On Saturday evening after keeping Lil' Bud and Precious for 1 and 1/2 days it was time to celebrate. Several of our friends had recommended Cafe Del Rio, which is next to the AMC Theatres. This location has been several other restaurants and have failed because it is a tough location. To get here you have to drive past On the Border, Joe's Crab Shack, Texas Roadhouse, and Cheddars. Our informants indicated that the manager and a number of the waiters from our favorite, Posados, now works at Cafe Del Rio. Until our last trip to Posados, their service has been the best of all restaurants. However, our last visit we noticed that the manager was new and all employees were new. The service was not as good as it had been. So we are open to considering a change.
So Chipper (aka wifey) and me did the boogie-woogie to Cafe Del Rio. First of all the parking lot was full and it was raining at the time. This restaurant has a lot of tables and most of them were occupied. We were able to be seated immediatly. Our waitress brought us teas, chips and 3 hot salsas. The chips were pretty normal Mexican Restaurant chips, so they get a 7.
The salsa is happening here. You get 3 choices, house salsa, firehouse salsa and habanaro ranch salsa. The house salsa has a nice flavor with plenty of spice and some heat. It's a good. The firehouse salsa is spicier and hotter, it's a real good. The habanero ranch salsa is very tasty with an afterburn that will get your attention. Overall the salsa is a big plus here. Givin it a 8.25.
We ordered chicken fajita's, with Charro Beans and rice.
The chicken fajita's came with a large portion of chicken even though the order was for 1. The chicken was grilled nicely and had a good taste. The tortilla's were larger than most places and had a very good taste. Large tortillas is a definite plus. The fajita's came with sour cream, cheese, guacamole, pico de gallo, and mexican butter sauce. Now Chipper is a big fan of the butter sauce, so that was scooped up immediately, so I can't give a report, but it must be very good. All of the other condiments were tasty except for the pico de gallo. This pico was nothing but small chunks of tomatoes. Normally pico will have onions and some spices, but not here. Since Mitcho is not a big fan of tomatoes by themselves, this is a negative here. Overall, the chicken fajitas get an 8.
The service was fast, efficient and friendly. Service gets an 8.
The charro beans had a very good flavor. The Charro beans and rice compare to Posados well.
In my comparison to Posado's, Cafe Del Rio wins the salsa war easily, but it does not give a sopapilla free at the end of the meal and the pico is lacking. Cafe Del Rio was about $1,00 cheaper, so money is not a real issue here. Cafe Del Rio's service is far better than our last time to Posados.
Overall I give Cafe Del Rio an 8.
Mitcho
©2014
Sunday, August 17, 2014
Saturday, August 16, 2014
Chick-Fil-A - Mesquite
Chick-Fil-A is a Christian company run on Christian values. They also will take a stand for their Christian Values. Mitcho likes this alot. The local Chick-Fil-A is owned and operated by a great family in our community. This Chick-Fil-A is unbelivable at lunch time. First of all when you drive up and look out in the mall parking lot, there are about 30 cars parked for employees. That is a strong commitment to service. They have two drive thru lanes and they are packed at lunch, but they move pretty good. Inside it is crazy, the line is to the door most of the time and it moves fast. Obviously they are cooking chicken in advance of orders to be able to serve so fast. I take my hat off to this operation.
This Friday, Bud and Lefty dropped Lil Bud and Precious off for two days. Now Lefty takes them to Chick-Fil-A regularly so the kids eat their food good. When I am buying food, I might as well buy them something they will eat.
We order the chicken nuggets and fries. That way we can pass them around to who is eating the most. The chicken nuggets have a good chicken flavor and the batter crust is very tasty. Get some good dippin sauce and you got some good eats. The fries are a waffle fries which is not in many other places. I think I like regular fries better, but the waffle fries are a change of pace. They do taste good. Overall givin Chick-Fil-A an 8 (7 for the food and 1 bonus point for their Christian values). So scedaddle on over and grab you up some Chicken.
Mitcho
©2014
This Friday, Bud and Lefty dropped Lil Bud and Precious off for two days. Now Lefty takes them to Chick-Fil-A regularly so the kids eat their food good. When I am buying food, I might as well buy them something they will eat.
We order the chicken nuggets and fries. That way we can pass them around to who is eating the most. The chicken nuggets have a good chicken flavor and the batter crust is very tasty. Get some good dippin sauce and you got some good eats. The fries are a waffle fries which is not in many other places. I think I like regular fries better, but the waffle fries are a change of pace. They do taste good. Overall givin Chick-Fil-A an 8 (7 for the food and 1 bonus point for their Christian values). So scedaddle on over and grab you up some Chicken.
