit head stole your phone.”