*singing* I didn't have.... baby back ribs.

 

Its Saturday night at 7pm, we wanted some food so my wife and I traveled to Chili's Grill and Bar on Washtenaw in the Arborland Shopping complex. 

We arrived and I immediately noticed the parking lot was PACKED and felt like I was going to be waiting for a while to get a seat. I was wrong. We walked right in to the dark lit restaurant and was greeted by a nice young lady and led to the back of the restaurant to a 2 person table. I immediately noticed directly overhead was a very bright light pointing directly downward making it hard for me to see. Its one of those pendant lights that are kind of directional if you know what I mean.  There were huge tables full of people and small 2 person tables all over the place that were full. It was loud as heck with the music and the chatter of people. Almost unbearable but what can you expect for a sports bar. Definitely not a place to take a small child on a Saturday night, but the restaurant advertises that its a college 'hangout'.

We were greeted by a nice wait and asked what we wanted to drink, and also if we would like an appetizer. I told him that we had a coupon for a free appetizer and told him we would like the nachos. He asked us if we wanted to upgrade them to chicken or steak because it usually cost more but since we had the coupon for a free app, the upgrade would be free also. Kudos for this guy telling us this. He brought us our sodas, took our order of a crispy chicken crispers and crispy honey-chipotle chicken crispers and soon after he brought out our appetizer. We werent being very adventurous today and the chicken looked good on the menu.

We received our appetizer, and man was it good.  I have never had tortilla chips like they had on there, I still have to try putting chips in the oven for homemade nachos. But the mix of cheese and chicken and the other toppings made this appetizer a winner. I ate the whole thing and the wife not liking nachos also ate a few of them stating that they are good! 

After we were done with the appetizer a different waitress brought out our chicken plates stating she was working with our waiter. The wife usually orders the original chicken crispers at Chili's and was a little disappointed she hadn't ordered them this time because the breading is definitely different on these chicken strips. My chicken came drizzled in honey-chipolte sauce which is odd to me because even KFC can totally cover chicken strips in a sauce, surprising a sit down restaurant cannot do this. Definitely not like the pictures on the menu. The honey sauce tasted like exactly that, they mixed honey and a chipotle sauce together and drizzled it over the chicken. I was a little unimpressed with my chicken. The plain chicken 'crispers' came with honey mustard dipping sauce, which from previous experience is awesome on the chicken and on the french fries. My chicken came with ranch. What a wierd and almost disgusting combo of honey, hot, and ranch. I left it alone.

The chicken plates came with a ear of corn on a stick which was covered in salt and pepper. Instead of looking like a caveman/woman my Wife and I decided to take a knife and cut the corn off onto the plate so we didn't get corn stuck in our teeth. Also on the plate were french fries. There was absolutely no room left on the plate for any ketchup, or for that matter to cut the corn off the cob onto the plate.. (I made a mess on the table)  The corn was delicious and the fries were so so and only warm, they were not hot/fresh just out of the fryer.

We wrapped up and the waiter took our bill and he deserved to be tipped well and was.

Food 7/10 - We didnt try anything but some chicken, not what Chili's is famous for.

Wait Staff 9/10 - They were attentive and very nice. Helped us get more for our coupon/money.

Cleanliness 10/10 - I seen no problems with this place at all.

Decor 9/10 - Nice college sports bar attitude. Deducting 1 point because the very bright light directly overhead.

Atmosphere 9/10 - Very loud. A few tv's here and there. You would expect the loud bar atmosphere to be contained in the bar and actually be able to think or talk to your people at a regular table but its sometimes hard.

Overall 8/10 The main part of the food was so so, the sides being just okay. The appetizer was very good. The waitstaff were very good. Points deducted for the entree not being well and the atmosphere being to loud.

 

Chinese.. in the all you can eat flavor

So I have been wanted to go to a Chinese buffet so I recruited my older brother to go with me to the only one I know of in Ann Arbor... well actually Ypsilanti. Its called Asia City.

We arrived on a Saturday night at approximately six o'clock and found the front and side parking lot to be pretty packed. I was thinking whoa, we are going to be packed in this place like sardines.

We pulled open the bank vault looking doors and it instantly smelled fishy. Literally. When you walk in you are on a bridge if you look over the handrail you will see water and fish. Kind of neat actually, I guess the smell is okay because its neat to see the fish. We walked in another door and walked up to get seated. There was a full service bar, and off into another room we went. The place is humungous! There had to been 40 tables, 20 of them which seat 5 or more. And it looked empty! I don't know how with all those cars this place looked empty. On the other side of the restaurant was the "not buffet" area, maybe there was more people over there. We were on the buffet side....

