Wednesday, June 29, 2016

BonaVista Restaurant

So! my boyfriend Calvin told me he wanted us to go on a special date. He kept teasing this idea throughout the week while I was at my place. The weekend came and he told me to meet him downtown Los Angeles. He took the bus there so that we could return together. I needed my car to head back to Beverly Hills at the end of the weekend, so I offered to be the one driving. He lives closer to Downtown than I anyways. When the day arrived, he told me to dress up. He was going to wear a suit, so I had to figure out what would go well with a suit.

He has asked me previously what color suit should he buy. I told him to get the trending royal blue suit and brown shoes and belt. He has big blue eyes, I thought that that would also bring out the color of his eyes. He told me that he had already bought a suite, he just wanted to know if I was going to mention the color he already bought. I asked him which shade of blue he bought, he told me not royal blue. OK, fine by me! As long as he's happy with it. It's not like I'm going to be wearing it anyways, right?

I put on this dress that I bought in Vegas in 2014 and never got to wear. It was about time! I also wore boots that I've had since South Africa, that I hardly ever wear. I wore my Christian Dior, Hypnotic Poison that Calvin bought for me and was ready to hit the road, Jack! I was so excited!

Traffic downtown wasn't as bad as going all the way to Calv's , which is past downtown. I asked where he was as I entered downtown, then picked him up on the side of the street. It  happened to be just a block away from Carly's. Remember her? Calvin looked so good! I couldn't believe it! I mean, he's good looking already but he literally looked like he was about to walk down the isle, he looked so good. I felt under dressed! My jaw was on the floor! I had to pick it up fast because, I had zero gas in the car and we had to find parking ASAP. As we all know by now, there's no free parking  nor street parking in LA. You have to pay!  Even if you're going to a business establishment, they don't have their own parking, you have to pay to park elsewhere. It's frustrating! Calvin was going to take care of parking, so that was not a problem. Plus, that late at night, prices go down to $5 or so. So that's not bad.

We made it with my empty gas tank. I could have gone to a gas station before I left but I was late. I didn't want to make the poor guy wait in the middle of the street like a homeless person in his new suit. Imagine that!

We walked into this gigantic hotel! I felt like I was dream! There were water fountains, niceness, all around! It's incredible that this place is in the middle of Downtown LA! I was in awe! Calvin looked at me, and said, "I'm so happy, you're impressed, my Brook! I worked on this all week!" Well, it was worth it! He told me that we will be staying in such places when we go on vacation to Hawaii. I'm down!

BonaVista Lounge, Downtown LA

The restaurant is on the 35th floor of the Westin hotel. A 4star hotel, but who's counting? I was only there for the restaurant!

At the Parking garage across the street from the Westin Hotel

We walked around to the elevator, but first! Picture time!

In the Westin hotel Foyer 
At the elevator, we met this family. I could swear they spoke a foreign language. It may have been Dutch or German. It was a woman, her daughter(s) and a granddaughter. A bunch of women, basically.
We took a glass elevator to the 35th floor. The views are out of this world! Especially because it was night time, you could only see lights. That's the best part!

Views from inside the BonaVista restaurant

The host took us to our table, which was against the wall, not against but by the wall. I put my bag on a thing to my left, close to the window. The waiter warned me against that. He told me that as the restaurant revolves, the bag will end up next to a different table. Huh! That's what's going on here? We're moving while we're sitting down? It was exciting to hear that. I lived in Durban before, South Africa and I heard of a revolving restaurant. I had always wondered what it would be like to be there. I never took the time. I think, deep down, in my head, I thought it was for certain people. Not people like me. Sad. Thank goodness I'm no longer that person! (no longer the person who thinks that way, not no longer the person who can't be at such places.:))

Calvin ordered an appetizer, sort fish. It came with crackers. It was quite a sizable amount, I must say! 

Appetizer / starter

Calvin ordered an alcoholic beverage. I had a no alcoholic.

My drink
It was pretty dark inside as you can see in pictures.

The downside about BonaVista restaurant is that they don't have a wide variety  of food. They only have three things to choose from. They are known for their specialty drinks. I wanted something different, so I had a sandwich. "Are you kidding me?" No, I'm not kidding you. I never order a sandwich from a restaurant. I always go for the fancies. Just like on set as I told you here. Other than that, they had beef and I can't remember what else. Things I am not a fan of. The sandwich was good. It was more of a sub.

Prime Rib sandwich

That's gravy on the side, I am not a bread and gravy person. I don't like how sloppy the bread becomes after you dip it into gravy. We took our time eating and enjoying the place. The view changed over time because the place is rotating.

While we were sitting there eating, the grandma from the elevator, )she's not that old though!) came to our table and told us that she liked us, we're a cute couple. That was so sweet! She told us that her now husband took her to the same restaurant on their first date. He flew her from overseas to New York, where he lived and took her to BonaVista on their first date. She says from there on, she knew he was a keeper. Cute story and I'm glad she shared it with us. There's nothing better than strangers exchanging personal stories. Don't you think?

If the shoe fits! (no, he's not wearing white pants smdh)

After dinner, I had to use the restroom. You have to! Not necessarily use it, but just check it out. It looked like a restroom somewhere downtown. Not much to write home about. 

Home time! We took selfies in the glass elevator. It was really fun.

When we got back in the parking, Calvin realised that he forgot his Credit card at the hotel. He panicked. I told him, instead of panicking, while standing in one spot, to call the restaurant, have them hold on to your card and go back up. He told me he would rather cancel the card and get a new one, but when I cancel my card, but the worst case scenario, I was like, dude! Come on! enough with the worst case scenarios, it will take you 5 minutes to go back up and grab your card. He didn't. He cancelled and waited weeks for a new card. 5 minutes vs 2 weeks. For each his own!
The clutch I carried on the date. 

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