Enjoy! Apple Valley, MN - September 8, 2012

Her perspective: C-

It started out well - we were celebrating our anniversary (since it falls on a Monday this year) and Enjoy! has 2 glasses of champagne and free dessert for your anniversary. We were seated promptly and greeted promptly as well. The server was quite friendly, went through the specials and got us our first drinks. We were thinking of getting both the crab cakes and the scallops (to try since Bill had never had them and I had not had any good ones) as appetizers. It turned out they had an appetizer sampler on the specials menu that had crab cakes, scallops, shrimp scampi and calamari. Quite pricy at $38 (as was everything else), but we decided to try it. The crab cakes and shrimp were quite good, the calamari was just ok and the scallops were pretty good, they just cooled so quickly, I only got a couple of bites. I didn't eat much of the calamari, either, but that was because I wanted to save room for the main course. When we pushed the appetizer plate to the edge of the table to indicate we were finished with it, our server asked if we wanted the calamari boxed up. Um, that doesn't reheat well...so, no.

William ordered the 8 oz filet with herb risotto, topped with herb butter. I ordered the filet/lobster special which is a 4 oz filet (prepared the same as William's), a 6 oz lobster tail, herb risotto and asparagus. I also asked for a side of bearnaise. When we got our meals, the food runner did not ask if we had everything we needed, and I, of course noticed right away that the bearnaise sauce was missing. I cut into my steak to find out it was quite undercooked. It was Medium Rare when I had ordered it Medium Well. I am usually not that picky, but since I am pregnant now, I have to be very careful about eating undercooked meats. It took me until after I was done with my lobster and William was done with his entire meal before I was able to catch our server's attention and by that time the risotto was cold. I sent it back and the manager came out shortly to ask if I wanted to order something else or if there was anything else they could get for me or if I was too full. I told him I just wanted the steak I had ordered in the first place as I was still hungry. I would have been perfectly happy if they had put that one back on the grill, done some new risotto and added a side of bearnaise, but they had already thrown the other steak away so they had no choice but to cook a new steak. Meanwhile, William had to sit there with no food, no drink (he was finished and no one asked him if he wanted another one) while we waited for my new steak and then would have to wait for me to eat it.

While we were waiting, our server stopped by to see if I wanted anything in the meantime such as getting our dessert and champagne. Huh? Why on earth would we want dessert before I had finished or even gotten the correction of my entree???

When I got the new steak, it wasn't even on a plate, it was in a rarebit (boat), so it was difficult to cut. It was tasty and the bearnaise was excellent, but I had to ask for a fork since they had taken mine with the undercooked steak. William finally got his second drink and predicted it would be really strong (to make up for my issues and him having to sit and wait for me), which was correct. He had to let it sit and dilute with the melting ice to make it palatable.

I had two bites left when our server came back to ask if he could get our dessert and champagne started. At this point, I really felt like we were being rushed out of there. I told him I wanted some more time since I hadn't finished my entree yet. I had just finished my last bite when - there was the server again - whisking my plate away and asking if he could get our celebratory champagne. I said that was fine, but I didn't expect him to order the desserts right then, though. It took about 10 minutes for him to get our champagne and, actually, the food runner arrived with our desserts about 2 seconds before the server arrived with our drinks. Since I was still a bit full from dinner, not having had any time to let that settle before the desserts arrived, I didn't eat much of the desserts which consisted of a small sliver of  cheesecake (which tasted like an oreo cheesecake blizzard from Dairy Queen), a tiny creme brulee (which had the consistency of room temperature butter), and a small square of tiramisu. The champagne was some cheap stuff that did not go well with those desserts. They need a lesson in food/wine paring, I guess.

We got to a point where the cheesecake and tiramisu were gone, but about half of the creme brulee remained,but we were done. Our server stopped by and asked us if we wanted the rest of it boxed up. Huh again? Creme brulee doesn't keep, folks.

Upshot is, we got the desserts and champagne for free for our anniversary and they took off my entire meal for the problems we had with it. Approximately $60 worth and our bill was still almost $100. Seriously overpriced: my filet/lobster meal was $42!

We might go back in a month or so to see if it's any better, but for this visit, we did not "enjoy."

Oh, and Happy Anniversary to us!

Burnsville Paragon Odyssey Theater

Her perspective: C

This theater offers VIP Reserved Seating and D-Box.

We decided to go to a 3:30 pm show and wanted to try their VIP seating/service since we were so impressed with the Showplace Icon Theater in St Louis Park. We were hoping we could get a very similar experience closer to home - we were completely wrong.

Apparently, their Mezzanine (the restaurant/bar) doesn't open until 4 pm, so we were out of luck to get food/drinks delivered to us in the theater. They did give us 2 $5 vouchers for the "Mezz" but EACH one required a $20 food/beverage order so we would have had to have $40 worth of food/drinks ordered to be able to use both vouchers. We were just going to have a couple of drinks after the movie (since it was open at that point), but once we found that out from the bartender (we were not told at the box office where they were given to us), we gave the vouchers to a random couple on our way out the door.

Like I said, if you go to a matinee before 4 pm, you cannot get served in the theater, so you're not getting much for the extra money: you do get reserved seating and the seats are a bit wider than general seating.

