TroubleMakers Tales: Restaurant

Showing posts with label Restaurant. Show all posts

Chili's Restaurant

Since I mentioned Chili's Restaurant we ended up going there last night. I have not been to a Chili's in a very very long time though The Princess has fond memories of it with her Father and keeps trying to get me to go there. So off The Frog, The Princess and I went.

I highly underestimated the place.

The waitress (Alice) was bubbly and talkative, the definition of the word Cute, in my opinion. The place was a little chilly with tank tops on and it so hot outside so I would suggest something more than shorts and other summerwear.

The Princess ordered cheese pizza and fries. I would estimate that it was a full nine inch pizza. She seemed to like it as she refused to share a bite with me. The fries disappeared so quickly I'm not sure she had any.

The Frog and I opted for the 2 for $20 special. That is a special of an appetizer and a selection of two entrees from a specific list. We ordered fired-grilled corn guacamole: fresh avocados, cilantro, house-made pico de gallo, fire-grilled corn and jalapeños, served with tostada chips and house-made salsa. The guacamole was amazingly fresh with chunks of avocado, just how I like it. You can tell it is definitely not made from a premix. Yummmmm.

The Frog ordered the cajun chicken pasta (penne pasta with creamy garlic Alfredo sauce with Cajun spices and topped with tomatoes and green onions). The aroma was intoxicating as it was served. It was a large serving of flavor explosion. The chicken was grilled perfectly, not dry at all. None of it made it home.

I had the chicken fajitas and was in heaven. The chicken, green peppers, and onions were cooked to perfection. The meat was tender and so filled with flavor (not salty) it was unbelievable and not at all greasy. It came with four small flour tortillas, a plate of tomatoes, lettuce, guacamole, sour cream, and for an additional $0.99 I got a caddy of beans and rice. All of it fresh and flavored superbly. I did end up taking half of it home.

The service: Outgoing, friendsly and full of smiles

The food: Exceptionally

The price: moderate

So do we like the place? Definitely. We give it 9 out of 10 Stars

http://www.chilis.com/

Las Piramides

I had a craving for chili's yesterday. Not Chili's the restaurant, nor chili with meat (and if you HAVE to include it, beans, but that is a different post) but chili as in related to the peppers kind. So we went to Las Piramides (101 West Franklin Street, Centerville, 45458). I love the history of the building as it use to be the first high school in the area. It has lots of open space and wooden floors. There are some rather interesting murals on the ceilings and some pictures lacquered onto the tables that some more conservative families may find questionable for their children to see. I personally find it no worse than what many allow their families to witness on tv and in movies. But onto the food!

It has come to be expected that Mexican restaurants serve LARGE platters of food with beans and rice included in just about everything as well as an appetizer of chips and salsa . Las Piramides is no exception. The chips were a little on the greasy side and I personally find the salsa has a little too much cilantro for my taste. I'm not overly fond of cilantro though so it is a personal thing. The nice thing was that they use a salsa that relies on flavor instead of heat.

The Princess ordered a full sized (not child size) plate of Nachos Supreme. Holy Cow was it huge. She took half of it home with her. It had both chicken and seasoned beef. It was covered enough that some of the chips couldn't handle it. You almost needed to use a fork.

The Frog ordered a Quesadilla which covered the plate. The tortilla was crispy and the filling thick. He said it wasn't bad.

I ordered Pollo Poblano. Noooom. It was still almost scalding hot when they brought it out. Grilled poblano peppers stuffed with yummy filling and baked to perfection served with (surprise) beans and rice, lettuce tomato and sour cream as well as four flour tortillas. Flavorful and filling it is one of my favorite dishes.

I did order a bottle of Dos Equis Dark, not realizing they had it on draft. I ended up with a pint instead (miscommunication or a hustle?). I got maybe one third of the way through the $6 drink. Frog had to finish it for me. He thinks it is funny and is telling stories on me.

Hopefully we'll have pictures of the place up soon.

The service: A little sparse and lacking attention, it was a busy Friday night.

The food: Satisfying

The price: moderate to high

So do we like the place? Yes. We give it 6 out of 10 Stars

5 Guys Burgers and Fries

So lately I've had a craving for MEAT. Burgers especially. So The Princess, The Frog and I headed to 5 Guys (1057 Miamisburg Centerville Road, Washington Twp, near Sam's Club and Rue Domaine).

