Kyle "Bisch" B.'s Profile

I stopped in here to stock up on some groceries during my visit to Orlando's theme parks.  I was so shocked at the prices here, I didn't continue my visit very long!

As we pulled up in front of this place, we wondered if the place was open.  It was very dimly lit and there was no indication that it was open.  However, we found out, the place is open 24 hours and the shelves seemed pretty bare in spots.  I can see why.  Nobody would be crazy enough to pay these kinds of prices!  I've seen 12 packs of soda sell for less at a GAS STATION!  These prices are simply highway robbery!

Need some groceries?  Avoid this place and hit the Wal-Mart down the street.  There's not much that could save a star or two and do your shopping elsewhere.

I must apologize first.  I have read the other Yelp reviews here and I must disagree with the naysayers.  I really enjoyed my experience at the Hollywood Brown Derby.

I wasn't expecting to eat here.  But I was visiting Hollywood Studios with some friends and they wanted to stop in here for dessert.  And what a fabulous dessert it was.

We'll start off with the thematics.  This is a signature theme restaurant.  It's stylized to look like the Brown Derby restaurant in Hollywood during the motion picture's golden age.  It's complete with the caricatures of the movie elite of that era, waiters wearing jackets and ties, etc.  It is very well done.  I would even say it's complete with it's "exclusivity".  Nobody sits right down with a reservation.  We arrived in the middle of the afternoon and still waited 10 minutes for a table.  The restaurant was barely half-full.  That's a classic way to make you feel as if you're a part of something exclusive.  

As for the food, I can't quite give it five stars as we didn't have a full meal.  But the dessert was heavenly.  I had the Banana's Foster Cream Delight dessert (recommended by our server as his favorite).  I enjoyed that dessert and tried to savor each bite as much as I could.  The prices are on par for what you get at a Disney signature restaurant inside a Disney theme park.  That means they're a little high when comparing to restaurants outside the Disney experience.    My dessert and a soda ran me $14, including the tip.

Our service was spot-on.  Moses was there when we needed him for drink refills.  He was very polite and wasn't a "hard salesman" as some other reviewers seem to have experienced.  I enjoyed the experience so much that I came back a couple days later and had the same thing again!

Next time I visit Hollywood Studios, I'd like to try a full meal here. I'll update my review when I do...

For our last night in Orlando, my friends and I decided to stop here for some good seafood.  I had heard good things about other Landry's locations and wanted to check it out.  

The restaurant is nicely decorated and tables with white linen table cloths. Since we're in Lake Buena Vista, don't be afraid to wear shorts... you can go dressed just like you were at Disney all day.  The price is about average for fresh seafood and the amount of food that you get.

The menu is huge and there are a lot of choices.  A couple things that are not clear: 1) Platters come with sides, and apparently the chef decides what sides you get (at least, that's what our server told us).  2) All entrees come with a family style garden salad.  The house dressing is a balsamic honey mustard, but you can order ranch, bleu cheese, or a couple of other choices.

After we ordered,  Amanda, our server, brought out the salad mix out and offered to toss it with the dressing tableside, or leave the dressing on the side and allow us to mix the salad ourselves.  The balsamic honey mustard dressing was pretty good and I recommend giving it a try.

Soon after, our entrees arrived.  The portions were pretty good sized for the price.  I ordered the seafood platter and was pleasantly surprised by the amount of butterflied shrimp, stuffed shrimp, and fish on my plate.  I also had a good sized portion of fries and onion straws.  Everything was cooked well and tasted great.  I couldn't even finish my portion!

The dinner itself was great, unfortunately, the service left a lot to be desired.  We often were left wondering where our server was.  Several times I had to wait for a beverage refill so I could continue my meal.  One of my friends had requested additional cocktail sauce when the entrees were delivered.  Ten minutes later, she still hadn't gotten any... and Amanda hadn't checked back with us.  When she finally came around with some refills and to see how we were doing, we reminded her of the cocktail sauce.  She apologized and said she forgot and promptly went into the kitchen and delivered some tartar sauce.  Yes, in two minutes it took to walk back to the kitchen, we wound up with the wrong sauce.  So, that is why I rated this visit a three star instead of four.  If the service had been better, it would have rated a four.