Mitcho
©2014
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
Zeke's Kitchen - Italian Sub
Today the wifey went to a brunch with the bunch and was not going to eat lunch. (See what I did there, it was an accident to be sure). So lunch was all about Mitcho today, so you know I am going to be bad. There was only one real choice so we did the "skip to my lou darling" to Zeke's Kitchen. As you know this is not my first visit or my first Italian Sub and it will not be my last either.
The special today was the Italian Sub, which is not on the regular menu, so you have to go on Wednesdays!!!! (mark your calendar) This Sub was HUGE. It came in a very large basket and it filled the basket end to end. I don't know how one fat man can eat all of that. Of course I did!!! This is one tasty sub, it has several meats and it is stuffed with meat. I dare you try to eat one without meat falling out of it. It also has bell peppers and a very tasty Italian dressing. They also include one side which I always select the BBQ beans which are very spicy and tasty. These are some of the best BBQ beans I have eaten anywhere in these here United States, bar none. Getya some BBQ beans, you won't regret it, at least not until later.
Overall this meal gets a 9.45.
NOTE: Everything I have eaten in this restaurant has been one of the best I have ever had. You can't go wrong here. I will be looking for you around noon next Wednesday.
Mitcho
©2014
The special today was the Italian Sub, which is not on the regular menu, so you have to go on Wednesdays!!!! (mark your calendar) This Sub was HUGE. It came in a very large basket and it filled the basket end to end. I don't know how one fat man can eat all of that. Of course I did!!! This is one tasty sub, it has several meats and it is stuffed with meat. I dare you try to eat one without meat falling out of it. It also has bell peppers and a very tasty Italian dressing. They also include one side which I always select the BBQ beans which are very spicy and tasty. These are some of the best BBQ beans I have eaten anywhere in these here United States, bar none. Getya some BBQ beans, you won't regret it, at least not until later.
Overall this meal gets a 9.45.
NOTE: Everything I have eaten in this restaurant has been one of the best I have ever had. You can't go wrong here. I will be looking for you around noon next Wednesday.
Mitcho
©2014
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
Eddie's Napolis - Gus Thomasson
Well as it usually does, dinner time rolled around. The wifey and me began our normal evening negotiation over where we are going to eat dinner. She started with going to Joe's Pizza to split a Stromboli. Now I have had a Stromboli at Joe's and they are tasty, however, the word SPLIT is in the previous sentence. The Stromboli at Eddie's Napolis is twice the size of Joe's Pizza, so I pushed for Napolis and I was very convincing. So we did the tango to Eddie's Napolis.
Upon arrival we were the only customers in the restaurant. It stayed this way throughout the entire meal. So I don't see how this place stays in business. Oh well, I guess that isn't my worry.
We ordered the Stromboli for us to split.
Once we ordered the waitress brought us our teas and rolls with marinara sauce. The rolls were a little stale, probably left over from lunch. They were tasty but a little stale. Givin the rolls a 4.85.
The Stromboli did not disappoint us. It was HUGE! When we cut that thing in 1/2 we still got a full dinner. The Stromboli was full of sausage, pepperoni, and canadian bacon and plenty of cheese. It tasted very good. The marinara sauce for dipping was pretty tasteless, it could use some more flavor. Overall it was pretty good. Givin the Stromboli at 7.
Overall, the meal is a 6.85. If you are going to split a Stromboli, this is the place to go. NOTE: There are at least 4 locations for Eddie's Napolis. We have eaten in the one in Firewheel Mall and the one on Centerville just down from 635. They are all pretty much the same, other than the other two have a lot more customers.
Mitcho
©2014
Upon arrival we were the only customers in the restaurant. It stayed this way throughout the entire meal. So I don't see how this place stays in business. Oh well, I guess that isn't my worry.
We ordered the Stromboli for us to split.
Once we ordered the waitress brought us our teas and rolls with marinara sauce. The rolls were a little stale, probably left over from lunch. They were tasty but a little stale. Givin the rolls a 4.85.
The Stromboli did not disappoint us. It was HUGE! When we cut that thing in 1/2 we still got a full dinner. The Stromboli was full of sausage, pepperoni, and canadian bacon and plenty of cheese. It tasted very good. The marinara sauce for dipping was pretty tasteless, it could use some more flavor. Overall it was pretty good. Givin the Stromboli at 7.
Overall, the meal is a 6.85. If you are going to split a Stromboli, this is the place to go. NOTE: There are at least 4 locations for Eddie's Napolis. We have eaten in the one in Firewheel Mall and the one on Centerville just down from 635. They are all pretty much the same, other than the other two have a lot more customers.
