Diners & Daters

"I can so express my feelings....right now, I'm feeling......FEELINGS!"

- Austin to Ally

"Diners & Daters" is the 16th episode in Season 1 of Austin & Ally. It first aired on June 17th, 2012.

Overview
Trish gets a job at the Melody Diner and when the gang goes for lunch, Austin instantly falls for one of the waitresses, Cassidy. But when she tells him she doesn't have time to date, Austin gets a job at the diner and enlists Ally's help to win her over. Meanwhile, Dez starts getting addicted with Cha Cha Chicken Pot Pie, so Mindy takes advantage of his addiction to get him to like her.

Episode Summary
Thanks to a recommendation by Trish, Austin, Ally, and Dez eat at the Melody Diner, a restaurant at the Mall of Miami where the staff is required to sing to the customers. It just so happens Trish now has a job at this restaurant. The rest of Team Austin finds out Mindy is the manager, and as Trish complains about the manager, who almost catches her not singing. Mindy also uses this opportunity as another attempt to flirt with and threaten Dez. After she leaves, Austin notices another waitress at the counter in the back named Cassidy and instantly falls head over heels over her. Trish introduces Cassidy to him, and he's as impressed by her singing of the menu as he is by her appearance. Austin introduces himself to her, while Trish joins in and introduces him Dez and to her, and Ally introduces herself. After Cassidy walks away, Trish warns them not to order the chips and salsa. Unfortunately, Mindy hears her and gets the entire staff to perform a Latin dance routine, which was exactly what Trish was trying to avoid, and was used as an opportunity by Mindy to dance with Dez.

As Dez feels he had too much to eat and tries to leave, Mindy grabs him and forces him to eat a dish of Chicken Pot Pie, which he not only admires, but becomes addicted to. Meanwhile Austin leaves his stall in order to flirt with Cassidy, but before he does, Ally pauses and tries to fix his hair in the hopes of improving his chances of making an impression on her. Along the way, he compliments her voice, and finds out she's also in a band. But when he asks her out, she turns him down leaving him quite disappointed and puzzled. Seeing that he was shot down, Ally offers to order dessert for him, but Trish who still has no desire to dance warns them not to order chocolate shake or lemon twist, but when Dez suggests the possibility of the raspberry robot, Mindy hears this as yet another queue to get the staff to dance, this time to techno-pop. Dez gleefully joins in until Mindy tries to dance with him, and then he tries to get away.

At the Sonic Boom, Ally offers three possible suggestions as to why Cassidy won't go out with him, but somehow he come up with the absurd idea that she might be a mermaid. Dez arrives on the scene and offers his own love advice, using his history of rejection as an attempt to show him what not to do. When Trish pops in, she hears their conversation and is about to tell them why Cassidy turned him down, when she gets a call on her cell phone, that turns out to be a solicitor taking a survey. As she hangs up, she finally tells Austin that Cassidy is too involved with working at the diner and playing in her band to date anybody. Upon hearing this, he realizes that in order to get close to her he can either join the band or get a job at the diner. He chooses the latter.

Mindy is incredibly pleased to have a celebrity such as Austin as one of her waiters and Dez as a customer. While she serves more pie to Dez, Mindy sits close to him and tells Trish to give Austin some on the job training, but she suggests that Cassidy do it instead, which she's fine with. Cassidy's training clearly involves singing to another customer. Still in awe over her voice, he compliments her, and she tells Austin that she likes this kind of a job because "music is the only thing that speaks to her." When Ally overhears their conversation she enthusiastically suggests that he should write a song to win her heart. Naturally, Austin asks for Ally's help with the song. Back at the music store Austin lies on top of an upright piano like he's on a psychiatrist's couch, as Ally consults him over his feelings for Cassidy in the process of writing the song for him to sing. His description of the way she makes him feel, don't necessarily seem like a love song. Eventually he realizes he has to go back to work, in order to stare at Cassidy, and attempt to flirt with her again. As he walks out Dez walks in and laments over his addiction to the pie. Returning to the diner, Trish observes Dez's chicken pot pie addiction, and informs her boss that once the diner is out of the pie, Dez will leave too. However this turns out to be a contingency she is well prepared for as she pulls a nearly six foot high cart of chicken pot pies out of the kitchen. Still not finished with the song, Ally walks in to consult Austin about the lyrics, but he yanks it out of her hand and tries to perform on the restaurant's piano, which proves to be disastrous for him, and Ally once again bites a lock of her hair in nervousness.