Something that Chattanooga has apparently lacked for years is a good quality grocery store.  Your choices were pretty much limited to old, stale, dirty chain grocery stores, or Wal-Mart.  I moved here from Atlanta, where i was used to the large clean, well-lit aisles grocery stores.  So, I was particularly pleased when I learned that Publix had opened up a store in the Chattanooga area.  Publix is where I used to shop all the time when I lived in Atlanta.

I visited this Publix and I was not disappointed.  True to their image, they still have those ultra-clean, well-lit aisles. The shelves are neatly organized by employees who care about what they are doing.  The selection is great and all the shelves are fully-stocked.

The bakery always has plenty of tasty goods ranging from birthday cakes to cookies and pies and more.  I won't go anywhere other than a Publix for a birthday cake.  The meat and seafood departments are also full of fresh, delicious looking (and tasting) items.  

If you're in a hurry, Publix also has a deli, where you can get the best sub sandwiches.  If you're in the mood for something hot, they also usually have some type of chicken (tenders, grilled, etc) hot and ready, waiting for you to take home.

The cashiers are always friendly, and Publix employees are not supposed to accept a tip if they take your groceries out to your car for you.  That's just a common courtesy that they extend to all their customers.  If it's raining, I've also seen them walk customers out to their cars with umbrellas.  

I will go out of my way to shop at Publix... I hope that they build more locations around Chattanooga soon.

This is by far one of the best places to come get some homemade custard.  Everytime I visit this area, I have to stop to grab a homemade waffle cone and a scoop or two!

The Custard Cabin has three flavors daily - vanilla, chocolate, and the flavor of the day.  The flavor of the day is announced on their big readerboard out front.   Some examples are Raspberry, Butter Pecan, Mint Chocolate Chip, etc.  They do change the flavor every day, so make sure you drive by and check it out!

The place is a small, unassuming "cabin".  There's about four or five tables to sit down in the dining area and there are places to hang out on the front porch too.  

Prices are pretty reasonable, expect to pay a little extra for the extra custard they pack into my favorite waffle cone.  You can also get yours in a sugar cone or a cup.  They'll also do sundaes and other sweet treats.

They paved their parking lot recently, so there are plenty of places to park.  This is a popular place with the locals, so you might just need that extra parking... be prepared to wait in line when it's hot outside!

After hearing a number of people rave about this place, I met a friend here for dinner last night.  I was a little apprehensive after my recent experience with a similar concept in Atlanta.  Fortunately, this place is WAAAY better.

In case you are not aware, Genghis Grill is an Asian-style buffet.  You grab a bowl and fill it with what you want as you walk down the line and then at the end, they cook it with the starch of your choice.  

What makes this better than that other place is that are less things to confuse you.  The ingredients are laid out in a logical order.  There's no "little paddles" to deal with (and remembering what they mean).  There are fewer "exotic" ingredients, but I think that makes for a better experience.

If you don't know what you like, you can build one of their suggestions, using the color coordinated strips on the buffet line.  Either way, it makes for a great meal.  I made sure I smashed everything into the bowl, so I got plenty of proteins and veggies!

When they're done cooking your meal, they bring you this massive bowl full of what you just picked out.  It's piping hot, so be careful!  One bowl really filled me up, but for a few dollars more you can have all you can eat.  

For a Monday night, this place was about half-full.... I can only imagine what a Friday or Saturday night here must be like.  Parking won't be easy either.  They do have a "private lot" that they share with the two or three other tenants of this building, but there's not really that many parking spaces.  

I would definitely return here for another meal... it was that good and I don't even know how to cook!

I recently visited here for the first time with a couple of friends.  We sat down and ordered a few drinks.  After having a few drinks, we decided to order some food.  Our server was very attentive and kept our water glasses full.  She checked back on us often enough to satisfy any wants or needs that we had, but not so often that it became annoying.  Basically, the service was spot on.

The bartender was good with the mixing of the drinks... everything we asked for came out well mixed with the proper amounts of alcohol (well, maybe his or her hand was a little heavy... but we didn't mind).

Unfortunately, the food left a lot to be desired.  The chips were very thin and the salsa had very little flavor.  My meal was more of a congealed lump of meat wrapped in a tortilla than anything else.  All I could "taste" was the burned raw flesh of my mouth from the temperature of the first bite.  One of my friends was equally disappointed in her meal.  