Here are some more comparisons with the Icon:
*the seats are not bench loveseats (like at the Icon), but they do both have a fold-up armrest
*the Icon has a small table big enough for the plateware in-between each loveseat, the Paragon has a couple of slightly wider armrests in-between each loveseat with no padding for putting your plates on, which is not anywhere NEAR big enough for their plateware
*the VIP section is not a balcony or even separated from general seating in any way (Icon's is the balcony)

Also, regardless of which theater you are in, there is extremely limited space for sitting down in the lobby before your theater starts seating.

I might try to go to dinner at the restaurant, then sit in regular seating, but it's worth the drive from Lakeville to St Louis Park to go to the Icon where it is a TRULY VIP experience.

Fogo de Chão; Second Coming

Grade: C

For Valentines Day, she decided we'd go to Fogo again to give it a second chance and such.

We went on the Friday evening before Valentine's, had an 8pm reservation. We arrived quite a bit early actually, so sat in the small bar area again while we waited for our table.

They were very busy just like last time, even this late at night on a Friday.

If you've read our previous review, then not much has changed.

The salad bar was the same as before.

The meat however was better. I don't know how or why but every piece of meat of every type had such flavor! Tasty, juicy, so very tender. Until it cooled off a bit that is, then all you tasted was meat and salt. Lots of salt. The cooled or cold pieces were next to inedible they had so much salt on them. We know about cooking meat with salt and do so ourselves. The apparent difference is that we don't use a pound of salt on a pound of meat. Really, it was that bad.

We also had similar service issues as before. We asked for a wine list and after getting it we were ignored. We had to flag down a server to order a bottle. Also, she had finished her salad portion before I did (I was eating slow) so she received a new plate and started getting meat right away. When I finished, I had to wait and wait. It was when we finally made order bottle order that we had to mention that I was ready for the meat course, after which I got a new plate. 20 minutes this all took, and that's just plain ridiculous.

The other issue is that many times, when we both had our cards turned to green (meaning 'please bring me more meat'), someone would stop and offer meat to her, but not to me. This didn't happen just once, but four times. Our cards were both on the same side of the table, both plainly visible, and yet I wasn't getting any food. The other issue follows this same line as meat would come out of the kitchen and walk right past our table. Repeatedly. We had right about 15 minutes at one point where we were not offered or asked about meat, and no one stopped at our table.

Speaking of tables, why are they so very close together. There is no hope of a private conversation (see our last post about the noise; still present) and since the tables are so close, the servers and meat guys and such were persistently bumping or moving my chair all evening. Makes it hard to eat when your chair suddenly moves as your raising your fork or glass.

All and all, it was a mostly pleasant evening, and she enjoyed our dining experience. I was a little distracted by lack of food, lack of drink at one point, and constantly being bumped and shoved, but the food was still quite good.

At this point, I think Fogo will become a once or twice a year visit for us. Other places offer better service, some offer better food, etc. but the experience of Fogo is part of the draw I think, and just for that change of pace would be the only real reason I'd go back again. For this visit, I don't think it was quite worth the price for all the hassles and failures.

Fogo de Chão

Grade: C

We went here for her birthday thinking it be like a similar restaurant we'd previously dined at in Las Vegas. Both are similar in that the salad bar is your appetizer, and then servers constantly come around offering a variety of meats prepared in a few different fashions until you signal that you don't want anymore.

Fogo did that, but not very well. For starters this place is listed as fine dining, but the plethora of persons in jeans and t-shirts says otherwise. And the noise! My god, we couldn't talk to each sitting at the same table without having to regularly repeat ourselves. And our reservation! We actually arrived just a few minutes late (we had called ahead to let them know we'd be just a few minutes late) and still had to wait 20 minutes in the bar because they were over booked. Annoying, and not entirely understandable, but I'd have guessed that with this style of restaurant you'd have people dining longer as they're waiting for more food to brought around, and since it's basically all-you-can-eat people would take advantage.

I'd hoped the food would make up for some of these negatives, but actually it didn't. Some bits of meat were quite good, the rest tasted like they came off my backyard grill. Now that's not saying its bad, but if I can do that same kind of cooking and get the same kind of flavors by cooking at home, why would I go there and pay 4-times more for the food? We also had to settle on the champagne side of things. They don't carry Dom! What fine dining establishment doesn't carry on of the beverage standards for fine dining?!? We went with White Star instead (same vineyard as Dom) and all they had were splits (small bottles for those not familiar with the term) as there was a wedding reception happening in another area and apparently they drank all the larger bottles.

The salad bar was not at all impressive, and in fact they were out of a few items when we walked through. I waited around for a few minutes for the ceaser salad to get replenished, but the empty bowl just sat there with all these employee's walking back and forth around it.

I was very disappointed with the whole experience, and Maryanne wasn't much happier than I. She enjoyed all the food of course, but we both had similar issue with the atmosphere and other clientele.

Still, if you've never been to a Brazilian style restaurant, then give it a try. I'd suggest going during the week instead of a weekend, and make sure you arrive hungry (and are a meat eater of course). I wasn't at all impressed, but Maryanne overall enjoyed herself and that's what counted.

We did decide on the way home however that we're now on a mission to find the best fine dining establishments in the Twin Cities. We've dined at too many places that call themselves fine dining to not notice a sorry trend: they aren't fine dining. Armed with that knowledge we're going to search for the top 5, best of the best that the Cities has to offer.

St Claire Broiler - July 18

Rating: C-

We were seated pretty much right away, but the table had not been wiped before we sat down and the host put my menu on top of some syrup. I asked him to wipe the table and he got a towel immediately and wiped the table and my menu.

