Restaurant Review

[Veloise]

...I just saw a recipe tonight for a grilled cheese sandwich. They put butter and garlic on the outside and then parmesan on that side and then in the inside of the sandwich they put cheddar, colby jack, mozzarella, and swiss cheese. It sounds so good and I'm going to try it soon.

The one at Rockwell had feta in it. IMHO that's what pushed it over the top.

...two skillets. Iron would probably work best, but any should do. You heat them both up...

Not in this climate I don't! A countertop electric grill saves much energy and heat. (When did I last turn on the stove? It was still sweater weather...)

[GRDadof3]

I've been wanting to try Graydon's Crossing. I mentioned it in my tweets, I think, on Twitter and I have to say it sounds like an interesting place. I always love trying shepherd's pie first at any British pub. But Graydon's sounds interesting with the British and Indian cuisine in one place. I've been in EGR the last few days and every day I go by, Graydon's has been packed even on week nights when Olga's has been dead.

I just saw a recipe tonight for a grilled cheese sandwich. They put butter and garlic on the outside and then parmesan on that side and then in the inside of the sandwich they put cheddar, colby jack, mozzarella, and swiss cheese. It sounds so good and I'm going to try it soon.

We tried Graydon's in EGR last night and it was pretty good. They seemed to have worked out the kinks as far as service goes. It was strange though that the entire front part of the restaurant and the outdoor patio were "first come - first served". I had to watch the outdoor tables like a hawk and then pounce when one opened up. The inside was not very crowded, but all that dark wood and dark lighting is a bit drab in the summer.

Also, they had prices for all of their drinks in the menu (in reference to the Hopcat situation). Taste - $x Pint - $x and I think even sampler prices; and for wine Half Glass - $x Glass - $x Bottle - $xx, etc..

Graydon's drink "book" is HUGE. Unless you're a beer and/or wine connoussieur, I think you an easily get lost in it. But definitely having the Tastes and Half Glasses makes it more fun to try new concoctions. Food was not bad, as I had the Tindoori (sp?) Chicken Wrap and my wife had the Cuban. Overall it was pretty good and pretty inexpensive. Two drinks each, appetizer, dinners came to about $50 before tip. And sitting out on the patio makes you appreciate how much pedestrian traffic has been added to Gaslight Village thanks to that development. Great for people watching.

[Nitro]

We tried Graydon's in EGR last night and it was pretty good. They seemed to have worked out the kinks as far as service goes.

Yeah, I think you got lucky. I went for lunch again on Thursday and vowed that I would not return. Great drinking bar from a selection staindpoint but all of the food that we had was subpar and all of the wait staff seemed fresh from wait staff school.

I like their other restaurants but I'm done with this one until something changes.

[MuskeMI]

It's odd how many people are having subpar service. I've had great service at most of this group's other establishments (original Graydon's, Logan's Alley and Cambridge House) but I've had nothing but horrible service at JD Reardon's. Even wrote the manager about it after our second consecutive disaster there (never heard back from them). Makes me worry about the service at their next bar (Beerstone or whatever it's going to be called).

[Montague]

I went to either Rockwell's or Republic the other night after a round of golf. I sat on the deck so I'm not really sure which restaurant the menu was from, unless they share a menu. I just had a french dip sandwich which was pretty normal. It wasn't spectacular or bad, just normal. My friend had the pot roast and really liked it. Next time I'll get a full entree.

I had the pot roast last Thursday. At least I tried. It was so tough and tastless

I had to send it back. Tough could be just a bad cut of beef, but tasteless was

the fault of the kitchen. My BBQ Ribs as replacement was a perfectly prepared

entree.

My friends both had the grouper and raved about it.

The server and and the manager handeled my dilemma with class and apologies

all around. I'll go again and I know what I'm having. Grouper.

John

[Jocar]

Went to Rockwell's last Friday night with my wife and some friends. I enjoyed the open face meatloaf sandwich while my wife enjoyed her burger. She wished she had ordered what I had after she tasted the meatloaf, it was quite good We'll go back soon!

[Tesseract]

At the suggestion of a friend who works out that way, my girlfriend and I hit the Thai Express for dinner last night. It was very good! Spicy and full of flavor, friendly staff, and ice cream bars for dessert! I had a chili and chicken stir fry, and my girlfriend had a basil(!) and tofu dish. Two meals, plus an appetizer and two Thai iced teas came to just under $25.

