I went out to Perdue's Grill to say good-bye to a friend who was heading away to college. He had bragged about their burgers so we gave it a try.
Our overall rating was 3.88 Stars (out of 5 stars).
Here's how that breaks down:
Family Friendly: 3 Stars I wouldn't feel uncomfortable taking my kids there for lunch. However, the front section of the restaurant is a bar and some of the pictures weren't very classy.
Menu: 4.5 Stars It was mostly typical 'Grill' food, but it all sounded good. The burgers (about 5 different choices) all sounded great.
Taste of the Food: 4 Stars The Cajun Burger I ordered was really good. The smothered fries were good, but not as good as I was expecting from the menu and their appearance.
Appearance of the Food: 5 Stars For 'Grill' food it all looked great.
Restrooms: 4.5 Stars Very clean, although I couldn't get the door to lock.
Atmosphere: 3 Stars It was an older building with some built in character, but nothing too special overall.
Service: 4.5 Stars The waitress did a great job keeping my water filled, which isn't the easiest when I'm eating a Cajun Burger with jalapenos.
Ethical/Sustainable: 2.5 Stars Nothing to go on here, but the cheese on the smothered fries seemed processed.
Pricing: Burgers were about $7.
To celebrate a birthday we made the trek to Bloomington and ate at Station Two-Twenty. It was all-around fantastic!
Our overall rating was 4.81 Stars (out of 5 stars).
Here's how that breaks down:
Family Friendly: 4 Stars Awhile ago we took our whole family for lunch. They accommodated us well and were very hospitable. The reason for a 4 Star rating is now that they are only open for dinner it would be pretty pricey to take a family.
Menu: 5 Stars It had plenty of great choices, but was simple enough to not be overwhelming.
Taste of the Food: 5 Stars Mmmmm... So Good!
Appearance of the Food: 5 Stars Everything looked great. The presentation was awesome.
Restrooms: 4.5 Stars The only knock-down here is that the guys bathroom is set up a little awkward, although they did the best they could in an old fire station.
Atmosphere: 5 Stars Speaking of old fire station, this is a really cool place. They also had bright pictures from their farm all around the restaurant.
Service: 5 Stars Everyone, not just our waiter, was focused on meeting our needs, be it new silverware or refilling glasses of water.
Ethical/Sustainable: 5 Stars Most of what they served came from their farm. They didn't have specific percentages, but at the time we visited all of the produce was from their farm and everything else was as local as it could be.
Pricing: $20-$30 a dinner entree.
After visiting the Peoria Riverfront Museum on a date we hit up The Rhythm Kitchen for a dinner together.
Our overall rating was 3.5 Stars (out of 5 stars).
Here's how that breaks down:
Family Friendly: 2 Stars We didn't actually have our kids with us for this one. However, the family friendliness took a huge hit because of several nude paintings behind the bar. Artsy, yes...something I want my kids to see? Nope.
Menu: 3 Stars It was a simple menu, which we like. But there weren't a ton of things that appealed to either of us.
Taste of the Food: 4.5 Stars The salmon BLT was pretty good, but the chicken and sausage gumbo special was really good.
Appearance of the Food: 4 Stars
Restrooms: N/A
Atmosphere: 3 Stars It has a lot of cool character, but it also felt kind of overstimulating with all of the lights and decorations.
Service: 4.5 Stars
Ethical/Sustainable: 3.5 Stars They make all of their food from scratch, but there was no information on the sourcing of their ingredients.
Pricing: $10-15 for a dinner entree.
After a morning business meeting we went out to lunch at Michael's Italian Feast in Germantown Hills with our new friends. I have to be honest that I was impressed and surprised at the place. Here's why:
Our overall rating was (rating) (out of 5 stars).
Here's how that breaks down:
Family Friendly: 4 Stars This could maybe be higher, but some elements of the atmosphere (see below) could be an extra burden depending on the energy level of your kids.
Menu: 3.5 Stars Michael's is an 'order at the counter' place. The menu overhead was good: not to expansive but still with enough options. The only downside is that everything on it was pretty typical of an Italian place. I guess that's what you want, but it was so similar that I could have been at a couple other local Italian restaurants and not known the difference.
Taste of the Food: 4 Stars That being said, the food was great. I really enjoyed my Pizza Bread. It probably could have had less cheese, but it was still good.
Appearance of the Food: 3.5 Stars Whatever Italian food you're picturing, picture it covered in cheese. That's what everyone who ate with us experienced.
