Thursday, September 12, 2013

Kona Bay Cafe, Lantana Fl.

Kona Bay Cafe, located on E. Ocean Ave in Lantana, Fl.  is a small, breakfast and lunch cafe that serves a decent variety of breakfast and lunch options.  They are open from 7:00 AM - 2:00 PM.  The wife and I were able to go on a "Day Date" and we stopped here for a late breakfast.  We opted to sit outside under the covered patio where we had an OK view of the Intracostal waterway and an Excellent view of the construction being done on the Lantana bridge.  Our servers did offer to let us move inside if the construction got too loud, but it wasn't an issue for us and the weather was beautiful.

I had the Morning Aloha, which consists of eggs scrambled with bacon, sausage and ham topped with provolone cheese along with your choice of grits, hash browns or Home-style potatoes and toast.  The wife had the Kona Sampler that came with eggs to order, half a biscuit with gravy, french toast slices, bacon and and  choice of grits, hash browns or Home-style potatoes.  Overall the food was good, but I felt my eggs were a little over done, but still tasty enough.  The wife thoroughly enjoyed her meal and finished it completely to both our surprises.

The service was very friendly, and prompt, but being a Tuesday and around 11 in the morning, the restaurant was not crowded.  The waitresses worked as a team and we didn't have any issues.

Overall we were quite pleased with our choice and will probably go back.

Service: A
Food: B
Portion size: A

Thursday, August 29, 2013

The Garden Grill, Epcot, Orlando Florida.

The Garden Grill



Located in the Land Pavilion at the Epcot theme park is with out a doubt one of our favorite restaurants to visit when we "Do Disney".  The first thing you'll notice about the restaurant is that it spins, not fast enough to make anyone sick, but it rotates through the different landscapes of the "Living with the Land" ride. You'll see the American Plains, Jungles and more.  The restaurant is also a Character Dining location, and you will get visits from Chip, Dale, Mickey and Pluto so you will definitely want to bring your camera, especially if you have little ones.



There are no traditional menus at the Garden Grill, meals are served all you can eat"Family style" where the staff brings out platter of food which include steak, fish, turkey and lots of sides.  If you want more of anything, you just ask your server and they will bring it out to you.  Much of the food is actually produced in the sustainable eco-friendly farms at Epcot.  You can finish off your meal with one of the seasonal deserts.

Overall, this is one of our "must visit" places whenever we go.  We have always gotten excellent service and very good food.  We highly recommend you get reservations in advance and after checking the Disney website it appears the grill is no longer open for lunch, hours are 4 pm-8 pm.  You'll want to plan to spend at least an hour or more here, so if you get a fast pass or have an itinerary for other shows or attractions you'll need to take that into consideration.

Also, due to the style of the restaurant (and because it's Disney), they are a little more expensive than some of the other options available in the parks.

For more reviews you can go here to see what other people are saying about The Garden Grill

Sunday, August 18, 2013

Mulligans, Lake Worth, Fl - Lake Worth Beach.

Mulligans at the newly renovated Lake Worth Beach and Casino

The wife and I had a chance for a date night with just the two of us.  After not being able to decide where to go for the evening, we ended up at the beach in Lake Worth and we decided to try out the new restaurant that had replaced John G's

As we said before, the outside of the Casino building has been completely renovated and now has a great ambiance.  Mulligans, and many of the other businesses now have outdoor seating where you can eat over looking the ocean. Although, you need to keep in mind that the ocean breeze can be a bit brisk, and some of your napkins, among other things,  may go flying.






 The food is reasonably priced for what you get, though a bit more expensive than you typical chain restaurant.  We started off with the Crab Cakes which came with a mango salsa and a Key Lime hollandaise sauce.

For our main course I ordered the Stuffed Grouper, which comes with a crab filling and topped with a lobster sauce and the wife ordered the Fish and Chips platter.  We can definitely say that the fish and chips platter is very very filling.  Look at the size of the fish and look at the size of her hand in comparison.



The service was friendly and fast, but they were not crowded, so we were probably able to get a little more attention than what you might see on a busy night.


