restaurant reviews

[BrianR]

I went to a nice little restaurant tonight that I'll share with you all, even though it's not likely that you'd ever be here to try it yourself.

It's called Garry's, on Old Quarterfield Road near I97.

It's a small but neat and clean place. They have a pleasant atmosphere with no music. They make their own desserts and bake their own breads. Takeout is possible and bakery items go with that too.

The service was better than average with our pleasant waiter being attentive without being pushy or intrusive.

I ordered beer battered shrimp and they arrived steaming hot and very tasty. They were breaded in house (unlike most places that serve premade, frozen, fried shrimp) and sprayed with a honey mustard sauce that was just right.
For a main course I had the BBQ Chicken with penne pasta. I would not have thought to put BBQ sauce on pasta along with a cheesy cream sauce but it was surprisingly tasty.

Dessert was a Key Lime pastry that was flavorful and homemade. They were out of Key Lime Pie (my favorite) but gave me this as a substitute. The pastry was attractively presented on a plate with strawberry and sweet cream sauces drizzled over.

I also had my first spiced tea. I had it cold (it also comes hot), and wqound up putting away SEVEN throughout the course of the meal. I like that drink a LOT! Now I have to find out how to make it and make a few gallons for the house.

All in all, the bill came to $57 for two of us. Good for the price.

I give the restaurant three and a half stars (out of five) on my personal rating system.

[wolf]

Tonight was my first trip to the Bay Pony Inn in Lederach, and I must say I was QUITE pleased.

I went there for a banquet for a volunteer organization I've been a member of for 8-9 years (I honestly forget when I first joined. I'm sure it's in the archives somewhere).

Banquets are usually pretty standardized ... everyone knows the same jokes (which are usually true) about the rubber chicken served with cold peas ...

Not so. I'd heard good things about the food at the Bay Pony, and they appear to be accurate.

I had the chicken piccatta, which was about as far from rubbery as you can get ... moist & tender ... and involved capers, which is something I almost wrote about in the Food Oddities thread ... who would think that something that so resembles a bunny turd could be such a flavor enhancer. It's one of those "who the heck was the first person who ever thought of that ... it sure don't LOOK good" foods.

Reports on the Mahi-Mahi and prime rib were also glowing.

The meal was helped along by the open bar, of course.

I'm definitely going to be going back there for a regular off the menu dinner, given the goodness of the banquet food.

I also ended up with a very nice unexpected bonus. Two, actually.

As with many of the banquety things, there were door prizes. I now have a $10 gift certificate for Blockbuster. I'll have to hang onto it until they send out another rent one get one free coupon to maximize my videogaming enjoyment.

The big wonderfulness, though, was that I won the raffle quilt! One of the team members is a quilter and makes a quilt each year as a fundraiser. We're still trying to figure out how she does it ... she has two kids and works full time yet manages to piece and quilt several large quilts a year, as well as numerous smaller wall-hangings, table runners, placemats, etc.

I'd like to learn quilting myself, except I really don't have room for another hobby right now ... I'm barely keeping up with the batches I'm already involved in.

[SteveDallas]

Friday night was the Xth day of me having the kids to myself for the evening (with a few more to go still), and frankly I was getting tired of it. So I took em to Chuck E. Cheese.

I give it a thumbs up. The pizza's not bad, but there are sandwiches and a salad bar if you're not in the mood for pizza. The ambience is first-rate (at least if you're looking for something to keep little kids distracted so you don't have to be constantly on top of them--NO!!! PUT DOWN THE BELT SANDER! And how did you get it out of my locked tool cabinet anyway?? YOUNG LADY!! We do NOT make prank calls to the principal! Hey! Put that security chain back on the door!) and, if you're so inclined, you can play a couple rounds of skeeball yourself.

Oh, umm, if it were just a night out with the adults, I'd vote for Tequila's. Very nice food, not excessively expensive, a nice ambiance. And, if you're so inclined, forget the wine list--they have a tequila list!!

The first time we went there we read in an on-line review that you should really try the nachos obligatorios. So we ordered that along with our entrees. Our waiter shortly appeared with tortlla chips and about half a dozen different varieties of stuff to eat them with--tomato salsas, pickled vegetables, a cheese based thing--goodness, it was yummy! After we had determined that we really should stop or there would be no room for entrees, a gentleman appeared with a platter for us--"Your appetizer, sir." I responded, "I'm sorry, I think you have the wrong table, we have our appetizer already." I forget the exact words of his reply, but what it amounted to was, "That?? That's not an appetizer, that's just the simple uninteresting boring stuff we give away for free." So we had no choice but to dig into the REAL nachos obligatorios, which were also REALLY REALLY good.

The entrees are nice, too. I've had almost all the chicken dishes and would recommend any of them.

Oh my good god their site is slow. But the nachos sound awesome. Any nachos sound awesome. Anything with cheese sounds awesome. It's hard to fuck up nachos.

[wolf]

I miss the pre-bankruptcy Chuck E. Cheese ... for me, the ball pit and games that spew tickets pales in comparison to the row upon row of classic video games that were a part of the original CEC concept.

(I admit it. I liked going there (when it was in East Norriton) because they had the difficulty level on Joust turned down low so I got extra birdies AND was able to make highest score on the board there. No, I find no shame in the fact that I was whooping the asses of 12 year olds.)