Thai Express

317 Kalamazoo Ave SE

Grand Rapids, MI 49508

(616) 827-9955

[canetoad]

I second Thai Express. Great, inexpensive food, friendly service, wide variety of dishes. You get to choose you level of spiciness on a scale of 1 to 5. Not much for ambience, but that's what I like about it - it's one of those great, hole-in-the-wall restaurants hidden in a strip mall that holds lovely delicacies inside.

At the suggestion of a friend who works out that way, my girlfriend and I hit the Thai Express for dinner last night. It was very good! Spicy and full of flavor, friendly staff, and ice cream bars for dessert! I had a chili and chicken stir fry, and my girlfriend had a basil(!) and tofu dish. Two meals, plus an appetizer and two Thai iced teas came to just under $25.

Thai Express

317 Kalamazoo Ave SE

Grand Rapids, MI 49508

(616) 827-9955

[grrwymg]

I second Thai Express. Great, inexpensive food, friendly service, wide variety of dishes. You get to choose you level of spiciness on a scale of 1 to 5. Not much for ambience, but that's what I like about it - it's one of those great, hole-in-the-wall restaurants hidden in a strip mall that holds lovely delicacies inside.

I'll third Thai Express. Tried them out for lunch on Tuesday. We had the option of spiciness from 1-10! I went with "4" and was happy with the result. They have bottles of spicy stuff on the table if you're a glutton for punishment. And the ice-cream bar for dessert was a nice treat. Great, friendly service and tasty food. I am looking forward to my next trip.

This used to be a Mexican food restaurant a short while ago. I had gone there once or twice and the food was good. It's too bad those small restaurants struggle so much when the economy is down.

The address is: 4317 Kalamazoo Ave SE however. Near 44th and Kalamazoo intersection in the Langley Plaza.

[Kib]

FIELD REPORT: Malarky's

LOCATION: 3210 Deposit Dr. (I-96 & E. Beltline)

Setting up shop in the former Uno Pizza location, (RIP Uno, great pies, horrid service) Malarky's appears to be a 'non-chain' chain-type Sports bar/Restaurant/Pub.

DECOR: Early-American Applebee's. It looks like they really didn't do much from what was already on the walls when Uno cleared out, but the only time I actually went inside as Uno's was when they screwed up an order. There are about a half-dozen flat screen TV's in the bar area, didn't look like they were setup for HD (all the sets were in Stretch-O-Vision TM Mode) and it didn't look like they subscribe to a sports package either, just ESPN. (or maybe they consider "Last Comic Standing" a sports event)

FOOD & DRINK: Not a bad selection of tap beer, nice to see Stella once in awhile (that will soon change with the AB buyout) very reasonable happy hour prices and a nice happy hour menu. Regular menu has a little bit of everything... wide but not deep. Had a panini (first time I'd seen pita bread folded over as the bread component) Not bad, but Panera should have no fears.

CLIENTELE & ATMOSPHERE: Pretty mixed, some younger couples, older couples, a grandamama here and there, some guys looking like they just got off the golf course, contractor-types banging down the brewski's. I suspect you'll find more than a few folks rolling in from the Country Inn Suites hotel right behind the building, so if road warrior's are your thing you'll find 'em here. There was a dude performing live music, covers on an accoustical guitar, better than the juke it guess. Wait-staff were pleasent enough, service was OK.

OVERALL: Very vanilla. Would work in a pinch if you're shut out of "The Score" or "Buffalo Wild-Wings" down the road if there's a big game being shown on TV. Very good if you're from out-of-town staying in the hotel and didn't want to drive anywhere.

END OF FIELD REPORT

[MuskeMI]

Well, thanks to all the people raving on here about Sandmann's we finally made the trip Sunday. Awesome! They were sold out of half of their sides but what was left (of course along with the ribs) was fantastic! We'll be back soon.

Also, to the poster above, there was an article not too long ago in the GR Press about Malarkey's. Uno raised their franchise fees a ton and the owner of the 2 Uno's here in GR decided to de-franchise rather than "pass along those costs to the customers" (paraphrasing his words).

[cheshireguy]

My cousin and I recently went to JD Reardon's in the Boardwalk Condo building on a Thursday night, and oh, what a treat! We were pleasantly surprised to find that their bistro pizzas (12", large enough to stuff one person) were half off on Thursdays. I ordered the barbecue chicken pizza ($4.50 at half off), he had the sausage and mushroom. Mine was fantastic, his was better than average, but well worth the $4.00! We were also estatic about the $2.00 pints of Arcadia Angler's Ale, one of my favs from the mitten. So in the end, after a big old personal pizza and two pints of a great beer, I had spent a total of $8.50. Wow. I have been back three out of the last 4 Thursdays because of this value.