Our server seamed nice enough, but we soon learned that she was overwhelmed; she had at least 5 tables. The server that delivered our meals was a little rude. He set the plates down and asked if we needed anything else and I mentioned that I had ordered milk to be served with the meal. He said that our server probably had that and walked away. His demeanor was surly and almost beligerant.

William ordered the Iron Lake omelet, which has ham and wild rice in it, served with hash browns and toast. The hash browns were only cooked on one side. While this is the current trend, it runs the risk of being cold/undercooked in the middle, which was the case today. The omelet was overcooked on the bottom and all the toast was burnt.

I ordered the french toast with bacon. Our server asked if I wanted the cinnamon roll french toast or the regular, then proceded to explain what the cinnamon roll french toast was. I ordered the regular, but ended up wishing I had ordered the other. The slices of bread were over an inch thick, and were not dipped in the batter long enough to soak into the middle. They were also barely warm, so when I saw our server, I asked her to heat them up. When I got them back, it was obvious they had been microwaved and the crust of the bread was very tough and rubbery. William finished my french toast (I was too full) and it took him almost 30 seconds just to cut through the bread with his knife.

Our server did bring my milk right after the food was delivered and she did check back after my reheat came back. She asked if it was better and when I told her that it was hotter, she walked away. She never apologized for the food being cold or delved further to see how it was other than the temperature. William had to wait for quite a while for a refill on his soda and after our plates had been cleared, we waited for more than 10 minutes for our check.

What a disappointment! Our last visit here was great and this one was was pretty bad. We'll have to wait a while before we go back.

IHOP, Maplewood-July 11, 2010

Rating: D

Before we even sat down, we were waiting 5 minutes for a table (which I have no problem with) and William noticed that the entry area was very dirty. The windows, floor and counter had obviously not been cleaned in some time, including snot on the wall.

At our table, it was again obvious that it had not been cleaned properly. the syrup dispensers were sticky and had a build up of old syrup sticking to the bottom. The salt and pepper shakers also had not been cleaned in some time.

We waited more than 5 minutes at the table to even be greeted and it was apparent that our server was overwhelmed.

I ordered scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns and pancakes with apples on top. Everything tasted decently, but they put cold apple compote on top of hot pancakes, which cooled the pancakes. It would have tasted a lot better if the apples had been hot.

William ordered basted eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns and toast. The eggs were over hard, not basted. A restaurant that serves breakfast all day and that is what they're known for should be well versed in all the different ways to cook eggs.

At one point, the manager came into the room (we were in a side room) and asked the server in the next section which table he was going to give up because the manager thought he had too many. At that point, he only had 4 tables, and three of them had their check. This was plenty loud enough for all the customers in the room to hear. Conversations like that should be in private, or, at the very least, in the back where there are only other employees. Consequently, if anyone should have been giving up tables, it should have been our server.

Our server was very inattentive and William had to wait a long time for a refill on his soda. I would have notified the manager of the issues, but after seeing his exchange with the server, I felt like he would blow me off.

The main concern, though, was just how filthy everything was. We should have walked out when we sat down - and will do so next time we are presented with the same situation.

William actually sent an e-mail to the company while we were still in the waiting area regarding the cleanliness of the restaurant. He received a reply stating that we should go back and ask for a specific manager. It is doubtful we will go back as we have had a few bad (and no good) experiences at this restaurant.

Washington Square Bar & Grill, White Bear Lake

With my foot being broken for the last few weeks, we haven't been going out much, but that means that William's been cooking a lot, so we decided (on our way home from him picking me up from work) that we would go out. Using his iPhone apps, we found a place to try in White Bear Lake (15 miles from our location at the time).

Grade: C

We were told at the host stand that it would be a 10-15 minute wait. Their dining room only has about 12 tables and, apparently, they only had one server staffed, so they were controlling the flow by making us wait in the bar. We were able to find a table (for me to sit down) in the bar and waited at least 5-7 minutes before anyone came over. She asked us if we were waiting for a table, but looked confused. I guess sometimes they seat tables in the bar, so she wasn't sure if we were staying there or going to move. I ordered a martini and shortly after it arrived, our pager went off saying our table was ready.

We walked into the dining room where the host gave us a choice of table by the window or by the fireplace. I tend to get chilly by the window, so we chose the other table. However, it had not yet been wiped off. We had to stand there waiting until the host got a towel and wiped it down. (The seats never got wiped down. I had to brush crumbs from my chair.)

Greet time was a little longer than most people like, but he seemed friendly and gave us time to look over the menus after getting William's drink order (I still had my martini.) We waved him over when we were ready and he wrote everything down.

Starter was potato boats which were cold on the bottom and in the middle, burnt on top and had some bad spots. I wasn't going to finish the last one, but the server came over to inform us that the computer system had rebooted for no reason and he couldn't send our entree order to the kitchen, so it would be another 15-20 minutes. I asked if he could give them a paper ticket and he said the kitchen would not accept that since the system would be back up in 5 minutes or so. He did send the manager over, who apologized for the delay and took our starter off the bill.

Editorial: Every restaurant owner/manager should know that technology fails sometimes and they have to be able to run without it. Five minutes is a long time to a guest who is waiting for their food.

When our food finally came, my steak was undercooked and my broccoli was cold. When the server checked back, I asked him to heat up the broccoli. Without saying a word, he left to grab a small plate and held it next to my plate so I could scrape the broccoli from one plate to another. The only thing that was right was my baked potato. The "steak sauce" that was served with my meal tasted like Hormel chili that wasn't even heated up. William had ordered the chicken caesar wrap, which had luke warm chicken (apparently, it was supposed to be hot).

