Spicy Thai and the Lunch Special

Synopsis

The food and price were good, but the service leaves something to be desired.

Review

One of the lunch crew decided to give this place a try.  He was coming back from a tough morning on the slopes and due to its relative proximity to Provo Canyon (and the fact that we haven't eaten here yet) asked us to come on by.  Although it is a bit further than we typically go (and we needed to pass several Thai restaurants to get here), we agreed.


Upon entering, I was amazed at how small it was.  Most Thai places in Utah County are small; this seems a bit smaller than most but not bad.  Just a little while later the server came, showed us our seats, and we were ready to order.


The special today was the red curry, but it can be substituted for Mussaman.  The fresh roll was quite good and the peanut sauce added to the flavor.  Although the soup shown here is the coconut, I ordered the sweet and sour which was switched on someone's plate.  The sweet and sour wasn't what I typically would expect.  The soup itself was mostly a clear color instead of the brown I've normally had.  There were also large helpings / slices of vegetables and chicken which went very well with the broth.  I thought it was unique and quite tasty; something I'll remember the next time I come.


The Mussaman was a typical Mussaman and tasted similar to most that I've had (which was what I was looking for in the curry).  Overall I thought the food was excellent.  Because it was a lunch special, the portion sizes were smaller than I would normally prefer with Thai food, but this is typical for a Thai lunch special (and it's fairly priced as well).  My biggest (and really only complaint) was the service.  The meal came out fairly quickly, but we didn't get our napkins or silverware until the meal was halfway through and our glasses were empty for most of it.  It could be that the person who helped us was new; however, everything else was pretty good.  Next time I'm in the area looking for Thai, I'll stop on by.

Cost and Big John Rating

$7.99 = Lunch Special (Mussaman Curry, spring roll, and soup)
Service = 6
Ambiance = 8
Quality = 8
Taste = 8
Price Rating = 8.0
Big John Rating = 7.5

Notable URLs

A Butch Cassidy Burger from Broiler Express

Synopsis
If you want good food and great service but don't want to wait in a long line, Broiler Express is the place for you.


Review
I was amazed to see that this place has finally opened.  Who would have known?  It's been an empty building for so long that I wouldn't believe it was open except for the fact that someone I trusted ate there.


Although open, it's still very vacant inside.  There were four other customers in there which, from what I've been told, was actually quite busy for this location.  Since no one else was in line, I stood up to the register and placed my order.  The Butch Cassidy burger is one of their most popular ones and once I heard it included swiss cheese I decided to go for it.


I'm not one for a western burger.  I like the idea of an onion ring on a burger; I'm not such a fan of barbecue sauce on a burger.  In spite of that bias, though, I did enjoy this one.  The processed swiss cheese is something I rather enjoy and the onion ring fit nicely.  On some western burgers the onion ring can get in the way, sometimes it's so large that it pretty much is the burger and not an accessory to it.  But on the Butch Cassidy burger, it belongs.


The onion rings in general were excellent.  These onion rings are more onion than they are batter.  Deep fried to a golden brown, they have surprisingly little grease.  The container had little if any grease left on it after they were eaten.  Of course, my hands had some; you can't expect to eat onion rings without any grease, but they are close to the least greasy ones I've had.  The fry sauce was pretty good as well.  I look forward to ordering them the next time I come.


Perhaps its because there isn't a lot of customers, but the service was very good as well.  On the way out the door the person who took my order asked me how I liked my burger, and the person bringing it out offered to get me fry sauce and / or ketchup from the condiment bar that I overlooked on the way over.  This is some of the best service I've had at a fast food place.  Because of the service and the good food, I'm looking forward to my next visit.


