Steve R.'s Profile

Terrible company and nasty people. These people sent me a certified letter saying they had impounded my car and I owed them $1,084.95 with fees being added every day.

The problem is that is wasn't my car. I had sold it many months before and the title had been transferred. When I had the audacity to ask them to send me corrected paperwork showing I didn't owe them anything, the woman yelled at me, called me rude and hung up the phone.

Even after they send me a threatening letter via certified mail demanding over $1000, she thought that I was rude to ask her for something in writing clarifying their error. If you live near Athens and need somebody to tow your car, call anybody except Holts Wrecker Service.

Terrible company and nasty people. These people sent me a certified letter saying they had impounded my car and I owed them $1,084.95 with fees being added every day.

The problem is that is wasn't my car. I had sold it many months before and the title had been transferred. When I had the audacity to ask them to send me corrected paperwork showing I didn't owe them anything, the woman yelled at me, called me rude and hung up the phone.

Even after they send me a threatening letter via certified mail demanding over $1000, she thought that I was rude to ask her for something in writing clarifying their error. If you live near Athens and need somebody to tow your car, call anybody except Holts Wrecker Service.

A friend of ours told us about Old School Grill and said that it was "a must" place to go. I hadn't heard of them, or their old BBQ stand, but Sherri and I decided to go the very next night.

WOW! is all I can say. I had a fantastic burger and Fries. My daughter had the Macaroni and Cheese wedge that was out of this world (seriously, if nothing else, you have to go just to try this!). Sherri also had the burger and loved.

The only disappointment was that we didn't have room for Melissa's Messy Dessert that everybody is raving about :(  Oh well, we'll have to save room next time.

BTW, they server told us about their new Sunday Brunch.  Looks like we're going to try that today!

Rosa's is becoming my favorite casual Mexican restaurant. Always good. Very consistent.

Great burger, Maine Root drinks and gluten free buns. ITB rocks!

What a surprise! I'm a fan of J & J BBQ in Cedar Park and knew they had a place over on Parmer. I was in the area and decided to pop in for lunch.

Guess What??!!  The place had been sold and is about to change it's name to the Silver Grill Cafe.

The good news is that the food is just as yummy as I have come to expect from J & J's.  The better news is that I met the new owners and had a great conversation about their plans to broadent the menu and change the restaurant into more of a cafe serving, with a bigger emphasis on dinner.

"Oh, no", I thought! "Don't change a thing on those breakfast tacos!"  Not to worry!  The savvy owners know they have a great thing going with the restaurant's breakfast crowd.  But the area really can use a nice casual restaurant for families to enjoy dinner.

The owners have great restaurant pedigree, so I have no doubt they'll get it right.  One owner is a partner in Players Restaurant right near the UT campus.  The other owner has been in the biz for more for more than 2 decades managing a well-known national chain.

I had the 2 meat plate with Brisket and Ribs, and Sherri had a burger.  The quality of the BBQ was very good and Sherri seemed to like hers, too.

Best of luck guys.  I look forward to seeing some of the upcoming changes!

Sweet Home Chicago! Had to do pull a Blues Brothers style uturn on 620 because I passed the darn place, (it's so hard to see from the road... down the hill)! Chi-Town Chicago Style Eatery has a lot of potential.  And I should know, I've put away a lot of classic dogs, Italian beef and the likes during my 3+ decades in The Windy City.  

The food I tried, including sampling my kids' meals was very tasty and even pretty authentic.  They use  the right Vienna Kosher hot dogs, proper ingredients and serve it up on the classic poppy seed bun.  Very good indeed.

There is room for improvement though (that's alright, I think I ate there on there opening day).  The menu is missing the essential "Italian Sausage".  Where I come from, they would break your knee-caps for mixing a polish sausage with Italian beef and calling it a combo (or Italian Deluxe as they call it).  

The fries were your basic commodity frozen taters.  That doesn't cut it.  Chicago Hot Dog Joints like Al's, Michael's, Little Louies, Poochies and the rest (except for Portillos who just know how to make everything exceptional!) are known and rated for their delicious hand cut natural potato fries.  Take a visit to Five Guy's, or Elevation Burger who are doing fries right.

Finally, I agree with William H.  Portions were small and prices were high.  I met the owners, and they're very good, customer service oriented guys.  I have no doubt they will see these comments and learn to adjust their operations to be more competitive in those areas.