I did order another martini - these were signature drinks and neither one of them was very tasty. The mix of flavors just wasn't balanced.

I ended up taking most of my steak in a box, along with my broccoli and asked the server if there was a dessert menu. There isn't, and he rattled off the dessert choices, then added that the apple crisp takes about 15 minutes to make. If I had known that, I might have asked him to order that before I was done with my entree.

Anyway, we wanted to get home at that point, so we declined dessert and asked for our check.

Would we go back? Maybe. It might be a while, though, and it might be only for drinks and appetizers if we happen to be in the area.

Kincaid's

Our Grade: D

We received some gfit cards to this place for Christmas, so when Valentines rolled around we (she) decided we'd give it another try.

This visit simply served to reinforce our reasons for not dining here anymore:
Poor service
Average food quality
Average food taste and appearance
Prices too high for what you get overall


Our steaks were steaks, hers cooked correctly but mine a bit over done and dry. They had no real flavor however. The menu talks about the dry rub they use and the aging process they put all their meat through, but I've had better $10 steaks off my $70 backyard grill than we had this night. And the potato's had no flavor, none! Not even 'potato like' flavor.

We had to ask for the dessert menu, were never asked how our food was, and had to sit and wait between 'courses' for our server to notice we were finished. Our expected 2 hour-ish meal turned into 3 hours easy with all the waiting we did, and the restaurant wasn't even that busy (about 30% tables available at the time of our reservation). And as for the fine dining atmosphere, it seems to have disappeared almost entirely since we dined here last. Much of the decor is gone, and the whole place is much darker now.

We stopped eating here because of the food and service quality, and we'll be waiting another long while before trying it again.

Peter's Grill

Her perspective: C

Honestly, I have never gotten good service here, but it had been several months since my last visit, and I had people with me this time.

My friends were running late, so we were in a bit of a time crunch by the time we got settled. Our server did not come back for 20 minutes after my last friend got there. When she finally came back, she was not very pleasant. She circled the items we ordered on her pad, but still had to look at a menu to see what we were ordering.

We did get our food rather quickly, and the food was the only redeeming quality. I had the gyro plate. I would have ordered a side of ranch for my fries, but I knew that she wouldn't remember it and that would just irritate me more. She did forget to bring out my friend's milk, which she did apologize for, but then started making excuses for why she had forgotten. We had been finished eating for quite a while and were actively looking for her so we could get our checks. We finally got them and left. I don't think I will go back as this is the third bad experience I've had in as many visits. I would be willing to do take-out, but not eat-in.

Melting Pot

Her perspective: A

I think this is the first time I've given out an A!

I went for Ladies Night with four friends. Apparently, they do special events the last Tuesday of every month, but it is VERY hard to get in on these nights. You need to be getting their newsletter and call for reservations as soon as you see it pop into your inbox.

I arrived at 4:30 and my friends showed up shortly thereafter. I was asked to wait in the lounge until a majority of my party had arrived. No problem, they were close behind. I went to a bar table and the bartender came right over with a sheet explaining all the specials and events for Ladies Night. They happened to have a German Riesling on special, so I ordered that. My friends all got the Love Martini when they arrived.

We then walked back up to the host stand and were seated immediately. The host advised us to be careful sliding into the booth as you can hit your knees on the heating elements under the table. Our server came over quickly to make sure we were all set with drinks and understood how everything worked. As there were 5 of us, we were allowed two choices of cheese (appetizer), two choices of broth (for cooking the meat), and two choices of chocolate (their term for dessert, but not all the choices are chocolate).

We selected the fiesta cheese, which can be adjusted according to your taste for spicyness, and the spinach/artichoke. I don't like artichokes, but you couldn't taste them and there was a lot of garlic in it, so I actually liked that one better than the fiesta cheese. We had bread, apples and vegetables for dipping.

The two broths we got were their standard vegetable broth and a carribean style broth. They were both good, but I liked the citrus of the carribean style better. The meats were shrimp, chicken and teriyaki-marinated beef. We ended up popping the meat that was left over into each of the broths to take home.

For the chocolates, we got the Bananas Foster and the Turtle. Both were flambe'd at the table. The Bananas Foster was WONDERFUL, but both could have been hotter in temperature. We had bananas, strawberries, cheesecake, pineapple and marshmallows covered in cinnamon or in chocolate. Very tasty!

We had a manager come over as we were waiting for our cheeses to ask if our server had explained everything and asked questions to make sure we understood. He was very welcoming, gave his name (Randy) and stated that if we needed anything, we could just let him know.

Our server was there every time we needed anything, checked back as appropriate without being overbearing and just made sure we were having a good time. He explained what he was doing as he was doing it - all food is prepared at the table. He even told us that we could trip any employee passing by if we needed anything and he wasn't there... :)

The bussers were exactly where they needed to be, ready to take empty plates/dirty dishes and were quick about it so they weren't in our way.

After our chocolate, we stopped Randy and had him take pictures with several different cameras. He was more than happy to oblige and made a raunchy joke without realizing it which had us just about in tears.

The only deterrent to this night was the amount of time it took to get our checks and get our payment processed. We were there for 3 1/2 hours and all of us had to work early the next morning, so we were anxious to go at that point.