Cost and Big John Rating
$5.76 = Large Butch Cassidy Burger Combo includes Butch Cassidy Burger, Onion Rings, and a Large Drink.
Service = 9
Ambiance = 8
Quality = 8
Taste = 8
Price Rating = 8.3
Big John Rating = 8.6


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The Steak Sandwich at La Jolla Groves

Synopsis
The service was, for the most part, very good and the Sourdough Steak Sandwich was tasty as well.  However, the cost was a little too steep for my taste.  It seems that most everything had its pros and cons, but the sandwich was good.


Review
The Riverwoods is a place that the lunch crew does not like to frequent.  For starters, we prefer places with parking.  I have mixed emotions about the changes made to their main street (now main walkway); I really like the change but parking was already a difficult experience beforehand and now it's crossed the line to atrocious.  However, road rage does seem to build up an appetite and the Riverwoods definitely has that cure, but if you're new to the area I would recommend coming early just to get a spot at all -- much less a good one.  You'll thank me later.

The main entry way into La Jolla Groves

Now that my rant about the parking and the general location is out of the way, on to the review of La Jolla Groves.  It was a bit difficult to find because there wasn't a big sign outside the entry way or above the front door indicating where it was like there are on the other establishments in the area (or just in general).  There was a metal stand with the words "La Jolla Groves" written on a piece of paper pointing the way for us to go, but I almost ended up in their bakery section simply because the name was written on the door.  Luckily, though, we did find the location and a parking spot before we starved.   But finding it wasn't as easy as one would expect.


Upon entering the restaurant, the first thing we noticed was the fragrance of the flowers near the entryway.  The rustic theme of the area faded quickly into a lemon grove after walking past the stone archway.  I heard they had a cheese steak here and I was looking forward to try it, but I was slightly disappointed to see that it's a Sourdough Steak Sandwich and not an actual cheese steak.  However, I'm one who likes sourdough and decided that was the way to go.  And it was a good decision.


The Sourdough Steak Sandwich comes with sourdough bread, grilled marinated steak, cheese, grilled onions, some kind of dressing, lettuce, and tomato.  It also included a side salad with a balsamic vinaigrette.  The sourdough bread was a very mild sourdough. It took me a while when eating the sandwich to remember what kind of bread came with it (which is very ironic considering that's the reason why I ordered it).  I do like sourdough bread but not at the expense of the sandwich. I thought that the different tastes blended well and complimented each other.  The steak was well cooked and tender, the cheese wasn't very noticeable but it was there, and the hint of spread accented the sandwich.  Surprisingly, though, I really liked the lettuce and tomato.  Most of the time they get overlooked, but this time they stood out perhaps because they were the only vegetables on the sandwich.


For dessert I had a lemon cake.  I was expecting a cake wedge, instead I got a round cake with crystalized sugar topping.  This was a tough dish to eat mainly because I had a tough time bringing myself to break the netting.  However, it was pretty good.  At first I thought the taste of lemon was just right.  I really enjoy lemon cake and I like the lemon to stand out and make itself known.  There should be no question when tasting a crumb that it is a lemon cake.  At first I found the lemon taste to be quite adequate but it seemed to deteriorate as I ate my way through the cake.  It was good, and I would probably buy it again just for the plating, but it wasn't as strong as I would like.


Although I did like the taste of the food, I didn't like the portion sizes.  I almost stopped at Del Taco on the way back for one or two $0.99 burritos to finish the job, but settled on a drink run instead.  I have mixed emotions with the service as well.  I think they have one person there who does nothing but top off glasses and he did a great job of keeping it filled.  I never reached for an empty glass.  However, I did order a Diet Coke along with the water which never showed up.  I wasn't charged for it, but I really would have liked it.  Overall I thought it was mostly good.  The service was good but not great, the sandwich was great but not filling, the price is steep, the decor grand, and the odds of a return trip probable.  I will return to impress a date (and combine it with a movie to get popcorn that will hopefully fill me up) but not for an informal trip with the lunch crew.  The crew likes good food at a low price and this just misses the price mark.