Mitcho
©2014
Saturday, August 9, 2014
Martinez - Gross Rd Mesquite
Now, I won't say I have eaten here much, but a few years ago we calculated that I have probably spent more than $27,000 in this one restaurant. So this is like going home. Of course I had a gift certificate from a friend that made it even better.
We had the whole redneck family together tonight, Darlin, Sax Man, Bud, Lefty, CBoss, Lil Darlin, Big Guy, Precious, Lil Bud and of course Chipper. There was no special event other than dad was paying for dinner, of course Chipper decided we needed to celebrate anyway so there was a Cookie cake from Albertsons involved.
The chips here are pretty much identical to chips in most Mexican restaurants. Givin the chips a 6.
The salsa is a different story. It seems like the last few Mexican restaurants I have eaten in had bad salsa issues. Not the case here. The salsa is very spicy and hot. It does tend to vary from trip to trip, sometimes it is hotter than others.Tonight it was a nice combination of spicy and hot. Givin the salsa an 8.
Me and Chipper ordered beef fajitas for dinner. The beef had a nice lightly spiced flavor and came with bell peppers and onions. You now get to cheese two condiments for the fajitas. So we had cheese and sour cream. All the ingredients in a flour tortilla and you got some pretty good luvin. Givin the Beef fajitas an 7.75.
Dinner was a good visit until the kids had overstayed their limit and became rowdy. When you have 3 3-year olds and a 20 month old, it can get rowdy pretty fast. So we had to retreat to the hacienda where chaos really erupted.
Overall Martinez gets a 7.75 tonight.
Mitcho
©2014
We had the whole redneck family together tonight, Darlin, Sax Man, Bud, Lefty, CBoss, Lil Darlin, Big Guy, Precious, Lil Bud and of course Chipper. There was no special event other than dad was paying for dinner, of course Chipper decided we needed to celebrate anyway so there was a Cookie cake from Albertsons involved.
The chips here are pretty much identical to chips in most Mexican restaurants. Givin the chips a 6.
The salsa is a different story. It seems like the last few Mexican restaurants I have eaten in had bad salsa issues. Not the case here. The salsa is very spicy and hot. It does tend to vary from trip to trip, sometimes it is hotter than others.Tonight it was a nice combination of spicy and hot. Givin the salsa an 8.
Me and Chipper ordered beef fajitas for dinner. The beef had a nice lightly spiced flavor and came with bell peppers and onions. You now get to cheese two condiments for the fajitas. So we had cheese and sour cream. All the ingredients in a flour tortilla and you got some pretty good luvin. Givin the Beef fajitas an 7.75.
Dinner was a good visit until the kids had overstayed their limit and became rowdy. When you have 3 3-year olds and a 20 month old, it can get rowdy pretty fast. So we had to retreat to the hacienda where chaos really erupted.
Overall Martinez gets a 7.75 tonight.
Mitcho
©2014
La Caretta - Nacogdoches, TX
The wifey and me had bidness in southeast Texas, so we ended the day at Nacogdoches so we could eat at La Caretta. Darlin, our oldest had gone to college at SFA, so we have spent a lot of time there. We have eaten at La Caretta many times and have many fond memories there. Of course our credit card has been there even more times because Darlin and her roommate ate there many times with my credit card (thank you daddy).
First of all, they brought us chips and salsa. The chips are normal mexican restaurant chips, there really aren't many restaurants that either stand out as different good or bad. Chips are chips. Givin the chips a 6.5. They are drug down by the salsa.
In the past the salsa was brought to the table in a bottle and an individual bowl was given to each person. You could refill your bowl as many times as you wanted. And you would refill your bowl because the salsa was spicy and tasty. Well, things change and sometimes not for the better. Tonight the salsa was very watery/runny. It had very little taste. A 4 is about as high as I can go here.
I ordered a soft taco, beef enchilada, chili cheese enchilada and rice and beans. The soft taco was good size, plenty of lettuce and cheese and the beef was plenty spicy. This was a good taco. The beef enchilada had the same spicy beef which was very tasty. The enchilada was covered in a chili sauce that was very very spicy. Man this was a good enchilada. The chili cheese enchilada had limited cheese and I never could really get a good read on the taste, mainly because it was topped with the chili sauce same as the beef enchilada. This sauce was so spicy you couldn't find the cheese taste.
There was plenty of extra chili sauce that I mixed with the rice and beans which made them very tasty also.
Givin the entre a 7.75.
I thought I remembered that they gave you a sopapilla at the end of the meal and on the table was honey and butter further reinforcing my expectation of a sopapilla. No sopapilla was coming so minus 1/2 point for setting an expectation and not fulfilling it.