However, the whole experience was very well worth it. It is fairly pricey, but we loved it. What are you waiting for?

Bonnie's - April 11

Her perspective: C

We have gone to this diner many times for breakfast on the weekends and is one of our favorites.

However, this visit was an exception. They were busier than when we usually go, so it took a few minutes for our server to come over. She took our drink order and brought back our two Mountain Dews, asking if we were ready to order.

We were. I ordered the Buttermilk special with bacon and the eggs cooked over medium. William ordered the 2x2x2 with eggs basted and added a side of toast. We had waited for about 12-15 minutes when our server came over and asked if we had ordered and what we had ordered because she couldn't find our ticket. She tried to assure us that the kitchen probably had it almost done, she just couldn't find the ticket and wanted to check.

Our food arrived a couple of minutes later and she went back for William's side of toast. I tried the bacon and found it was cold, so I touched the eggs, which were also cold. The pancakes, however, were nice and hot. When she came back with the toast, I told her that my eggs and bacon were cold and she said that she would have them remake it.

What actually happened, though, was that they put the eggs and bacon back in a pan and reheated. I could tell it was the same bacon and the eggs were exactly the same, just with a bit more color. Not to mention that my eggs were still over easy, not over medium.

When she dropped off my reheated food, she said she would get us refills, but never did. She never checked back on the food after that either. She finally dropped off the check while I was still eating and pre-bussed the table.

She was pleasant enough, but didn't really know what she was doing. I overheard her say to another table that she was new and they were busy, but that doesn't explain her forgetting if we ordered, then the kitchen messing up my food.

We'll have to let some time pass before we try to go back to this one.

Chili's

Her perspective: D

Our visit was a couple of weeks ago, but we were so upset with this experience, that we needed some time to cool off before we wrote this review so we could maintain our objectivity.


We seated ourselves in the bar area at one of the tall tables. Our server came over quickly and asked if we wanted a drink for Happy Hour. We love the Presidente margaritas, so we ordered two of those. She tried to convince us to order a Happy Hour drink, but that's not what we wanted. She brought them over and we ordered an appetizer of Southwest Eggrolls with chipotle ranch instead of the avocado ranch. She informed us that they don't carry that anymore, but they have an ancho chili ranch. So, we decided to try that. It was actually pretty good.


When our server came to take our order, I ordered the fajitas with both chicken and beef. She asked me if I wanted it for 2 people or 1 person, and I said 1 as it was just for me. She then turned around and left to put in the order without seeing if William was going to share the fajitas with me. He had wanted to order his own entree, but she just assumed that we were going to share the fajitas for one. We were able to catch her before she put the order in, so William was able to order his entree, which was a steak.

While we were waiting for our food, we had to flag down the bartender to get another round of drinks. Once we got our food, she never checked back on us. If she had, she would have known that William's steak was quite undercooked. My fajitas were as I had expected.

We tried to tip the bartender separately for taking care of our drinks, and he wouldn't accept the money.

This is the most disappointing visit we have had to Chili's to date.

Masa Restaurant - March 5, 2009

Her perspective: C

I went to this restaurant as it was part of National Restaurant Week and I wanted to try something new. I was a little disappointed that, despite the fact that we arrived exactly on time for our reservation, we had to wait about 10 minutes for our table. When you only have an hour for lunch, that's unacceptable.

When we were seated, our server was excellent. He upsold me from a regular Coke to a Mexican Coke and was able to tell us the difference. He also explained the two special menus. He was really on the ball the entire time we were there.

The food was very good as well. I had a chicken taco with chipolte cream that was really tasty. The beef torta had way too much cilantro in it and they only offer one salad dressing. It would be nice to have a choice.

Overall, it was a good experience. I went on line to try to find nutritional information on their menu, but could not find any. So, I e-mailed them and got a response that they did not have the resources to keep nutritional information on their menu items as they change frequently, but the individual restaurants have ingredient lists. Ingredients? In other words, if I want to know the nutritional information, I have to get the ingredient list from the restaurant, figure out what the ingredients were that were in the dishes I had and in what proportions, and look up the nutritional information on each ingredient. That's ridiculous. I sent a message back saying that since they cannot provide this information, I will not be eating there any more.

It's a shame, too, because the food and drinks are actually very good. I went back the following day (before I got their e-mail response) for Happy Hour and had a very good margarita. Well, it is pretty far from work...

Matty B's - October 14, 2008

Her perspective: D-

We hadn't been back here in a while and wanted a good meal. We couldn't have been more wrong.

There was not another customer in the restaurant, but plenty in the bar. They were all dressed very casually in what is supposed to be a fine dining restaurant. After standing at the host stand for several minutes, we were finally greeted and seated in a booth as we had requested in our reservation.

We were not given a wine list, but asked if we wanted something from the bar. I had happened to see a wine list up front, so I ordered a glass of Riesling and William ordered a coke.

We noticed that the menu was severely limited from the last time we were there. Apparently, they have cut back the menu quite a bit. William asked about it and was told that this was the menu each day. We thought it might have been a weekday menu as we could still see other menus up front.

Our server didn't seem to want to stay when we wanted her to. We were going to order crab cakes as an appetizer, when she abruptly stated that she was going to get our bread and walked away before we could say anything.

When we were mostly ready to order, she stopped by and I ordered the appetizer and my steak. William wasn't quite ready, but instead of asking if she should give him a minute, she said that she would order the appetizer so he would have a couple of minutes to decide and left. However, even though he had set his menu down, she proceeded to cloth and set another table.