The waitress took our drink order and we were on to the plethora of food. There had to been at least 9 banks of food. The normal Chinese buffet kung pao chicken, crab ragoons, general tso's, sesame chicken, sweet and sour chicken, etc., was all there. But this place had some extra things, whole crabs, crayfish, duck, roast beef, a Mongolian looking DIY stir fry, a few kinds of baked oysters like cheese covered and some kind of sauce covered, fresh (?) oysters, fried fish skin, and quite a bit of sushi. The normal Chinese buffet food was pretty good. Some of the other things I tried were kind of a different experience for me. I dont know how they are supposed to be but I will try to describe them.

Whole crabs, it seems like they gutted the crab, took the crab and made it into seafood salad, covered it with cheese and baked it. It was good though. The crayfish were small and red, I had never had crayfish before this time. I pulled the tail out, the black vein, and the tiny piece of tail meat finally came the rest of the way out of the tail. All that work for that little bit of meat?! Id have to have about 100 of those to live on crayfish! (LOL) The sushi was pretty good, there was a crunchy one, some with caviar of different colors, and some others. They all looked pretty appetizing and all tasted decent for a buffet. None of them were labeled though. Around the corner from the sushi was pieces of raw fish. And Octopus. And raw oysters.. And.. seaweed. It must be a Chinese thing. I left that stuff alone. I found it was awkward for me to eat sushi without chopsticks, its hard to dip it in the soy-sauce/wasabi mixture with a fork. They had chopsticks if I would have asked for them. No need.
Ice cream, fruit a plenty, macaroons, and cookies was for desert.

The waitress kept our drinks full, and cleaned our plates while we were getting more. No problems there. She was tipped well.

As were were walking up the the counter to pay the bill, I saw a neat looking green drink. My brother had mentioned before the bubble tea, or bobo tea, whichever, and that was it. We asked about it and he said those ones were the last ones so we didn't get to try it! Doh! Maybe next time. On the way out (and the way in) they had fish tanks with fish, lobster, eel, and oysters in them, and there was a sign that said the market price for the corresponding seafood. Neat. Expensive.

We left with a grin, and a full belly.

Food 9/10 - If you are looking for a Chinese buffet with some different options, this is it.
Wait Staff 9/10 - They were attentive and pleasant.
Cleanliness 10/10 - It seems like it would be hard to keep a place like this clean, but it was in both the food area and the eating area.
Decor 10/10 - Made you feel like you were in a different place, mostly Chinese deco <G>
Atmosphere 9/10 - Big and open, kind of loud. Only seen 1 tv. A couple of the tables were raised up on what looked like was an old stage.
Overall 9/10 The food was good, the waitstaff was good. Just a tad overpriced for the buffet.

Holidays "Diner"

Just down the road from the "Big House" there is a nice little diner called Holiday's Restaurant. We bought a living social deal ($10 for $20) and headed out the door when we found time for lunch.

As we walked in the restaurant we noticed that this must be a local joint for the construction workers, seniors, and people that live near the restaurant. We walked in the back door so we walked thru the restaurant up to the front door and waited to be seated about 10 seconds. We were taken to the near back of the restaurant past what looked like at some point would be a buffet, but it was empty. We were sat down by the nice hostess and she asked for our preference in drinks.The tables were kind of neat because they had they were covered in commercial ads, but in the center was a tic-tac-toe board and a hangman board... I wonder if they have crayons. I didnt ask so who knows.  A few people came in while we were sitting here, one wearing a hardhat, another was an old man that could barely walk and our waitress knew these people by name, and helped the old man get into his seat and then asked how his eye was doing (he must of had surgery on it).

Our waitress brought us our drinks and introduced herself and then took our order. The menu was pretty much that of a local diner. We ordered cheese sticks for an appetizer, I ordered a BLT sandwich, and the wife ordered fish. 

Our cheese sticks were delivered rather quickly, with a side of hot marinara. They were pretty decent. Pretty run of the mill fried cheese sticks.  What more can you ask for.

About 10 minutes later our food arrived. Mine looked less appetizing then my wife's did. I should have ordered something else. My BLT was on wheat bread which was dry. The bacon wasn't anywhere near hot or fresh, it was chewy and just warm. The tomatoes were pretty old (working at the local fast food joint, I can tell when they are old because they get soggy)But, liking food I ate the whole thing and didn't complain.

My wife said the food was so so for fish and fries. She ate all but one piece and then I finished her plate for her. It was run of the mill battered fish and fries. Nothing special. We pretty much cleaned our plates and then received our check.