It's really too bad, because I did enjoy our server.  She helped make the night fun by playing along with our gags and obnoxiousness.  I might return here to sit at the bar and have a few drinks, but certainly not to eat the food.  It was disgusting.

Fazoli's, it's a chain restaurant, but being that this location is right off the Interstate, I figured a review might be handy for travelers.

I have visited with friends here several times for lunch.  One thing that is great about this Fazoli's is that they are consistent.  The staff is always friendly, and the food is always hot and fresh.  

As for the dishes, their pizza is pretty good.  I like their spaghetti best, the sauce is tasty and the noodles are just right.  There is a good amount of meat in their meat sauce.  Salads are always fresh and crispy.  I once made the mistake of having their Chicken Parmesan.  The chicken had no flavor and there was way too much cheese on it.  I realize it must be hard to make Italian dishes into fast-food, but you can still limit the massive globs of cheese on the dish.  That's why this Fazoli's gets minus one star.  

I would definitely return and I suggest this location to anyone stopping here along I-75.  It will make for a good meal for the whole family.

I met a friend here for dinner since I had been wanting to give this place a try.  It's like a fast food deli-type place.  They have a wide variety of food ranging from submarine sandwiches to hamburgers.   The menu is quite extensive.

After a few minutes, I opted for the "Steak in a Sack", which is ground up steak rolled up in pita bread and then cut in half, forming two "sacks".  You can then go put your own toppings on (as you could with any of their sandwiches).  You can choose from lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, a variety of sauces, onions, etc.  

The Steak in a Sack was okay.  The meat didn't have a whole lot of flavor, but it was warm.  The pita bread came out okay, however the sandwich wasn't wrapped well and kept falling out of my "sack" on the second piece.

I also ordered a chocolate shake.  The chocolate shake was full of rich, creamy goodness. They used real whipped cream, not that stuff you find in the air can.  I gave an extra star just for the shake.

The restaurant's ambiance is that of a fast food type establishment.  It's nothing really fancy.  The booths are huge and could accommodate large families.

Overall, this was an okay meal.  I'll probably come back and give them another try sometime. The staff was friendly and as I said, the chocolate shake was excellent!

For years, I have wanted to see Ruby Falls.  It started many many years ago, when I first moved to the area.  I was riding through North Georgia and saw several of their billboards vandalized to read "See Ruby's Balls".  I was in my mid teens when I saw that, it was funny, and I'm not sure really why I'm sharing that... let's get on with the review.

I've read the other Yelp reviews here and one thing that you have to understand about Ruby Falls is that it's not a caving adventure.  This is a "family-friendly" tour of a natural wonder.  So, taking this tour for what it is, I really had a good time.  

I think part of your tour satisfaction will depend entirely upon your tour guide.  We had a smaller group, and the tour guide did tell a few cheesy jokes, but was also knowledgeable about the cave and the formations.

Keeping in mind that this is a "family-friendly" tour, I think the tour is paced just right going to and from the falls.  While some adults and cave-enthusiasts would undoubtedly want to spend more time examining the rock formations, the average child would not and would be tired of looking at rocks and ready to go home before they even saw the falls.  I believe this is why some rock formations have names like "bacon" and "chips" and "turtle".  I think some of these ideas were quite creative and cute.  It sure seemed to interest the children in our group.... as well spark our own imaginations.  

That being said, I believe the tour groups are run too close together, as another Yelp reviewer said, the groups often run into one another.  Since our tour guide was more knowledgeable, we often had the group behind us pushing us along.

I also believe we weren't given enough time to fully explore the falls.  They are beautiful and the light-show is a little overdone, but I do think that the light show was neat.  It would be better if they just ran through the light show once and then returned to regular lighting so you can see the falls fully lit again.  At 145 feet tall, Ruby Falls is truly something to admire.

As for cave damage, from the Ruby Falls website, "Many of the formations in the cave were broken by young tour guides during the Great Depression. They broke off formations and sold the onyx to help support their families. During this time, the cave also suffered from vandalism. Very little of the damage to the cave was caused by the excavation process."

It is cold down there, so wear a jacket if you get cold. They say it's 58 degrees year-round at the falls.  I found the tour interesting.  I would certainly go on it again... but not too often.  This would be one of those "Every couple of years" with people who hadn't been before kinda tours.