To make things even better (no pun int.) we hit on round of Keno (thanks lucky #16!) and won $45.00 - enough to pay for four of our bills!

[Jocar]

Much to my surprise while trying to grab a quick bite to eat my wife and I along with some friends stopped by Johnny's Lunch at 8:30pm to find they were closed. I was very surprised by a 8:30 closing on a Friday night. We then went over to Big O Cafe and had some good eats there. On the way home we felt the urge for some ice cream. Even though it was a bit after 10 we thought we would check out The Parlor to find that they had closed minutes earlier - lucky for us the owner/manager saw us and let us come in for some ice cream .

[Tesseract]

My mom was in town yesterday and took my girlfriend and I to Graydon's Crossing in Gaslight Village. While there, I had the best Shepherd's Pie EVER! Mom had one of the Indian dishes (Rogan josh, maybe? Last thing on the menu) and my girlfriend had the oatmeal-encrusted tilapia, which was also quite good.

Didn't pay much attention to the decor, but the place was clean and (in the dining area) quiet, and the staff was friendly and attentive. I look forward to going again.

[PRCH]

On the way home we felt the urge for some ice cream. Even though it was a bit after 10 we thought we would check out The Parlor to find that they had closed minutes earlier - lucky for us the owner/manager saw us and let us come in for some ice cream .

That's the way things work out in the People's Republic of Cherry Hill.

Hope you enjoyed your ice cream.

[suydam]

My mom was in town yesterday and took my girlfriend and I to Graydon's Crossing in Gaslight Village. While there, I had the best Shepherd's Pie EVER!

Have you had it at The Black Rose downtown?

That's my favorite in town (though Graydon's was great, I'll agree).

[gvsusean]

REVIEW: Chez Bayou

Time: 7:00 Wednesday

Food Ordered: Blackened Trio (sampler) shrimp, chicken, and tiliapia(?). Strawberry Cheesecake.

Experience: We went to Chez Bayou for my bday this past wednesday because of the glowing reviews given in the GRPress. Let me just say that those reviews were not the same experience that we recieved. First of all we ordered the jumbo shrimp appetizer but, it never came. The servce was pretty terrible. Our whole tables' drinks were empty (including the waters we ordered with our drinks) before we were offered a refilll. After about 30 mins or so our main course came out. All three of my sampler tasted the exact same just slightly different texture. And in all honesty the flavor that was identical was identically mediocre. The best most flavorful part of my dish were the veggies (which I ordered seperately). Everyone alse at the table agreed that their dish was ok. Only one person truly liked their dish and it was the fettucini alphreadoe (they spell it all weird Im not sure if I spelled it the same way). After our main course the dessert arrived. I had the strawberry cheesecake... note I wanted the bananas foster cheesecake because of its glowing review as being the BEST dessert that the food critic has EVER had but unfortunately they did not have any (strike that up to poor planning on the managements behalf). Lets just say the dessert was anything but homemade. I believe that at least 2 of our desserts were boxed and even the waiter accidently spilled the beans and said, "sorry its taking so long but the dessert was (he realized what he was about to say and kind of mumbled under his breath ) frozen." Frozen? and this from the "chef" who is supposed to be a pastry chef lol. alas I had fake cheesecake SMOTHERED in those super sweet fake strawberries (you know the frozen sliced ones).

Final thoughts: I'll probably never go back there are way to many good restaurants with good service to waste both time and money at chez bayou.

[plee30]

REVIEW: Chez Bayou

Time: 7:00 Wednesday

Food Ordered: Blackened Trio (sampler) shrimp, chicken, and tiliapia(?). Strawberry Cheesecake.