William ordered a small caesar salad with chicken and we both ordered the NY Strip steak done medium.

My wine glass had stuff stuck to the outside. I had to scrape it off twice. After I had drunk several sips, I noticed some sort of sediment at the bottom. When the server came back, I requested another glass of wine. When she brought a new one, she said that the bottle was frosted, so it was difficult to tell if there was any sort of sediment in that one. However, both glasses of wine were warm and I had to put ice in them to cool them, which made them diluted.

I was surprised when the server brought out the appetizer and William's salad at the same time. She just assumed that we wanted both courses together. The appetizer was for both of us.

The chicken on William's salad was grilled, sliced and... brown and crispy? When I spoke with the server later about it, she said that she thought they might have finished cooking it in the deep fryer. That would explain the color. The chicken was also extremely hot and they had put it on a cold salad. He also said the croutons were stale.

The crab cakes were decent, but a little overcooked and black on top.

Both steaks were undercooked. William sent his back to be cooked longer, and when it finally came back, it was charred and burnt on the outside and still medium rare to rare on the inside. Mine was medium rare, but I ate a little bit and took the rest home.

The mashed potatoes looked old, perhaps cooked, then stored, then recooked. They were very bland. The asparagus was quite overcooked and wilted besides.

William visited the rest room and stood for a full minute trying to decide between the two stalls. One of them, the seat was cracked and broken. The other was very dirty and had toilet paper all over. He finally chose to clean off the dirty seat and use that one. He was appalled at the condition, though.

They did take the salad and William's steak off the bill, but we were severely disappointed and will think twice before trying this place again.

TGIFriday's, Rosedale

Her perspective: B-

We decided to go to Friday's because we had a coupon for a free appetizer from a screw-up at our last visit to the Maplewood location.

This visit started out really well. We arrived after the lunch rush. The hosts were right on top of opening the door, being friendly and making us feel welcome. However, we waited quite a while before we were greeted at the table. Our server was friendly - whenever he was at our table, but that wasn't much.

We ordered Fried Mac & Cheese for an appetizer and gave him our coupon. He took the coupon and we received our appetizer several minutes later. I noticed that it looked different than when I had worked at Friday's and when we started eating, we noticed that they were passably warm on the outside, but room temperature to cold in the middle.

I ordered the Jack Daniel's pork sandwich and William ordered the Jack Daniel's Flat Iron Steak, medium. My sandwich was what I expected - no more, no less - and pretty tasty. The best part, was that William's steak was cooked perfectly. I don't remember the last time that has happened in all the restaurants we have gone to in the last few months. When the food arrived, the server asked William to cut into his steak to make sure it was cooked properly (a Friday's service standard). William took his steak knife and stabbed the steak with it so that the knife stayed up when he removed his hand from the knife. The server commented that this was a different way than he'd seen to check the temperature of a steak. He never checked back on how everything was as we were eating and we didn't see him again for a long time.

After having empty plates for quite a while, the server finally came back and took William's credit card to run through. When he came back, I noticed that he had not taken the appetizer off the bill. The server claimed that he could not redo the credit card, but I know that's not true. I'm not sure if he didn't know that the system could do that or if he was just lying to us. William asked him to give us our coupon back. We'll have to go back if we want to use it. Perhaps we need to try yet another location.

Overall, we were disappointed, but the saving grace was that perfectly cooked steak.

TGIFriday's - Maplewood

Her perspective: C-

I always find it very interesting to review a place where I have previously worked. Usually unfortunately for the servers and staff, I know what the standards are and when they are not being met. Just for background: I opened this store as a server, became a shift lead, trainer, and key employee (which is a server/bartender that does managerial shifts). There is a four table per section maximum and I knew immediately by where we were seated, which tables were in our server's section. I had helped divide the dining room into the sections that they now use.

The door was held open for us by the host and she was very upbeat and happy. Perfect. The host that was behind the podium seemed to be concentrating very hard on the seating chart and never looked up at us or the other host. She also was not in a recognizable uniform. I saw other employees as well that it was hard to tell they were employees by the way they were dressed. It's possible that this standard could have changed since I worked there, but I think guests should at least be able to tell who the staff is. We were seated immediately in a half booth.

On the way to our table, I waved to a guy that had opened the store with me (Justin) and he waved back and came over and sat down with us. We had just started to catch up when our server came over to greet us. He excused himself and went back to taking care of his tables. He always was a good guy.

Our server was pleasant enough, but extremely inattentive. William ordered a Jack & Coke and I ordered a Cherry Coke. He said his drink tasted funny when it arrived and it seemed to me like the syrup on the Coke was low or out. Later, at one of the incredibly few times that our server actually checked on us, she asked him if he wanted another Jack & Diet. Maybe that's why it tasted funny.

Lisa, our server, gave us a couple of minutes to look over the menus, but when she asked if we wanted an appetizer, she didn't really wait for an answer, but went to the table next to us three times before she came back to us. At that point she had two tables including us. The other table left shortly after we got there.

When we were finally able to order, I oredered the Fried Mac & Cheese appetizer and the Sizzling Chicken & Shrimp. William ordered the Jack Daniel's Flat Iron Steak, medium, and a side caesar salad to start. His salad came out quick enough, but the breadstick was deep fried ( I know how to tell) and he said the salad wasn't very good. He only ate about half of it, then put it on the edge of the table. The standard is that whenever anyone walks by a table and there is a dish or empty glassware on the edge, they are supposed to take it back to the dishroom. Servers and hosts walked by about 15 times and noone even looked at it. It was the same when William finished his drink.