Restrooms: N/A
Atmosphere: 5 Stars This is why I want to take my family to this Michael's location specifically. Half of the sitting area felt like you were eating outdoors in Italy. No joke. They did an excellent job of painting, decorating and construction. There was even a decent sized working fountain in the middle. (See Family Friendly).
Service: 5 Stars For a seat yourself place, service was excellent.
Ethical/Sustainable: 3 Stars Just the average rating here.
Pricing: Lunch entrees were $7-10.
I met a friend for lunch at Thanh Linh next to Bradley. It was packed, as I hear it is most everyday. It was an enjoyable lunch... a great conversation to be sure... Here's how I would rate the restaurant.
Our overall rating was 3.75 Stars (out of 5 stars).
Here's how that breaks down:
Family Friendly: 3.5 Stars It would be a little intense to have young kids there during the lunch hour rush. This isn't anyone's fault, it's just a tiny restaurant that's popular enough to be completely packed. (Word is that they will be moving to a bigger location down the road in 2013, but as it stands now, it's a tiny place.)
Menu: N/A I didn't even look at the menu as there was a lunch buffet. I did see a few gentlemen order off the menu and their dishes looked great!
Taste of the Food: 3.5 Stars The friend I ate with would disagree with me here, but I found the food to be okay. It was a step above most Asian buffets, but never did I find it "great".
Appearance of the Food: 4 Stars For a buffet though, the food all looked great.
Restrooms: N/A
Atmosphere: 4 Stars Despite being packed, or maybe because of it, Than Linh has a great feel. Just a fun place to be and talk with a friend.
Service: 5 Stars Top-notch. Great service, especially consider the full room.
Ethical/Sustainable: 2.5 Stars I have to be careful here. Like most restaurants there really isn't anything public about their buying and cooking practices. The reason they scored so low is that while and after eating it, I felt terrible. I'm not sure if it was MSG or what, but I didn't end up with a cold or flu later, I truly think it was the food.
Pricing: Under $10 for the lunch buffet
We tried out the Savory House in Morton Illinois for a business breakfast. This place was formally known as Main Street Deli and only open for lunch. But after a remodel they are now open for every meal. Overall we weren't too impressed, although for a quick breakfast meeting it did fine.
Our overall rating was 3.31 Stars (out of 5 stars).
Here's how that breaks down:
Family Friendly: 4 Stars It's tough to tell when you're meeting before most kids are awake, but it seemed like a fine place to take kids.
Menu: 3 Stars
Taste of the Food: 3 Stars Considering this was breakfast, 3 stars is pretty low. Nothing was bad, but nothing was great either.
Appearance of the Food: 3 Stars Again, nothing specifically bad. But nothing was impressive about the appearance.
Restrooms: 4.5 Stars
Atmosphere: 3.5 Stars The old Main Street Deli was sort of in a weird facility, and while things have been remodeled, the new restaurant still feels like you're eating in a food court.
Service: 3 Stars
Ethical/Sustainable: 2.5 Stars Not having real butter is a huge downside here.
Pricing: Breakfast was about $6 per person.
I finally made a trip to Wild Berries for the first time. It's been open for awhile and is right next to my office, but I had never gotten over there before. The biggest highlight for me is that even though my brother and I met there for a late lunch, breakfast was still on! I could eat breakfast any meal of the day. On to the rankings...
Our overall rating was 3.94 Stars (out of 5 stars).
Here's how that breaks down:
Family Friendly: 5 Stars I didn't bring my kids to this visit but I saw a handful of kids throughout the restauarnt.
Menu: 3.5 Stars It almost has too many options. I realize it's good to have a lot of choices, but it is one of those menus that overwhelms you when you get it. The kids menu has some notable failures: hot dogs and dino-nuggets anyone?
Taste of the Food: 4.5 Stars I just ordered biscuits and gravy, but they were very good.
Appearance of the Food: 4 Stars I can't say much about my biscuits and gravy, but the skillet breakfast my brother got looked outstanding.
Restrooms: 4 Stars
Atmosphere: 3.5 Stars It's funny that this should be a knock against the place, but it just seemed empty. I think there were plenty of people there, but the buildings is huge, so it felt like we were dining alone. Not bad if that's what you're going for but it's also nice to feel that others are into the restaurant too.
Service: 4 Stars
Ethical/Sustainable: 3 Stars Everything seemed made from scratch, but there was also nothing about their purchasing practices.
Pricing: Prices were reasonable. My half order of biscuits and gravy were about $4 and my brothers' HUGE skillet was about $10.