Finally, I can't make a post without commenting about the super-cool, hand-made, back-lit Chicago Skyline on the wall.  Awesome job!

A plea for the help of the endangered Austin Chicago eateries.  We need to protect and support this essential species.  A few weeks ago, I lost my beloved Leo's in Cedar Park.  They were serving a nice product and capturing the Chicago Spirit, but ultimately died away from lack of support.  Give Chi-Town a shot, or two or three, and tell people about them on Yelp, FB and the rest.  I think they've got what it takes.  

This may sound like a commercial, but I am in no way associated with this restaurant.  I'm just  a fan of small businesses and an even bigger fan of Chicago food!  I'm only giving 3 stars today because I want them to work on some of these things so I can give them a 4 or 5 on my next visit.  Good luck, Guys!

P.S.  Dear Chi-Town.  Google Super Dawg  Chicago and take a look at their Massive 3-D hot dog sign ( http://bigpicture.type... ).  You need something like this on your roof so we can see you!

Thai Bowl is one of my absolute favorite restaurant.  Luckily, it's also very close to where I live!

I've been searching for a Pad Thai comparable to my favorite back home (Chicago).  Thai Bowl is it!  So much so, that I've been afraid to try anything else!

After ordering Pad Thai about a dozen straight times, I finally broke down and tried the Basil Fried Rice.  I didn't mean to, but as I was walking in, I saw somebody else eating it, and it just looked incredible.  The rice looked perfectly, golden brown, and it was loaded with beautiful, fresh vegetables.  I could tell that the guy eating it had "kicked it up" a bit from the way he was wiping his forehead after every bite!

"That's it!" I told my wife. "I have to try something new"

And boy, I was not disappointed!  I ordered "Heat Level 2" (out of 3), and it was just right.  It even tasted better than it looked!

We started off with the Fresh Rolls.  They are so refreshing.  The Thai peanut sauce is out of this world.

Great food, great portions and extremely nice people.  I've been in Austin 3 years, and this is the 3rd restaurant in this location.  I'm glad to see Thai Bowl doing so well and encourage anybody looking for great Thai to give it a try.

P.S. I just found out from the owner today, that they also own Thai Cuisine on West Parmer.  I'm going to have to give it a try next!

I thought I knew the best Austin restaurants for handmade gourmet burgers, but today I learned a little secret. Your Mom's Burger Bar blew me away! A friend told me about this tiny little shack at 1701 East Cesar Chavez, Suite B, so I decided to give it a try.

Finding it isn't easy. In fact, there seems to be another business located at that address. But Your Mom's is tucked in the back, just off of Cesar Chavez and Chalmers in East Austin (I guess that's what they mean by "Suite B!").

The burgers are massive, 1/2 lb. and hand formed. But the secret is... Your Mom's "Stuffs" many of the ingredients inside the burger, so the flavors cook throughout and explode over your taste buds.

A look at Yelp tells me I'm not the first to find out about this place. They have over 170 reviews and are averaging well over 4 stars. They also were a part of 104.9 The Horn Radio's Burger Bracket competition and faired pretty well. Put this on my favs list for one of Austin's Best Burgers.  See my review at http://SteveRosenbaum.com

Welcome to Austin, Newk's!

A friend brought me to Newk's Express Cafe yesterday for the first time and I was very impressed.  Newk's has a very nice balance, quick, but not fast-food, casual, and very comfortable.

They get an A+ for presentation, quality and customer service.  I had a Cobb Salad that was beautiful and tasted everybit as good!  My friend had the Ceasar Salad which also looked very nice.

Newk's has nice touches, like a "Roundtable" of extra fresh ingredients and breadsticks for your salad, and ice-cold fresh water (you don't have to get it out of the soda fountain!)

I want to go back a few more times to explore the menu a bit further. It seemed that it might be slightly limited, but I'm sure I can find other things to enjoy.

You'll be seeing plenty of Newk's in Austin. We spoke to the staff and they told us that there were plans for 7 more to open in the area.

Special Grand Opening this weekend!  Saturday June 5, 2010 from 10:00-1:00.  Sounds like a lot of fun, plus some VIP guests and food specials.  I'm planning on going!

Newk's is located in the Arboretum Market on the NW corner of Jolleyville Road and Great Hills Trail.  Look for the Red and White Awning!