Well displayed like that, I'd have two!
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Well displayed like that, I'd have two!
My son ate there on his birthday and had the snow crab steampot, which is essentially a giant metal bucket of crab that comes with a shell cracker, meat picker, tub of melted butter and a giant bib. I was very impressed by the food, atmosphere and level of service. It was also very family friendly, but they had things set up so they could cloister families away into their own area that had a playplace.Quote:
Originally Posted by Laedria
I used to eat at Joes often until it went out of business, the place was a ghost town. Overall I liked the food but it seems really oily compared to say, a similar dish at Red Lobster.
I've only eaten at Joes three times; once in Denver, twice in Austin.
I don't remember exactly what I'd eaten, but I do remember the seafood being good quality, the iced tea being fantastic, and the service excellent.
Disappointingly, it's over an hour drive to the nearest restaurant to me.
And if you wanted to go to their website to find a restaurant, beware - the restaurant locator on their website is super-shitty - it only works in IE.
The Joe's here isn't bad at all, but you have to like it loud, which I'm pretty sure all are. I only go about once a year, but it's pretty crowded every time, which probably is due to it's location right on the river in old town. I like the steampots, especially the one that includes sausage, it's pretty damn tasty.
Here's a wonderful example of negative changes...
A new BBQ place opened near my house
I went about a month after they opened, back in February. The pulled pork was fantastic. Great smoke, good texture, the sauce topped it off well. A side of corn bread was a fist-sized mini-loaf.
We've been back every 2-3 weeks since.
Last week I went with my mom and brother. The pulled pork sucked. Instead of tasting smoked, it tasted roasted. It was also dipped into a hot water bath to warm it up, so the sauce just ran off and left it gooey. The corn bread sides ended up being corn bread mini-muffins.
To say that I was disenchanted would be an understatement.
Went last night with m'Lady and her sister. The corn bread minimuffins were still the corn bread offering, and while the pork was again roasted, not smoked, it tasted better than it had the week prior.
They loved it, but if I'm going for barbecue, I want the food to taste like it was actually cooked barbecue style, dammit.
I know a bbq place that had to shut down its smoker because neighbors complained. Didn't last long after that.
o.0Quote:
Originally Posted by Goladus
Man, I can't even fathom that
... does not compute... :(Quote:
Originally Posted by Goladus
Medium-tier Italian place
Prix fixe menu - 30 bucks for 4 courses. Huge salad, not-bad appetizer, small dessert, tiny entree. My salmon was smaller than my palm.
Same place hosts Murder Mystery dinner.
Family style platters. I ate five pieces of salmon the size of my flattened hand. Take that, bitches.
Bar with amazing wings out in the middle of nowhere.
Wings progressively get smaller over the last two years. This past time, some of the wings weren't even whole - the two-bone pieces were almost all cut in half :( I'm not sure we'll be going back too often anymore, it's almost no longer worth the drive (~25 miles one way.)
Five Guys Burger place. Three different locations. Beef tastes like grease sponge. Prefer not to go back. Unfortunately not a lot of options for decent burgers that don't cost 14 bucks for burger with cheese, fries, and a drink.
Nifty Fifty's. One of those nostalgia places, but not done very well. Turkey burger and fries. The fries had NO salt, and were mostly burned. The turkey burger was tasteless except for the excessive black pepper in the mix. Won't be getting a burger there again, that's for sure.
I'm surprised I never updated this thread after my last trip to Red Robin. And yes, I mean "last" as in, the last most recent time I went, and "last fucking ever".
We went maybe two weeks after opening. Thursday night. Packed to the gills.
I had the A1 Peppercorn Burger, she had the Prime Chophouse Burger. We had the Onion Rings and Mushroom appetizer combo with the spicy mustard and the smoked bacon aioli. Actually, I should say "we received the Onion Rings and Mushroom app combo" because we ordered it, and our burgers actually came before BOTH our drinks AND our appetizer!
We both got very sick within 30 minutes. I had nausea for more than 12 hours, she had bathroom trips for almost that long. When it finally did decide to come out of me, I didn't leave the bathroom for almost four hours.
IRONY: I tell my mom this, because I had to cancel my pickup of my dad from dialysis, and she tells me "Why didn't you tell me you were going there?"
Me: Say what now?
Mom: Your sister and her husband both got extreme food poisoning from the location near them (40+ miles away in PA) and they were sick for 3-4 days too!
Me: WTF, I could have used this information VOLUNTARILY 2 days ago!
Creepy factor: My sister got the same burger as me, and my fiancee got the same burger as my brother-in-law!
(For my sister's birthday, we got her a gift card to Home Depot... in a Red Robin gift card holder. She still hates me for that five months later. Bwahahaha.)
Ok, That's just all kinds of awesome :worship:Quote:
Originally Posted by Mileron
There are two new diners opening up nearby, which is probably a good thing, depending on your point of view... One is in a great location with terrible parking, and the other is in a bad location with great parking. We'll try both, but probably won't frequent, based on the following:
We were a little "bad" this month, and went out 4 times, though I can only remember the three most recent...
