I was off this week until today, Friday, Aug. 15, so I took a break from blogging and work to do some fun things with the family and friends. Two of the food-related things we did are posted below.

My family and I went to Sonic around 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday and it was mobbed. The drive-thru line was long, the drive-in spots were taken and a line of six or seven cars were waiting their turns, and the sit-outside tables were all taken. We decided to wait for a table and they turn over fairly quickly. There is no indoors for customers; it's only for employees. We ordered from the speaker board and a roller-skating server brings your food to you. We got our food very quickly but we could see a couple of people around us who waited way too long for their's. New restaurant so it needs to work out the kinks. My son got a corn dog, I got a Coney Island Dog (chili and cheese), my daughter got a cheeseburger and my wife a chili cheeseburger. We also ordered tater tots. The tots were not very appetizing looking but tasted okay, as did the rest of the food. My dog was long and good, but needed onions, which I should have asked for. It wasn't anywhere near a Maui Dog, but it wasn't bad either. My wife and daughter said the burgers were good, and my son enjoyed the corn dog. Clearly, they are selling the gimmick here. The food we had was good, not great. The service was good when it came to getting our food, and he was very polite. He couldn't figure out how to make change, though, and no one cleaned our table when we sat down and it had food stains from the previous customers. Eating in the drive-in bays looks like it would be fun with the right vehicle, like a mini van with fold down tables. Try eating a chili cheese dog in a Ford Focus! And they hand you bags of food; it's not like they attach trays to the side of your window as they did back in the day. One thing I loved was when I ordered a Coke, they asked if I wanted vanilla or cherry added to it. I got cherry, and it was awesome, not like Cherry Coke in a can. Real cherry juice in cola. Excellent. And the roller-skating servers can't roller skate very well. Some use the tables or your car to stop. Comical.

We also spent a day in Ocean City, so we had to go to Mack and Manco's. We went to the one that is open year-round, between Wonderland and Castaway Cove.  The things we always respected about this summer tradition are that no one gets hired who has body piercings or tattoos, at least showing anyway, the help is always clean shaven, neatly trimmed hair, they're efficient and very polite. The pizza always crispy. This trip, we had to order drinks three times from two different servers and we didn't get them until we were almost done the pizza, which, by the way, couldn't be picked up without folding it because it was soft. They were really busy so maybe you could excuse that, but what really irked us was a booth in front of us and another in back of us, where men at least 50 pounds overweight and not wearing shirts were eating. Whatever happened to no shoes, no shirt...They obviously had just come off the beach, but that's no excuse. I'm surprised they were allowed inside and served. Disgusting. I expect more from Mack and Manco's.