Cost and Big John Rating
$9.49 = Sourdough Steak Sandwich
$6 = Lemon Cake
7 = Service
9 = Ambiance
9 = Taste
9 = Quality
7.3 = Price Rating
8.0 = Big John Rating


Notable URLs
La Jolla Groves
Shops at the Redwoods

The Parlor of Pizza

Review

We came here expecting Pier 49 only to see that it was gone and something else had taken its place.  Considering the lunch crew's craving for pizza, we decided to give The Parlor a chance. From the outside it appears to be a small location (which Pier 49 was as well), but you can't judge a book by the cover.  The inside is relatively small as well, but it fits the theme of a parlor.


Once inside we went to the counter and were greeted by the owner who took our orders, cooked our meal, and waited on our table.  Keeping to the Pier 49 tradition, the main selling point for our group was the all-you-can-eat pizza which included a salad and a drink.  Getting the all-you-can-eat pizza worked out really well since it allowed us to try a few pizzas we normally wouldn't have ordered otherwise and found out that we really liked.  Our hostess really bent over backwards to make sure we were satisfied and allowed us to choose which pizzas she would put in for the all-you-can-eat menu.  Because of that we were able to sample quite a few different pizzas.


The combination pizza was exactly as I like it -- with so many toppings that the cheese was barely visible.  The toppings were great, the crust was good, and with so many toppings blending together it tasted great.  For the toppings they typically put on large slices of everything (such as ham, pineapple, etc).  The barbecue pizza was sweet, but not overpowering.  The real key to a barbecue pizza is to allow for some sweetness while not making it so sweet you can't finish more than one slice.  This one kept a good balance of sweetness and tasted great.


There were a few other pizzas we tried, but much to my surprise the margarita pizza was one of my favorites.  As I've mentioned before my favorite topping is a wide variety of toppings and, in addition, I'm not the type of person to think that a pizza containing mostly tomato chunks is a good pizza.  This, on the other hand, was really good.  The cheese was creamy, the sun dried tomatoes added some intense flavor when combined with the cheese and the basil.  She also cooked a strawberry dessert pizza for us with fresh chunks of strawberry.  By this time I was already very full from the rest of the pizza, but just the smell alone started to make me hungry again.  If it wasn't so full I would have had a second one.


Overall I was rather impressed with this place and the fact that it was all-you-can-eat pizza at a very reasonable price.  There have been a lot of changes on Center Street as of late.  The burned-down tabernacle isn't the only empty building on Center.  With the loss of Pier 49, Los Hermanos (still vacant), Stumpys, and who knows whatever other businesses on that street, Center Street is in a time of transition.  With all the businesses coming and going this is definitely one that deserves to stick around for a while.  Not only did they have great customer service, but they also have pizza worth coming back for.


Cost and Big John Rating
$7.99 = Pizza, drink, and salad without tax (lunch special)
Service = 9
Taste = 8
Quality = 8
Ambiance = 7
Price Rating = 8.0
Big John Rating = 8.1


Notable URLs

A Red Attic Deli

Review

I nearly passed it by.  I knew it was around here because a friend had been there before, but I nearly passed it by because the door says something about a dance studio.  The sign for Red Deli is above the dance studio and there is a sign above the second story window saying "Red Deli", but if you're looking for a sign at eye-level you will never find it.  Entering the front door, turning to the right and going up the stairs you come right to the counter where the cashier awaits to take the order.  The place looks like an unfinished apartment and the dining area consists of four tables awaiting for people to come.  The location is fairly new; there were people in one of the former bedrooms measuring things, looking things over, and walking in and out multiple times.  The location still has yet to get a soda fountain -- currently they have an upright glass door cooler filled with IBC root beer of differing varieties such as regular, diet, cream soda, and blackberry.


