Over all I like Brix but it needs some work living up to its appearance.
I'll start with the pros, but please read on for the cons...
My
favorite aspect is not their food, or the Newport Vineyard wine they
serve....it's the atmosphere. Rustic, charming, warm, inviting and
elegant but not at all pretentious. High ceilings with dark wooden
beams, eclectic lighting fixtures, a beautiful fireplace and leather
sofa sitting area and windows over looking the winery. While we did have
one waitress who left something to be desired in the 4+ times I've been
there, overall the service is top notch. The servers have been very
attentive and go out of their way to make you feel welcome and answer
any question/request you may have.
Another plus...in the winter
(at least in January and February) they offer a Winter Warmer menu for
$29.95 which includes any soup or salad on their menu (not just a plain
house or Cesar!), any entree (steak entree is +$5) and a glass of wine
or draft beer. Quite a deal when a couple of their salads are $12 each! I
personally tend not to order a salad before dinner, especially if
they're $8-$12, but man were they good! I got the Beet + Arugula Salad
and my boyfriend got the Vintner's Field Green Salad. Perfectly dressed
and seasoned....YUM!
Now for some negatives...
With the winter
warmer menu, following my awesome salad I got the Allagash White Ale
Braised Short Ribs. It was good...but not great and the beef was very
obviously pot roast...not at all short ribs. It was tender and tasty and
I can understand trying to cut costs, especially with the special
they're running but I personally find it insulting to think I wouldn't
notice the swap and it's false advertising. It was also served with
acorn squash disc which was aesthetically pleasing, but it was almost
all skin and only a few bites were edible. That same week we went back
after an event at the winery I got the Duck Confit Pizza and there was a
BONE in it. I was understanding and brought it up to the waitress
thinking they'd either bring me a new dish, comp the pizza, or at least
offer a drink or dessert on the house....nope. She just seemed flustered
and apologized and walked away. In my opinion a duck bone on a pizza is
a pretty dangerous thing and thankfully I did not swallow it.
Overall,
for an establishment that seems to want to be upscale and for the
prices they charge....they're falling short. It's worth checking out, if
only for a few drinks and the atmosphere, but don't expect a fine
dining experience like I feel they are trying to sell.
Source: https://www.yelp.com/biz/brix-restaurant-middletown-2
Sunday, April 30, 2017
Restaurant Review of Olive Garden Goes Viral
How
does one 85-year-old North Dakota woman cause pasta discourse to go
viral? By writing about – and highly praising – the Olive Garden, the
Italian chain restaurant many Americans love to diss.
When Marilyn Hagerty, columnist and food critic for the local Grand Forks Herald paper, visited the city’s new Olive Garden restaurant
(a place she hadn’t been to since dining at the location in Fargo a few
years ago), she apparently enjoyed good service and a very satisfying
eating experience. “After a lengthy wait for Olive Garden to open in
Grand Forks, the lines were long in February,” she wrote. “The novelty
is slowly wearing off, but the steady following attests the warm
welcome.” (This also highlights the probability that this city of 50,000
does not have quite the variety of restaurants larger cities boast.
However, the state of North Dakota does count buffalo jerky as a delicacy -- and it has the lowest unemployment rate
in the country.) And from the pleasant waitress to the crisp salad to
the main entrée, Hagerty deemed the midday meal a thumbs-up event.
“The
chicken Alfredo,” she wrote, “was warm and comforting on a cold day.
The portion was generous. My server was ready with Parmesan cheese.”
Other highlights from the review:
- “The place is impressive. It’s fashioned in Tuscan farmhouse style with a welcoming entryway. There is seating for those who are waiting.”
- “My booth was near the kitchen, and I watched the waiters in white shirts, ties, black trousers and aprons adorned with gold-colored towels. They were busy at midday, punching in orders and carrying out bread and pasta.”
- “As I ate, I noticed the vases and planters with permanent flower displays on the ledges. There are several dining areas with arched doorways. And there is a fireplace that adds warmth to the decor.”
The
summing up of her supping experience: “All in all, it is the largest
and most beautiful restaurant now operating in Grand Forks. It attracts
visitors from out of town as well as people who live here.”