Our server was nowhere to be found at this point and we were her only table. We started wondering where our appetizer was, and I was thinking that if Justin walked by, I'd ask him to check on it for us. However, he never did and during the 20 minutes we were waiting for our entrees, I started to look around and noticed that they hadn't done any dusting of the artifacts, much less our lampshade, lately.

Lisa brought out our entrees and asked us if we needed anything else. I told her that she could just forget the appetizer as we had never gotten it. She seemed surprised and insisted that she rang it in, but that they would take it off the bill and we would get a card for a free appetizer on our next visit, too. The manager that dropped off the appetizer card informed us that the appetizer was never rung in, so someone was lying to us, but I'll bet it wasn't the manager. She was very sincere and apologetic.

Getting back to our entrees, William's steak was cooked perfectly in the middle, but overdone on the outside, which seems to indicate that the grill temperature was set too high. The mashed potatoes on both our plates were mushy, but I seem to remember that was how the consistency was when I worked there. My entree came out sizzling all right. Too much. It was spattering everywhere, which I know was a problem when I worked there, but I would never put it directly in front of someone, rather off to the side so they wouldn't get burned. It was also steaming and smoking so much that I couldn't see. This is unusual. By the time I was able to finally start eating, the bottom of the mashed potatoes and part of the bottom of the chicken were burnt, stuck to the skillet, and smelling horrible. I usually order this dish with a request to put the cheese on top of the chicken and shrimp, but I decided not to do any special instructions with this one because it's rare that I order something as is. The inherent problem with this dish is that the cheese gets put on a very hot skillet first, then the onions/peppers, then the chicken/bruschetta shrimp, then the mashed potatoes. The cheese ends up getting burnt to the skillet every time, so you don't get to eat much of it. That's why I usually order it with the cheese on top.

Meanwhile, another table had been seated in Lisa's section and, again, she was nowhere to be found. We were wishing we had gotten the server in the section next to Lisa's. She was very attentive to all her tables and even looked over at us a couple of times. I think her name was Ashley. Although, I think the next time we go, we'll ask who's working and request a server that I worked with.

Another thing I want to mention (and this could be a change in standards, too) is that our receipt had a Guest Satisfaction Survey on it. These were a big deal when I worked there and we had to present them to the table and explain how the survey works. At one point, the managers were the only ones that were allowed to present them to the table. This is used at many different restaurants and is how they measure performance: how they know where they are doing well and where they need to improve. Perhaps it's not a big deal anymore and if that's the case, that's sad because that means that they don't care how they're doing anymore. Actually, this is one of the reasons I left. Our opening team was great, cohesive, excited, team-oriented and fun. Once we started losing that original team and hiring new people, all that went downhill very quickly. People just didn't care like that opening team did. As a trainer, shift lead and key employee, I tried to coach them and make changes within the system, but you just can't make people care. So I left.

Unfortunately, I believe this happens with every restaurant. There's something special about a restaurant opening. Everyone wants to be there and is excited to make it the best. Once others come in, it's hard to transfer that excitement to them. A lot of times, it's just a job to them and that shows in the entire hospitality industry.

Landmarc Cafe

Her perspective: C-

I go to fine dining restaurants on my own for lunch for two reasons. 1. To treat myself once in a while. 2. To see if service is different for a party of one rather than two or more. Usually, service suffers when there is only one person at the table. Given the proper motivation, I will order 2-3 courses and tip generously. In this case, I was not impressed.

Let me start with a positive. The decor was beautiful. It was a fine dining restaurant in the sense that it was decorated like the traditional fine dining restaurants of the 60's. Gorgeous dark wood surrounds you and it has an air of class. There is even a white baby grand piano by the host stand.

I entered through the bar and there were a couple of tables occupied there. As I walked through the bar and restaurant to the host stand, I noticed there was only one table of businessmen seated in the restaurant. Since there was no host, it gave me a chance to look around and I was surprised to see that, with as empty as the restaurant was, there was still a dirty table in the middle of the room. I noticed the bartender come out from behind the bar and he seated me in the dining room without a word. I even had to ask if I could get a table for one. He showed me to a very private table, which I was grateful for, but the businessmen were on the opposite side of the partition wall that I was sitting next to.

The bartender left, again without a word, to give me time to look at the menu. I decided quickly and waited for him to come back. He did ask me if I was ready to order, but that was the first time he spoke to me. I ordered fried calamari as a starter, Steak Frites for my entree and a side of steamed seasonal vegetables. Up to this point, I was not given an opportunity to order anything to drink besides my water. Even after I finished ordering my food, he took my menu and silently walked away. When he brought my bread, I asked for some hot tea, then had to ask for sugar when he brought the tea set out. At least he gave me a spoon that I didn't have to ask for.

I could hear the kitchen calling for service when my food came up, which kind of ruins the "experience" or "show" of fine dining.

My calamari was served with marinara and garlic mayo, which is a very good thing because it was so bland. It had only been dredged in flour and fried with no other seasonings and it was more chewy and tough than I have ever had. I was not given any indication that the bartender was going to give me a new fork for my entree, so to ensure that I would get one, I left my fork on the appetizer plate and pushed it to the end of the table.