I asked her if she takes the bill or what, she said she could and wrote down my living social coupon and took my credit card for the rest of the payment. (On our way out I saw the sign that said cashier, I guess I was supposed to take the bill up. O well) We put our tip on the table and out we left.

Food 6/10 - Pretty much run of the mill bland diner food
Wait Staff 9/10 - Good service, except for the awkward bill paying part
Cleanliness 9/10 - they could have put away the pans for the buffet they weren't running.
Decor 8/10 - Nothing special, a few tv's.
Atmosphere 7/10 - Seems like they catered to the repeat customers, not so much the first timers. Its pretty quiet.
Overall 7/10 - It should be called Holidays Diner. If you want a diner, this is it. Good service, good place for locals, kind of bland food.

mmmmm…. Pizza…

Next to Potbelly’s Subs we saw a pizza place pop up in a nice little plaza with whole foods, a sports store, an Ulta makeup(?) store, and some others. A couple days later the wife bought us a groupon which was $10 dollars For $20 dollars worth of food.. Of course we have to do it! Free Food!  To Tony Socco’s we went.

We walked in the door and it screamed sports bar instantly. Big screen TV’s a plenty,but not the dark dreary normal bar. It had very nice pendant lighting that almost seemed to make our pizza glow (more on that later).

The wife, baby and I arrived on Sunday morning at 11:15am (the restaurant opened at 11) and there was 1 couple sitting at the full bar off to the side, and also 1 older lady with 2 younger kids. The place was still quiet at this time in the morning. We were asked if we wanted a booster seat, it was then I thought this was not just a sports bar.

The very nice waitress took our order for drinks,brought them back and we then ordered a small pizza. The special of the day was they had a first time ever that day "make your own" bloody mary bar that was going on for $7 per glass.

We ordered bread sticks,they weren’t called bread sticks, they were called something else but were served covered in oil and Parmesan cheese. No marinara or pizza sauce was delivered with the sticks although we never asked for any either.  They were okay, nothing special.

We sat as we watched the chef’s through clear glass toss our dough in the air, put the toppings on it which was kind of neat. The pizza was crusty on the bottom from the gas fired oven they cook it in, definitely different then your normal pizza joint. It was good for a New York style pizza. We had pizza the year before in New York City and this pizza reminded us of it instantly. We ordered sausage and mushrooms, it came with mozzarella, Romano, and basil on our pizza. We instantly noticed when it was delivered why there was so many lights in the restaurant. The pizza was covered in oil, when the lights hit it, it made the pizza look like diamonds! Kind of a neat thing. The pizza was good. So good we (I) ate all but one slice which was offered to be boxed up and sent home with us but I declined.

When I showed the waitress our LivingSocial for $20 worth of food, she took the number down and then went away and came back. She said there was a "Groupon" tax or something which deducted 5 dollars from the value of the voucher. We were kind of disappointed. I emailed livingsocial the next day, and within 2 hours of me emailing them I had a 5 dollar credit in my account. Thank you livingsocial. You have made me think there is still good customer service in America.

We tipped well and left the restaurant, full and happy with our experience.

Food 9/10 - Good but a little greasy to make the pizza "Glitz" and no sauce for the sticks.
Kid Friendly - 9/10 Its almost a full fledged sports bar, probably not good for kids at night.
Wait Staff - 10/10 Very nice and attentive, quick to fill up drinks
Cleanliness 10/10 No problem whatsoever
Decor 9/10 - TV's a many, mostly steel fixtures everywhere. Almost to much.
Atmosphere 10/10 Nice small, commercial pizzeria. Not loud at all at 11am.
Overall 9/10 - I liked the food, the waitstaff, but I couldn't tell if this was a bar or not a bar.

Blue Tractor, well painted John Deere anyway.

Holy cow, downtown Ann Arbor at 7 is gettin packed!

The parking garage 1 block from our restaurant choice had 1 parking spot, then FULL, then 1, then FULL, so we had to wait for somebody to leave before we were allowed to enter. Lucky for having elevators, our parking spot was on floor 5.  Don't try to take a truck in here people.

Outside the brewery was a bunch of tables, and a guy playing his guitar by the entrance. 

2 friends, the wife and I went into the dark wooden John Deere painted blue restaurant on Saturday. They sat us in kind of a secluded spot in the back past the kitchen and it was on the same bench as another table which was kind of odd but we had absolutely no wait time. Awesome!

The party of 20 in the center of the restaurant was loud and had a bunch of younger kids with them, but what do you expect at 7pm on a Saturday night. 