[Related: How Crocs Came Back from the Dead]
The
paper then published the review on March 7, including it on their
website. You would think it would have ended there. But Hagerty, who
has reviewed about 1,500 other restaurants for the paper, saw her
innocuous little food write-up cause a viral commotion as it was picked
up (and snarked about) by blogs, such as Fark, Boingboing and Gawker,
who found it utterly hilarious that anyone could wax rhapsodic about
the not-quite-elitist chain. By Friday morning, the review had received
290,000 hits. Compare that to the newspaper’s second-best-performing
story, which got less than 6,000 hits, and it’s fair to say the Olive
Garden is a topic that draws eyeballs.
Facebook
and the Twittersphere have also been buzzing with more snark and plenty
of defenders of Hagerty, who has written for the paper for 60 years.
She has even caught the attention of such food celebs as Anthony Bourdain,
who told his Twitter followers he was "very much enjoying watching
Internet sensation Marilyn Hagerty triumph over the snarkologists
(myself included)." According to the AP, she had to ask her son, who
just happens to be Wall Street Journal reporter Bob Hagerty, what “going viral” meant. Prediction: She’ll soon land on a national talk show host’s couch.
Source: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/restaurant-review-of-the-olive-garden-goes-viral.html
Tuesday, April 18, 2017
Pictures of different meals in the Burlington, NC area
Friday, April 7, 2017
West End Tarrace
My next
restaurant review is for West End Terrace located close to the campus of
Elon. I agree with the rating provided
by trip advisor as the 8th best restaurant in Elon. Overall, West End ranks high for the quality
of food but the overall service is very sub par. If it wasn’t for the bad service the overall
rating would be much better.
The first
aspect ill talk about is the atmosphere.
The atmosphere is very good overall.
There are plenty of Tv’s to watch your favorite sporting events and a
spacious patio to eat outside. If the
weather is nice, West End is a great place to enjoy a wide variety of local
beers. Also, if weather permits, the
restaurant will open up the front making the inside open air.
The quality
of the food is another aspect that is above average. With a bar food type menu, customers will not
be disappointed. The spinach dip is the
best appetizer on the menu and I would recommend this to anyone who visits. The food is also reasonably priced. Most meals will cost an average of
$11-12.
The common
criticism for West End is the poor service.
It has become a well known fact that West End has some of the worse
service in the area. I will often hear
stories of friends who been charged extra or have taken hours to receive their
food. The credit card machine is broken
very often and most of time your order will be messed up.
Overall
I’ll have to give the restaurant 2.5 stars out of 10. With good service I would consider giving
this restaurant 5 stars. The service is
so bad that it drops the rating by 2.5 stars.
Wednesday, March 15, 2017
Mykonos Grill
My next restaurant review is for Mykonos Grill location on
Church Street in Burlington. In my
previous post a shared trip advisors reviews for the restaurant. Almost every time I’ve eaten at Mykonos, the
restaurant has been at at least 80% capacity. The general public seems to have
a lot of great comments to make about this spot. Overall, it was rated the second best
restaurant in Burlington out of 181 restaurants. I would agree that this would be one
of the top 8 restaurants in Burlington but I would be pressed to give it the
number 2 spot.
The first
aspect I would like to talk about is the atmosphere and the service. The
service at Mykonos is nothing short of spectacular. Even with a full restaurant, the staff will do
a great job waiting in a timely manner while getting everything right. The atmosphere is somewhat boring
overall. Although the atmosphere isn’t
great, it’s really all you are looking for out of this type of restaurant.
Overall the
food is very reasonably priced. Most of
the combo meals will cost between $8 and $10.
These meals also come with two very sizable sides. For example, a customer can get a Gyro plate
with a side salad and fries for only $8.
The overall quality of the food is above average but not exceptional. I
believe the Gyro meat is not as good as it could be. Being a Greek restaurant, I feel like great
Gyros is a must. In my opinion, the chicken skewers are the best item on the
menu. The fried zucchini is also a very good
appetizer.
I would give
Mykonos an overall rating of 4 stars. As I mentioned previous there is a reason
the restaurant gets the great reviews it does. Based on my criteria, I just can’t
give Mykonos 5 stars. The average atmosphere mixed with food that is not “exceptional”
is the reason I cannot give this place 5 stars.
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