As the pop star and the songwriter have a mild argument about the outcome of the song, Mindy reminds Austin that he's supposed to sing, and he does. Ally defends her efforts by singing as well, and is perplexed over the fact that she's doing it. Dez sings out for more chicken pot pie, and Mindy demands that Trish gets it for "her Dezzy-Roo." Trish sings her disgust over what she sees as Mindy's attempts to take advantage of Dez, but suddenly is is even more repulsed that she not only called him her friend, but used the same pet name for him. Dez sings for his pie again, not caring who gives it to him, and Mindy finally decides to sing Trish's termination, as Trish herself sings her resignation and walks out of the diner in a huff. Ally resumes singing the explanation of her efforts, still perplexed as to why she's even singing in the first place. Austin continues to blame Ally in song, then Ally finally gains the ability to stop singing, she walks out as well. Dez finally sings that he'll get the pie on his own and storms into the kitchen.

This time, it's Ally who lies on the "couch" as she laments to Trish about her failed effort to help Austin, when suddenly Austin walks in, and she finds out Trish wasn't listening in the first place. Austin apologizes to Ally for acting like a jerk towards her, and she forgives him, comparing his crush on Cassidy to her own crush on Dallas. Austin clearly understands, because he notices that when Dallas is around her she says stupid things and does one of her usual goofy dances, which he promptly mocks. When he's done, he tells her that the waitress he has a crush on makes his heart beat a mile a minute, something that convinces her that he can open up about his feeling toward this girl. Austin tries to talk her into writing another song for him, and for a moment she pretends she's not going to do it, only to turn around and enthusiastically agree to do so. To celebrate, Austin suggests she do another one of her goofy dances, and this time, he even joins her.

Back at the diner, Ally and Trish sit in a stall, and Trish seeks revenge by getting Mindy to sing the specials, much to her dismay. Dez walks in and tells Mindy he has had enough of her pie, but she introduces him to the diner's Egg Salad, and Dez suddenly he becomes addicted to that as well. As Austin arrives at the diner and spots Cassidy, he tries to apologize for the unfinished, poorly-written song, and then performs "Heart Beat" in his next attempt to woo her, with two other band members as backup dancers. Cassidy is actually impressed for a change. Despite this, she tells him she still can't go out with him because she's quitting her job and she and her band are going to Los Angeles to sign a record deal. In spite of his rejection, he's still satisfied because he knows she still admires him, and tells Trish and Dez the good news. But when he tries to thank Ally for his "success," he finds she too is now addicted to the same pie that hooked Dez. The episode ends with clips of Austin singing menu-oriented rewrites of Double Take, A Billion Hits, Not a Love Song, and Can't Do It Without You.

Songs Featured

 * Melody Diner Song
 * Heartbeat
 * Can't Do It Without You (theme song) (Alternate Version: Get You the Coleslaw)
 * A Billion Hits (Alternate Version: Side of Fries)
 * Double Take (Alternate Version: Chocolate Milkshake)
 * Not a Love Song (Alternate Version: Not a Foot Long)

Main Cast

 * Ross Lynch as Austin Moon
 * Laura Marano as Ally Dawson
 * Raini Rodriguez as Trish
 * Calum Worthy as Dez

Guest Cast

 * Aubrey Peeples as Cassidy
 * Ashley Fink as Mindy

Trivia

 * This episode premiered to 2.870 million viewers.
 * Mindy from MyTab &amp; My Pet returns in this episode.
 * Cassidy being in a band is a reference to Ross Lynch (portrayer of Austin) having his own family band called R5.
 * There was an unscripted moment during the scene when Austin and Ally were goof dancing. Laura Marano accidentally tripped on the couch making Ross Lynch stop dancing and almost break out of character; Marano recovered smoothly by saying "it was part of it" and continued dancing while Lynch jokingly replied "it was not a part of your dance."
 * This is Trish's second time singing on the show.
 * Trish was hired and fired/ quit from Melody Diner.
 * This is Dez's second time singing on the show.
 * This episode title refers to the setting taking place in Melody Diner, and Austin trying to get Cassidy to go on a date with him.
 * This episode was ranked #1 in Disney Channel Australia's "Fanpicked Austin & Ally Countdown".
 * The Melody Diner may be a reference to Mel's Diner.
 * This is the first (and probably only appearance) of Cassidy.

Goofs

 * Ally has stage fright, but when she sang at the diner, it was full of people.
 * When Austin first leaned over the counter near Cassidy there was spaghetti there. Then the camera zoomed out the spaghetti was gone & Austin put his hand in it later in the episode.