It is a basic burger joint with an open grill area (meaning you can see everything they are doing) that is exceptionally clean. I saw someone come out and wipe down all the empty tables at least 3 times in the hour we were there. There are free peanuts when you walk in the door, and no extra charge for toppings. The topping you can choose are:

Mayo

Relish
Onions
Lettuce
Pickles
Tomatoes
Grilled Onions
Grilled Mushrooms
Ketchup
Mustard
Jalapeno Peppers
Green Peppers
A.1.^® Steak Sauce
Bar-B-Q Sauce
Hot Sauce

The Little Hamburger is one patty while the Hamburger is two. They also sell hotdogs and the like but I've only ever gotten the burgers. It is kind of like getting one made at home. At least that is what it reminds me of.

The Princess got a Little Bacon Hamburger with pickles, tomatoes, grilled mushrooms, and bar-b-q sauce.

Little Bacon Burger with remenants of peanuts and a share of the fries. Napkins are required...lol.

I ordered a Hamburger with mayo, pickles, tomatoes, grilled onions and mushrooms. Nom nom nom.

The service: Prompt and polite. You don't hear any cursing or gossiping from the cooks that some fast food joints subject you to.

The food: Classic burger, but better than the big fast food joints

The price: low to moderate, appropriate for what you get.

So do we like the place? Yes. We give it 7 out of 10 Stars

http://www.fiveguys.com/

DoubleDay's Grille and Tavern

Last night we decided to go out with The Frog for dinner after a busy day. We ended up at DoubleDay's Grill and Tavern (199 East Alex Bell Road Centerville, OH 45459). I was amazed, for all the positive things I had heard about the place, it was very disappointed. It seemed as if it was an attempt to be like Chili's or Applebees and the ilk.

The waitresses seemed friendly enough but walked around slowly as if they really didn't want to be there. The service was adequate, nothing about the staff seemed to stand out in my mind other than they were all...polite. The place was absolutely packed, screaming children and all. It didn't seem a very hospitable atmosphere. This is just my opinion. Some people may like it there. Maybe it was the time of day. I don't know. It just wasn't for me.

Hoping the food was better, we decided to try the burgers we had heard so much about. The Frog and I ordered the Greek Burger. It was an ok burger, taste wise, but hardly worth the $8.19 I ended up paying for each. One of the fries on my plate (fries being sliced potatos, not quite wedges but not thin little fries you get at other places) had that smell and taste of mildew that put me off eating the rest of them. The Frog was even less impressed. I won't add his comments here.

As for The Princess, the children's menu spaghetti was not worth the 4.99. It was small, bland and an hour later The Princess was saying she was still hungry. It came with 2 half slices of toast, which she seemed to enjoy more than the pasta (with just regular marinara sauce, no meat). She doesn't seem interested in returning.

We probably won't be returning to DoubleDay's any time soon, if ever.

The service: Professional-ish but not engaging.

The food: Tasty but nothing overly notable.

The price: Much higher than what we like to pay for the quality of food and lack of atmosphere

So do we like the place? Not really. We give it 4 out of 10 Stars.

http://www.doubledaysgrillandtavern.com/

Flavors Eatery

Our first post is on a little spot in the middle of Centerville, Ohio called Flavors Eatery located in the same strip of stores as Cork and Bottle just down from Centerville High School. The atmosphere is slightly whimsical (which I like) and welcoming. The food is wonderfully flavored (hey good for a name huh!) and creative with a bit of unorthodox flare for the fare. The owners Elaine and Richard Alex-Lorusso along with Emily (the cute as a button waitress) were bright and full of energy, radiating welcoming smiles.

Our first time there was just before closing time when things were take out only. Walking in, wondering if it was a good place to eat, we looked over to the couches sitting in front of the 'fireplace' to see one of our Fellowship friends (aka friends from Miami Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship http://www.mvuuf.com/). If Grandpa Peace and Grandma Hope (nicknames to protect the *cough* 'innocent') liked the place then it HAD to be good right? Definitely right!

We liked the food that night so much we decided we had to return to try other things, just to make sure. So we went in for the birthday of a friend of ours, the Frog. The Princess had Chicken Nachos, I (the Kitchen Witche) had the roasted red pepper chicken open-faced sandwich, and the Frog had teriyaki chicken wrap. Needless to say we all had very content stomachs by the end. Being the Frog's birthday, we had brought a cake which we shared with Emily, Elaine, and Richard. By the way, Richard LOVES cake and all types of celebrations.

The atmosphere: Clean, whimsical and family oriented. Only problem is times open and not open (as in it closes too early for our liking and not open on Sundays)

The service: Easy going and very good

The food: Filling, fun and healthy

The price: moderate

So do we like the place? Absolutely. We give it 8 out of 10 Stars.

http://www.flavorseatery.com/