Jason "Culinary Sherpa" L.'s Profile

Brother got married here over the weekend.  Place was immaculate.  Grounds are superb, catering service was excellent and staff was on point.   No complaints here!

complete rip of 5 guys? yes, i concur...

At least this place beats Jakes, although you're wallet won't agree.  About $11 for a burger, fries & shake.  +1 star for offering avocado as a burger topping.

Not impressed.

I've never before felt so strongly that I've been suckered in by a restaurants' marketing, but, the marketing machine at east side is a huge freight train that doesn't stop.

As with other restaurants that thrive off overpriced alcohol sales, they often serve up mediocre food at exorbitant prices because, well, everything tastes good when your 6 beers in. I deicded to forego the beer, so that I could taste the food in all its "unglory"

I hope this isn't like the motherland, because all of Germany would be fake.  Christ, they can't even get the chant right. The accordion player was jamming to "that's amore" upon our entrance, hardly German, but to his credit he did know edelweiss.

Everything in this place was overhyped.  $45 for a liter of beer?  No thanks, you can keep it and your fancy glass,  I can go to the saengerbund and get the same litre for $7.  

Crackers, horseradish cottage cheese and some pickled cabbage.  Might as well throw in the boiled goose, what am I 90?  Ok I'll admit, the horseradish cottage cheese on crackers was rather good, but I felt like I was in the cafeteria at a retirement home.

Clams casino were decent, but the pretzel was hardly worth $12.  Zen mustard?  I liked it better when I had it last week, it was called guldens.  

Lentil soup was good but hardly German, and the "chicken liver pâté" was nothing more than uncased liverwurst.  If you're going to take shortcuts at least try to hide them.

The salad hardly qualified as a salad. It was a pile of lettuce with one grape tomato and one slice of cucumber.

So I got the weiner schnitzel, the pork cutlet was good, but the egg on top was way undercooked and runny.  The potato pancakes were standard.  

Spaetzle was bland and horrible, the red cabbage was actually really good.  Vegetables of corn and puréed turnip were brought to our table, corn was frozen, turnip was watery and very bitter.

My wifes baked stuffed shrimp were advertised as stuffed with crabmeat stuffing but we couldnt discern any crabmeat within.  They were bland and lackluster.

My kids pot roast was probably the best cut of protein throughout the meal.  Tender and flavorful.

Dessert was good, standard pies and puddings that catered to the 90 year old clientele.

I had a http://restaurant.com certificate for $75, after the coupon, with tax and tip my pocket was nearly $200 lighter for 4 adults and 2 kids, 1 person ordered a beer.

Consensus is that if you want mediocre food, an unauthentic experience and a complete feeling of buyers remorse, go here!  If you're in the mood for a tourist trap you'll probably like it

Walked in on a slightly muggy after a rainshower afternoon, it was cooler than normal and demanded comfort food.  Posole was the special of the day, although it wasn't listed anywhere on the menu.

It was one of the best bowls of posole i've ever had.  Slightly spicy, succulent pork, loaded with hominy and topped with sliced radish, lime & cilantro.

It was served with 2 crispy fried tostadas topped with fresh pico de gallo, avocado, crema & cotija cheese.  Absolutely Delicious.

The $12.50 bill at the end of the meal was hard to stomach considering all the other soups on the menu were under $7.  -1 star.

I'll return, however, only for special occasions, on inspection of the rest of the menu, the prices seem very high.

Ordered some sheet pizza for my brothers wedding rehearsal dinner, it was fantastic, sauce was delicious and crust was even better... it's too bad this place is tucked away out of sight, because you dont think about it that often...

we ordered a couple platters of italian pastries for my brothers wedding rehearsal dinner.  They were superb, and reasonably priced.

Totally unassuming little mini-mart on Orange St.  They have a deli counter.  I've wandered in here for lunch before, but their $10 credit card minimum has sent me packing.

Today... i was carrying cash.  $7.16 later i walked out with a small bag of Utz Chips, a can of arizona iced tea, and a grilled chipotle chicken sandwich fit for a king.

The sandwich was on a grilled hard roll, slathered with chipotle mayo.  When he put it on, he used a big spoon and i thought it was gonna be WAY too much, but it was just right, and you could see the big chunks of fresh chipotle peppers.  

The chicken wasn't a whole breast, it was shaved on the meat slicer, so each bite was perfectly even.  The lettuce and tomato held onto a seasoning blend he sprinkled on, which complimented the sandwich nicely.

I couldnt' understand a word of the language this guy was speaking (i think it was Lebanese), but he sure as hell knows how to make a good sandwich...

The ice cream is okay, not good, not great.

But until they open a Kopp's (http://www.yelp.com/bi...) or Ted Drewe's (http://www.yelp.com/bi...) around here, this is what you're stuck with.

No amount of creamy goodness makes up for the stupidity of a 17 year old high school kid serving your ice cream.  Yes caramel bonds to styrofoam like epoxy to plastic, its not tough to understand that concept, yet i need a jackhammer to get the caramel out of my styrofoam cup.  Use plastic, not only does caramel release better, its also better for the environment (albeit, not much...)

Ok, so i'm kinda confused.  Really don't know how to say this except "try harder".

Friday night, i haven't taken anything out of the freezer and the kids are hungry, so i turn to the local coupon book that came in the mail and ask the kids if they want to try a new place.  They say yes, and off we go.

Little did i know that May 4th was mitchell's "cinco de mayo" celebration.  So they had mexican specials on the menu, like tacos & enchiladas and quesadillas.  The only thing wrong with that, is that they're a diner, not a mexican restaurant.  I should have known better.

Complementary chips were excellent, home made, deep fried corn tortillas, done right.  But served with jarred salsa?? cmon guys, why take the time to make your own chips if you're gonna serve em with crap.

The enchiladas were dry & soggy at the same time, i know, kind of hard to imagine.  But the sauce on top was dried out from being baked in a pan then sitting, then being reheated.  The chicken inside was dry as well.  The tortillas were flour, not corn, so they absorbed all the sauce and water that leached from the chicken and were soggy and bloated.  The rice & beans were dry as well.

My daughters tacos came 3 to plate, no sides, nothing else.  Straight up old el paso taco kit.

Aside from them bringing my kids nametags & beads (mardi gras?), the service was lackluster.  Waited 10 minutes at the door to be seated, once we ordered, nobody came back until we were finished eating to check on us.

$20 after coupon.  Horrible value for what we got, it seems as if you're not a regular here, they could care less about you.  I may go back and try breakfast, because thats what most diners are known for, but even that might just be a waste of time.

The manager here is a complete douchenozzle.  Completely agree with others here, he should be replaced.