The bartender came out a couple of minutes before he served my entree and side to set my fork and steak knife. The steak came with a bearnaise sauce, which was way too heavy on the vinegar. That was almost all I could taste, but the meat was so flavorless that I kept using the sauce. I had ordered the meat medium, and, although it looked like it was cooked perfectly, it wasn't very warm and ended up downright cold by the time I was halfway through eating it. The steak was served with frenchfries, which were honestly the best part of the meal. Nothing special, just fries seasoned with regular salt, but the best taste and texture of the entire meal.

My vegetable side was much smaller than I expected for $4: eight green beans and 3 carrots. They were steamed and crisp, but not very warm and not seasoned in any way.

I was very disappointed in this meal and the bartender said less than 15 words to me the entire time I was there. I'm not sure I even want to try this place again. If it were just the service, I would definitely try again, but with the food and service being poor, it gives me pause.

Keys Cafe

Her perspective: B-

I went to the Keys downtown for lunch since I had been to other locations and wanted to try it out. I was seated in the bar area with a good view of the bakery counter.

My server was very pleasant and mostly attentive and observant. I did wait for a few minutes for her to take my order, but to be fair, it was pretty busy and she did apologize. Unfortunately, I was sitting on the side of the table where people had to walk quite close to me to get behind the bakery counter (which was also a wait stand).

I ordered a BBQ chicken sandwich with fries. I was not informed that the fries were more than $2 extra. Not that I would not have gotten them if I had known, I just would have liked to have been informed since that was not listed on the menu as far as I could see.

The food was quite tasty and the server checked back in an appropriate amount of time. I was given the extra sides I had ordered with my sandwich without me having to ask again when the food arrived. I know that may seem picky, but I would rather not have to ask for things twice.

Since it was so busy, and there was so much openness to the space, it was quite loud and the sound tended to ring around the walls to make it louder.

The bakery counter had cakes, brownies, cookies and bars. The rice krispy bars were so big, that they would better be described as a brick rather than a bar. I didn't try any of the bakery goodies -- I had to take half my sandwich home as it was.

I would probably go back with friends, perhaps more for happy hour than for lunch, though.

Red Lobster, Maplewood

Her Perspective: B+

The first thing I want to say is that this restaurant was a pleasure to visit. Carol was our server and she was very attentive and personable. She even talked to the table behind me since the little boy was kicking the booth seat and she had noticed that it bothered me. She also made sure that if he started doing it again that I would tell her and she would talk to them again.

This is service as it should be in a family-style dining restaurant. We were both impressed. The food was great, all of it was the correct temperature and they even accommodated my request to have my crab legs served a few minutes after the rest of my entree to make sure they didn't get cold while I was working on the rest.

I honestly don't have any complaints and we were both very pleased. We will definitely be back and may even ask for the same server. She attemped upsells without being pushy, she was knowledgable about the menu and she was observant. That's all that we have been looking for. I would recommend this location.

Chili's Maplewood

Her perspective: D

This is the third bad experience we've had at this location, so we will not be returning. We will be trying other locations.

We were seated almost immediately, but it took quite a while for the server to greet us. So long, in fact, that we were both ready to order. I ordered a Cherry Coke, Classic Nachos appetizer and the chicken fajitas. William ordered a Presidente margarita and the Honey BBQ Sirloin with mashed potatoes/gravy and seasonal vegetables.

My Cherry Coke tasted like the syrup was running out on their pop machine, so I had to ask her to check it and get me another one. When we got our nachos, we were given appetizer plates, but no napkins or sliverware. We had to ask for them, and it was extremely hard to get anyone's attention when we needed things our entire visit. William's margarita was pretty tasty apparently, and the only thing they got right in this visit.

When we got our food, my side plate with the fajita fixings on it had hard, crusty cheese and very little of it, and the sour cream was spongy, like it was old. I finally got our server's attention and asked her to replace it. She did so promptly, and it did look better, but she never once asked how our meals were, much less check on William for anything other than another drink.

William's steak was very over-done, which wasn't hard because it was so very thin. His mashed potatoes were crusty, like they were the dried out remains of the pan. By the time the server checked with us to see if we wanted dessert or anything else, I was mostly done eating and William was just so frustrated that he didn't even want to wait for them to cook another steak. Like I said, it was very difficult to get anyone's attention (we were back in a corner) and our server didn't bother to even look our way if she had gone to another table in her section. The server asked if he wanted another steak or if we wanted it taken off the bill or if we wanted her to have the manager stop by and William told her that taking it off the bill would be fine. She went to go do that and we saw her go to another table twice before the manager came over. He offered to buy the steak, another drink, the appetizer... William just told him to take the steak off. The manager came back with our bill and told us that he had taken the nachos off. We were confused since it was the steak that was the problem. The manager tried to make small talk asking us if we had been there before, which steak William usually likes, etc. It was rather annoying. After he left the table, I looked at the receipt to find out that he had taken both the steak and the nachos off the bill.

I appreciate the effort the manager made to try to get us to come back, but, like I said before, after three bad visits in a row, we won't be back to that location.

One more note: William had planned on staying there for a while after we were done eating to continue to drink, so they not only lost the money from the comps on the bill, but the other sales they would have had. We are generous tippers where we get even at least decent service, so the server lost quite a bit of money on her tip, too, much less the additional tip on the additional sales we would have given them had we stayed. This tends to be the case when we are disappointed in the service and/or food.

I hope you stay away from Chili's in Maplewood. We'll update our review with other locations, I'm sure.