Being a Philly fan, I ordered their Philly Steak Supreme combo with a medium fry and an IBC Root Beer.  The order came out fairly quickly which I appreciated.  I wouldn't call the sandwich, though, a Philly Cheese steak, it was more of a rib-eye sub.  For toppings it came with mayo, tomato, lettuce, olives, and banana peppers.  The meat contained two slices of rib-eye with provolone melted in the middle (which I thought was a great touch).  This allowed the cheese to be noticeable but not overcome the taste of the tender rib-eye.  The freshly made bread was rather soft and the outside had a harder crust to it that I thought really went well with the sub.  For a sub the overall presentation was great, but for someone wanting a Philly it was a disappointment.  Next time I will go with a different selection mostly because of my expectations of a Philly.  The fries were really good although there weren't as many as I'd expect in a medium, but they had a great taste to them.  The outside was cooked to a crisp but the inside was still tender mostly because of their size.


Overall, I probably won't go here again and not because of the taste (I thought the taste was great) but because of the distance from where I work to get there, the lack of a soda fountain, and the price.  I couldn't finish my entire sandwich not because I was full but because I didn't have anything else to wash it down with.  Free refills really do come in handy and have saved a possibly difficult sandwich many a time.  As a workaround for this issue, though, they do offer free delivery for some of Provo.  If I were in the free delivery range and wanted a sub but didn't feel like driving anywhere, I would probably give them a ring.  While we were there, only one other group showed up and yet they were busy the entire time simply because of their phone orders.  But price is also something to take into consideration.  With the sub itself being $8.75 for a 12 inch, I wouldn't pass up cheaper establishments for this one.


Cost and Big John Rating
Cost = $8.75 - 12" sub, $2.50 - medium fries and IBC Root Beer without tax.
Quality = 8
Taste = 6 (it's the expectation of a Philly that kills this)
Ambiance = 5
Service = 8
Price Rating = 7.3
Big John Rating = 6.7


Notable URLs
Red Deli's Menu

Everything on Great Steak

Review
What was the name of that place?  Was it The Great Steak or Steak & Everything Grill?  It's very confusing because the outside and receipt says "The Great Steak" but the menu says "Steak & Everything Grill".  Hmm.  Google Maps and Facebook call it "Steak & Everything Grill" so that's what I'll refer to it as.


Approaching from the outside this looks exactly like the kind of place I like to visit -- just a little Ma & Pa's type place.  Inside it has a very old feel to it with the old school Coca-Cola advertising and other items decorating the walls that could have come from an old log cabin or malt shop.  The dinning area is small -- perfect for a Ma and Pa's and has maybe 3 tables and 7 booths.


Pulling all three tables next to each other, the lunch crew took to looking over the "Steak & Everything Grill" menu.  With a wide variety of items to choose from, the question on what to eat was apparently very tough.  One guy in our lunch crew barely made his entrée choice but when it came to dessert he couldn't take the pressure and told the waitress, "Surprise me".  Which she did by coming up with her own milk shake recipe, and he enjoyed it.


When it came to my turn I did what seemed right at the time and went with the first item on the menu -- the Steak and Everything combo.  This Philly Cheese steak comes with rib-eye, grilled bell peppers and onions, tomatoes, and provolone all on a sourdough bun.  When they first brought it out my thought was "Where's the beef?!?"  I don't think I've seen a Philly that was more bun than topping (take a look at my Chubby's Cafe posting to see what I'm talking about).  It had a pretty good taste to it (there was a lot of flavoring to it and the grilled veggies pulled their own weight) and resembled something I would get at the Italian Place.  Overall it was a good sandwich, it just needs a bit more to it to go along with the bun.  The fries that came with the combo were crisp and the fry sauce was an excellent compliment to the fry.  Theirs is a fry sauce I would recommend and will want again.


Overall we had a very good experience and the lunch crew looks forward to coming back here again sometime.


Cost and Big John Rating
Cost = $6.99 without tax (came with the Steak and Everything, small fries, and a drink)
Quality = 6
Taste = 6
Ambiance = 9
Service = 9
Price Rating = 6.4
Big John Rating = 7.5


Notable URLs
The Steak & Everything Grill Facebook Page

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