Overall, we would recommend Mulligans for anyone who is in the mood for something nice.

Cheddar's, Wellington Fl

Cheddar's, Wellington Fl

It's been a while since we've done a review  (we don't get to go out as much since the birth of our third son), we got a chance to eat at Cheddar's located on SR-7 in Wellington, Fl.  We arrived a little after 6:30 Saturday evening and the place was packed.   Luckily they have ample parking.  We had a large party of 8, including the baby and other 2 boys, so we expected to have to wait a little while.  After checking in with the host, they told us it would be about 30 minutes or so and that there were several other large parties just ahead of us.  It ended up being about a 45 minute wait after all was said and done.  Which, when dealing with such a large party is not that uncommon.

When we first walked in, they thing we noticed is that the restaurant is dark.  The ambiance has little pockets of light but overall it's quite dim, though the large lighted fish tank that divides the Bar side from the Dinning Room side is a nice touch of color.

There isn't much to say about the service we had, it was acceptable not outstandingly great, but not bad by a long shot.  We had one issue where our original server had to leave because of an emergency and we had to get a replacement.  The transition was fairly seamless and we didn't have any problems with it.

As for the food, let's say that you really get WAY more than you pay for.  Portion sizes are large, out of the 7 people who ordered only 2 finished their meals.  Everyone else got to-go bags.  I ordered the "Baked Spasagna" which is spaghetti layered with cheese and baked with a meat sauce like a lasagna.  This is something that might be considered comfort food.  It's a large rich meal that definitely fills you up.  I would most certainly order this again.  The wifey ordered the Chicken Tender Salad, she didn't finish.  This was a large fresh salad topped with about 5 good sized chicken tenders.  The other people in our party ordered the Steak and Tender combo, the Chicken and Waffles, the Chicken Tender platter and the two older boys got the Monte Dogs, which are like corn dogs.  Everyone really enjoyed their meals and as said before the portion sizes are big.


Overall, we were very happy with our experience and we will be back.

Scores
Food: A+, Cooked well, served quickly and really I can't say enough about the portion sizes.
Service: A, even with the hiccups we didn't have any problems.
Price: A, you really get your moneys worth here

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Gift Card Contest!

DA is having a contest!  If we can get at least 1000 Facebook page likes by April 15th (Tax Day)  We will give one of our lucky readers a $25 Gift Card to the Restaurant of their choice, or a Visa Gift card if the restaurant they want doesn't have gift cards. 

So share this with your friends and good luck!!!

Wednesday, February 06, 2013

Rustlers Rooste, Phoenix, AZ

     Rustlers Rooste, is a very interesting dining experience.  Located in Phoenix, AZ, it's about 15 minutes south of PHX Sky harbor Airport and over looks the city of Phoenix.



      This is a country & western themed restaurant and it plays that theme to the max including having "Horny the Bull" a live steer who lives in front of the building.  After you enter and speak with the host, you'll walk on a pathway over an indoor waterfall over to the stairs and slide area.  The slide is quite steep, our (almost) 4 year old went down it once... and he was good that.  However, some of the older kids and younger adults (speaking of mindset not age) went down it several times.  Also, in keeping with the theme, the restaurant has a sawdust coating on the floor to help absorb spills.  This may turn some people off, but we weren't bothered by it.
 
     Despite being fairly busy, we were seated right away.  Also, there must have been some confusion and miscommunication between the hosts and the wait staff as we had 3 different servers come to the table to take our drink orders, but that all got worked out with no issues. 
 
     The menu has a good selection of items and as we were on vacation decided to splurge a little bit and ordered the "Cowboy Stuff" platter which has pretty much a bit of everything.  Everything on the platter was pretty good but I did have to add some salt to the steak kabobs. 
 
     All in all, this was a really nice time and I would recommend anyone who likes a western theme steakhouse to check it out.  However if "over-the-top" themes aren't your thing, you may want to try somewhere else.
 
Scores:
Food: B+ Good portions, cooked well, but needed some added flavor.
Service: B+ Started a little slow, but ended quite nicely.
Portion Size: A+ we were definitely full after we left.