Overall, this meal is a 6.5 after reduction. This is good eats. If you are in the area, you should consider eating here.
Mitcho
©2014
First of all, they brought us chips and salsa. The chips are normal mexican restaurant chips, there really aren't many restaurants that either stand out as different good or bad. Chips are chips. Givin the chips a 6.5. They are drug down by the salsa.
In the past the salsa was brought to the table in a bottle and an individual bowl was given to each person. You could refill your bowl as many times as you wanted. And you would refill your bowl because the salsa was spicy and tasty. Well, things change and sometimes not for the better. Tonight the salsa was very watery/runny. It had very little taste. A 4 is about as high as I can go here.
I ordered a soft taco, beef enchilada, chili cheese enchilada and rice and beans. The soft taco was good size, plenty of lettuce and cheese and the beef was plenty spicy. This was a good taco. The beef enchilada had the same spicy beef which was very tasty. The enchilada was covered in a chili sauce that was very very spicy. Man this was a good enchilada. The chili cheese enchilada had limited cheese and I never could really get a good read on the taste, mainly because it was topped with the chili sauce same as the beef enchilada. This sauce was so spicy you couldn't find the cheese taste.
There was plenty of extra chili sauce that I mixed with the rice and beans which made them very tasty also.
Givin the entre a 7.75.
I thought I remembered that they gave you a sopapilla at the end of the meal and on the table was honey and butter further reinforcing my expectation of a sopapilla. No sopapilla was coming so minus 1/2 point for setting an expectation and not fulfilling it.
Overall, this meal is a 6.5 after reduction. This is good eats. If you are in the area, you should consider eating here.
Mitcho
©2014
TX Burger - Crockett Tx
Me and the Wifey had some important campin bidness in Fairfield and then at Ratcliff Lake. In between the two, we went through Crockett at lunch time. We were cruising the loop and most of the possibilities were chain hamburger joints and we prefer locally owned restaurants. So when we saw the TX Burger, we slid in.
This place makes a really big deal about serving Nolan Ryan beef. Now anything Nolan Ryan is going to get attention in Texas (hello, Jon Daniel).
So Mitcho ordered the Tx Burger combo. This was a TX Burger and seasoned fries. As I mentioned earlier they make a big deal about the burger having Nolan Ryan beef. I paid attention to the taste of the beef and I couldn't tell any difference between this burger and a DQ or Whataburger. Shhhhh, don't tell Nolan, he might come after me. Givin the burger a 6.
Now when you make a big deal of something on the meun, Mitcho expects it to be a big deal. They really played up the seasoned fries. First of all, the meal came in this huge basket with the burger on one end and about 12 fries scattered on the bottom of the basket. Now if the fries would have come in a container like Whataburger, they might have filled the container and it would not have been a big deal. But the meal came in this over sized basket which was mostly empty!!!! Bad impression. Also, the fries looked a yellow orange like seasoned fries look like. However, they just tasted like fries. I couldn't detect any seasoned taste on the fries. These fries if marketed as regular fries and came in a container the correct size for the amount they give you would have scored a much higher score. However, serving them in a huge basket and marketing them as seasoned fries is a big mistake. Givin the fries a 3.5.
Overall this meal gets a 4.75.
Mitcho
©2014
This place makes a really big deal about serving Nolan Ryan beef. Now anything Nolan Ryan is going to get attention in Texas (hello, Jon Daniel).
So Mitcho ordered the Tx Burger combo. This was a TX Burger and seasoned fries. As I mentioned earlier they make a big deal about the burger having Nolan Ryan beef. I paid attention to the taste of the beef and I couldn't tell any difference between this burger and a DQ or Whataburger. Shhhhh, don't tell Nolan, he might come after me. Givin the burger a 6.
Now when you make a big deal of something on the meun, Mitcho expects it to be a big deal. They really played up the seasoned fries. First of all, the meal came in this huge basket with the burger on one end and about 12 fries scattered on the bottom of the basket. Now if the fries would have come in a container like Whataburger, they might have filled the container and it would not have been a big deal. But the meal came in this over sized basket which was mostly empty!!!! Bad impression. Also, the fries looked a yellow orange like seasoned fries look like. However, they just tasted like fries. I couldn't detect any seasoned taste on the fries. These fries if marketed as regular fries and came in a container the correct size for the amount they give you would have scored a much higher score. However, serving them in a huge basket and marketing them as seasoned fries is a big mistake. Givin the fries a 3.5.
Overall this meal gets a 4.75.
Mitcho
©2014
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