Olive Garden The last time I went to an Olive Garden was with Dale and his soon-to-be-wife in May of 2006. For good reason; their food always made me sick. So last week in an attempt to treat m'Lady and knowing she hasn't been there in several months (she goes by choice!) and we had a gift card, I decided to take her there and eat something off their gluten-free menu. Had to ask for utensils, then when we didn't get them I had to go to the server station for them myself. We had the calamari appetizer, which was good. The salad was overly dry - I mean, the lettuce came to the table and it was visibly dried out. She had the shrimp diavola? and I had the steak. Her plate was under-spiced and under-sauced. My steak, while relatively beef-textured, didn't taste like anything remotely resembling steak, even with the char lines on it. And my side of "seasonal vegetables" squash was tasteless and lacking in texture other than the skin. Yup, never ever going back.
California Pizza Kitchen Had a gift card from my birthday. We got the 6-dollar flatbread appetizer. It was tiny. Tasty, but tiny. She got a pizza that had pepperoni, green pepper, mushrooms, and spicy sausage. The whole pizza tasted like the spicy sausage, and the green peppers almost tasted ... pickled. And were uncooked. I had the California Chicken Club pizza, which came with a salad tossed in (what was supposed to be flavored) mayo on top. Dessert was some kind of chocolate souffle which didn't taste like chocolate. It was disappointing.
Diner This is our "go to for awesome" place... except, it wasn't. My french onion soup was lacking in crouton and the cheese was only provolone (they usually do the traditional mix). Her cream of potato soup had no taste - she actually put SALT ON IT, which she never does. Her patty melt burger didn't taste like beef - again she salted it (which she never does). My chicken croquettes were dry and tasted more like bread crumbs. The pale brown gravy on it had no taste, and the mashed potatoes were "there", also without taste. I put salt, pepper, and ketchup on it (I never use ketchup except on fries) and that didn't help at all. Her bread pudding looked like bread with scrambled eggs in it.
We think we're being punished. We know we can cook better at home, but sometimes at the end of a shitty day you just want to say "fuck it" and go out. So yeah. Punished.
My wife and I only sit down at one restaurant. We find a better consistency for food that actually tastes good from the fast food drive-throughs in the area.
I also wanted to add that I cannot stand olive garden.
That place is terrible. I went there on a date of sorts back in late high school and actually enjoyed it quite a bit. I have to say that I believe it was the salad I was most impressed by - this was about 18 years ago.
I went again about 10 years ago and was very dissatisfied. I've been back about once ever 3 years since for whatever reason or promotion I receive in the mail and it tastes worse every time.
About the only thing I can eat at Olive Garden anymore is the soup with basil, potato and Italian sausage. It has been quite awhile since I have been to an Olive Garden, so the soup may have changed, but holy crap it was good last time I was there. I would go to Macaroni Grill for (relatively) cheap Italian before Olive Garden, except they no longer serve the kick ass bread they once did, which was a major reason for going. So now I go to the hole in the wall Italian place that has almost no parking, so-so service, but good food.
Last time I went to CA Pizza Kitchen I ordered the Greek pizza, and it was borderline foul, haven't been back since.
I went into an Olive Garden with my boyfriend because he said it was a good place to eat, but as soon as I entered the restaurant I was appalled by the stench. Apparently the cooking was so bad that they were turning edible groceries into inedible garbage, and it STUNK. Properly made Italian food usually smells a bit like heaven, even when aged Gorgonzola is present, but this smell reminded me of dumpster juice and fresh vomit. I turned around and walked out so that I didn't completely lose my will to eat dinner, then we went and grabbed a burger.
Hmm, I've never been into an Olive Garden that smelled bad, if anything there wasn't any smell like you thought there should be. No cooking aroma at all, just sterile.
We made reservations at 8pm for a "soft opening" for a restaurant that opened yesterday.
At 8:02 we were turned away by two people who stated "We're out of food".
If anyone here visits western mass at all, try tavern on the hill in Easthampton. Went there for the first time, and was amazing.
I went to a new "barbecue and grill" place that opened in between home and work today for lunch.
I had the pulled pork lunch sandwich with coleslaw and a side of fries (and sweet iced tea.)
The fries were bland and unsalted.
The coleslaw was okay.
I had a few fork fulls of the pulled pork before two-handing the sandwich. They were good... but once I started biting into it I started to sweat. It was too spicy for me. After the fourth or fifth bite I simply couldn't taste it anymore. (That's a deal killer for me.)
When I brought it (the excessive spiciness) up to my server, she said "Well we ARE Rochester Bar & Grill" which, having been my first time, meant exactly nothing to me. "Everything's supposed to be a little bit more spicy" she then said.
All other BBQ places I've been to (in Texas OR NJ) have always given a choice of sauces, be they spicy, not spicy, etc.
I might take my fiancee who enjoys spicier foods but since that seems to be their stance, I won't be coming back solo.