We got seated and I asked if they had anything like the “Oatmeal Stout” that they had last time but our waitress had no clue what I was talking about so I ordered their seasonal stout.  It was decent, but I should have ordered something else. As I had ordered before, the “Black and blue with bacon” burger was what I came for because I had ordered it before and enjoyed it.   My wife ordered a hamburger, as did one friend, and the last person ordered a steak salad, well salad with steak rather. Everybody ordered their food well done, and well done it all was. If you like peppery flavoring and blue cheese the Black and blue is for you! It came with what seemed to be fresh made potato chips which were crunchy and warm. If I would have been offered french fries I would have probably taken them even if it cost more because there's nothing like a burger and fries. 

My hamburger had a nicely toasted not soggy bun with a well done thick meat patty. Blue cheese was piled on it pretty well along with a bunch of slightly overdone crunchy bacon. The tomato was slightly on the soggy/old side (I know this from working at a restaurant for 5 years), but the lettuce was fresh. No condiments on the sandwich at all.

We all enjoyed our food.

The waiter was sub-par in my opinion, she had a blank looking stare to her the whole time but nonetheless she got our order right, but definitely not with a smile.  She gave us 4 bottles liquid, each with a different colored lid but no explanation to what they were, so I tried them and they all tasted different, maybe barbecue sauce? Maybe barbecue hot and barbecue mustard? And maybe barbecue vinegar? Who knows? The only thing I heard her say the whole night was at the beginning "What would you like to drink?", after that "What Would you like to order?" and at the end "Will this be 2 bills?". Not very friendly in my opinion.

Some waitress from the kitchen brought one of my friends food out, the steak salad, before any other dishes were brought, it may be because it had cold lettuce on it. Our waiter gave us a blank stare that our friend had her food and the rest of us didn’t, and then scurried into the back to get our food approximately 5 minutes later. We had fun making fun of her as we all sat there and watch her eat. As we left we tipped our waitress very well and didn’t even get a thank you or good riddance, nothing.

As we walked out the greeters all told us to have a good night. That was nice. The outdoor tables outside were cleared by the time we left around 830pm, yet a lot of the other places in town they were still jam packed.  The food was good, the wait staff could have been better.

I will come back to this place as I have a few times already, for the black and blue burger, its one of my favorites hopefully will get a different waiter. 

Food 8/10 – Pretty good food, big menu, alot of bar food.

Wait Staff 7/10 – Not very attentive staff, previous trips were better, previous trips were 9/10.

Atmosphere 7/10 – Was so loud that it was hard to have a conversation across the table. Awfully close to other  people. Its a bar, what can you do.

Noise Level 9/10 – Very Loud

Cleanliness 7/10 – had to get new silverware because one set had no napkin around it, table was sticky.

Décor – 9/10 Old wood walls, rustic, weird things on the walls. Very Bar Deco. Neat'o

Kid Friendliness - N/A

Overall - 8/10.

Welcome

Welcome to my blog, my first one. I am going to attempt to provide reviews of local restaurants in, or around Ann Arbor Michigan, Ypsilanti, usually within 30 miles of Ann Arbor from a somewhat not proper, country boy point of view. 

A little about me and food, I love Food. Im not into really spicy although I can tolerate hot, wearing a suit while eating isnt my favorite thing to do although I can do it properly, I like my meat well done but I'll still eat it if its wrong as long as its not bleeding. I can handle bland food pretty well, but if it doesn't taste good to me, something must be really, really wrong with it. I have ate sushi, calamari, chicken, steak, broccoli... you name it, I like it all.  

I am pretty shy when it comes to telling somebody at a restaurant whether it be a waiter,waitress, or a manager that something with the food or service is wrong, so now I just take what they give me and now will write about it. I dont think that I should have to tell somebody that something is wrong. 

Alot of the time it is going to be me and my wife eating out together, sometimes with 5 month old child, sometimes with our parents, sometimes with friends. When the baby is with us it adds another item to talk about in the blog, kid/baby friendliness, if she comes with us, I will talk about it.

Groupon, LivingSocial, and other deal websites influence where we usually eat out alot of the time. These deals make good reasons to go try new places. If you haven't heard of them, check them out. I have had good luck with these "coupon" deal places. Although I have also had some restaurants look at me and seem to treat us sub-par because we are using them. I have also had to email the deal websites because of problems with the deals, and most of the time the problem is fixed.

I believe that service in America is going down the drain, and people should open up their eyes and see just what restaurants hit the mark on food quality and service, and which ones don't. Some restaurants have been remarkable and I bite myself in the butt for not starting this blog sooner as they should receive credit.

Now I have a place to put my thoughts an opinions, right here. Enjoy.

Feel free to email me at joedownard@gmail.com. 
I am always open to suggestions, invites, etc.