Lunch at One South

So I went with my dad for lunch at One South today after my job fair. The job fair was a bust, partially because a lot of companies declined attendance due to 13-degree weather, but also because the 13 companies there were either seeking positions for which I wasn’t qualified or salespeople. Anyway, after that ended, my dad parked at Circle Centre’s Sun Garage and we went to eat lunch at One South restaurant at the Hyatt. I printed a $25 gift certificate for the place, and because they’re only open from 6 a.m. – 2 p.m., we’ve never used it. I went in there and it looked like a cross between Miyagi’s (another restaurant I had a $25 gift certificate to, located at 96th & Keystone and serving Chinese food) and the Apple Store. Service was prompt, courteous, and professional. When I asked our waiter how much drinks cost, he said they were $3 apiece or included with the $12 pasta bar. Since the $12 salad bar was the cheapest thing on the menu, my dad and I went for that. The waitresses brought us bread and butter as we walked up there. I saw fruit on the shelves by the pasta bar, and for the first time ever, it wasn’t decoration- it was real. I grabbed a banana and an orange. On the pasta bar, there was green beans, bread pudding, spinach, cheese, tomatoes, pasta that smelled like pizza, vegetable soup, and some other dish I couldn’t quite identify. All this looked fancy, but nothing really jumped out at me, aside from the fruit. Then I walked to the right and saw a chef with a grill. He was very nice and when I asked him what this was, he politely and fully explained that this was a place where you could create your own custom pasta, choosing your own meats, vegetables, sauces, noodles, and toppings. I chose bowtie noodles with spinach, peas, turkey, chicken, and shrimp dipped in marinara sauce. And yes, it was every bit as delicious as it sounds. I got my plate, covered with another plate to hold the steam in, and went back to our table to tell my dad all about it. He was intrigued enough to get up and order his own plate.
Throughout all this, our waiter promptly and frequently removed plates and refilled drinks. To make the gift certificate I had work, we had to order $35 worth of food, and we were $11 short, so we decided to order an Angus Burger to go. What surprised me is the little glass bottles of ketchup, mustard, and horseradish sauce the server included. How fancy! I had to wash my hands of all the sticky orange remains, and once I located the bathrooms hidden behind the pillar next to our table, I noticed they were as fancy as the rest of the restaurant. We tipped our server $9 after he quickly gave us a to-go box for the bread and butter we never got around to eating. That “build-your-own-pasta” grill is an amazing feature; I would definitely enjoy returning to One South for another lunch sometime.