Experience: We went to Chez Bayou for my bday this past wednesday because of the glowing reviews given in the GRPress. Let me just say that those reviews were not the same experience that we recieved. First of all we ordered the jumbo shrimp appetizer but, it never came. The servce was pretty terrible. Our whole tables' drinks were empty (including the waters we ordered with our drinks) before we were offered a refilll. After about 30 mins or so our main course came out. All three of my sampler tasted the exact same just slightly different texture. And in all honesty the flavor that was identical was identically mediocre. The best most flavorful part of my dish were the veggies (which I ordered seperately). Everyone alse at the table agreed that their dish was ok. Only one person truly liked their dish and it was the fettucini alphreadoe (they spell it all weird Im not sure if I spelled it the same way). After our main course the dessert arrived. I had the strawberry cheesecake... note I wanted the bananas foster cheesecake because of its glowing review as being the BEST dessert that the food critic has EVER had but unfortunately they did not have any (strike that up to poor planning on the managements behalf). Lets just say the dessert was anything but homemade. I believe that at least 2 of our desserts were boxed and even the waiter accidently spilled the beans and said, "sorry its taking so long but the dessert was (he realized what he was about to say and kind of mumbled under his breath ) frozen." Frozen? and this from the "chef" who is supposed to be a pastry chef lol. alas I had fake cheesecake SMOTHERED in those super sweet fake strawberries (you know the frozen sliced ones).

Final thoughts: I'll probably never go back there are way to many good restaurants with good service to waste both time and money at chez bayou.

I wouldn't put too much weight into restaurant reviews you read in the paper, especially nowadays with digital news running roughshod over newspaper. The underlying motive, and this is not inherently wrong, is to sell ad space. I don't think Chez Bayou would put an ad in the paper if the reviewer had the similar experience. But many times I wish I only went out to a reviewer because the experiences are always outworldly.

I enjoy the GR Press now and again, but I have some reservations about their business practices. Last year, Labor Day and at my wedding, my brother-in-law passed away in a tragic accident in Northern Michigan. Obviously, not an easy time for anyone. Even before my brother-in-law's body made it back to GR, or we had a chance to bury him, sales people from the GR Press were calling and knocking on his parent's door to sell obituary space...and it was multiple sales people.

A little classless if you ask me.

[Rhino6885]

I swung into Kent Novelty on Michigan last week and noticed a place across the street that sold East African food. It looks like some sort of food market as well. Anybody been here? I never noticed it before...

While on the topic, I've driven by these places too and always wondered about them:

Ali's Diner - West Fulton

Greek place on Monroe, just north of Pearl

Any experiences, good or bad?

[radicaljoy]

I swung into Kent Novelty on Michigan last week and noticed a place across the street that sold East African food. It looks like some sort of food market as well. Anybody been here? I never noticed it before...

Selaam store near Grand?

See post #541 on pg 28 of this thread.

Someone has written about it on the G-Rad site fairly recently too.

[Rhino6885]

Selaam store near Grand?

See post #541 on pg 28 of this thread.

Someone has written about it on the G-Rad site fairly recently too.

Cool...thanks for the info.

[Parhelion]

Selaam store near Grand?

See post #541 on pg 28 of this thread.

Someone has written about it on the G-Rad site fairly recently too.

Some friends catered a party with food from here, and it's delicious.

[misskelliecmu]

DH and I went to the new Thai place on Alpine. The soup was good as well as the spring roll but the main meal was a tad disappointing. DH ordered a Thai Curry meal (hot spice) and I order Chicken Pad Thai (med spice). The spice was very mild for a medium and hot. It was rather bland for Thai food (which is odd because good Thai is never bland). Service was slow and they still didn't know the menu yet. It took us 25 minutes for the soup/spring roll and close to 45-50 minutes for the main meal. They are new so hopefully they will get things firmed up but I'm not desiring to go back there any time soon.

[GR Jackson]

Went to Crudups for lunch today. Good food, really nice guy.

[jwazzz]

Have been wanting to check out Chez Bayou since they opened and finally went Friday evening for dinner. I can honestly say that I haven't been so disappointed in a new restaurant for a very long time. The space itself could have been quite stunning but didn't live up to it's potential. And then there was the food - if you are expecting a taste of New Orleans, save your money for a plane ticket. A shared appetizer of Alligator McNuggets were the first disappointment - without the dipping sauce, there would have been no flavor at all. My friend opted for a Muffeletta (sp?) a sandwich he had had in New Orleans and loved - this version, not so much. It's appeal apparently lies in the olive spread and after a couple bites, he pulled the sandwich apart and we found maybe enough to cover a Triscuit if you were frugal. He basically got a very expensive cold cut sub - Jimmy Johns or Subway would have put out a better product. I went with the Cajun Seafood Pasta - again, a big disappointment. 3 mussel's, maybe 6 small shrimp and a tiny handful of equally small scallops over bow-tie pasta with a white sauce that would have been judged mild compared to cream of celery soup. The service was horrible and the wait times for the food were way into the unacceptable range, especially given that the place was only about 25% full. I have to second the review of gvsusean - with so many great places to eat, I will not be a return customer.