Recent Restaurants

Mama Margie's - San Antonio

About a month ago I finally quit my job at Teka Molino which is a Mexican fast food restaurant. I was just a cashier, but oh my gosh how I hated it. Working in the food business is the worst to be honest, especially if you have customers that have never worked in food ever, or are just plain a-holes. That's not the point though. The point is, Mama Margie's is kind of like Teka Molino. You go in, order at the cash register, sit down, and your number is called. Then there was also chips and salsa on the side to serve yourself, just like at Teka Molino. The only difference really was the food quality, probably the price, and Mama Margie's had karaoke. We went way back in December around Christmastime. My husband and I split a plate of tacos and had the chips and salsa. I didn't really like it from what I can remember. Nothing really impressed me about it, especially after eating at Teka everyday. Or maybe I didn't like it because I did eat Mexican everyday and I was tired of it. Even though I hated working at Teka, I loved their food, and I would always go there before I ever go back to Mama Margie's.

J. Alexanders - San Antonio

So my husband and I were going on a date night and we wanted to try something new. The Quarry is kind of the nicer side of town so we went in that direction and decided to try J. Alexanders. I had never heard of it before, but we always passed it anytime we went shopping or to the movies, and it looked kind of fancy so we thought it would be a fun experience. We went in and looked at the 10 item menu. Not a good sign. Then we looked at the prices. Another bad sign. But we were like, what the heck.. It was nice inside though. Dim-lit and what not. Well, I didn't want to go too expensive so I just got the Chicken Caesar Salad. How can you go wrong with one of those salads, right? Easiest thing to make. Well, they effed it up. There was way too much dressing on it, it was super sour, and there was hardly any of it on the plate. Worst. I don't think we will be going back there anytime soon.

Tong's Thai - San Antonio

I had been hearing about this place ever since I was in high school six years ago. My friends would always go there, another one of my friends started working there, and it was so close to where we all lived. But I just never really had the desire to try it. Then I married an Asian man who loves all kind of Asian food, so we have to try it all. My husband used to work at a Thai restaurant when we lived in Provo, UT, and the owner's (Gulavadee was her name) spring rolls were the best I have ever had. So most of the time when my husband and I try new Thai places, we like to try their spring rolls to see if they are even close to how good Gulavadee's were. So we did. We ordered the spring rolls at Tong's Thai and we were pretty disappointed. Not because they weren't as good as Gulavadee's, but because we only got two spring rolls for like eight bucks! They were kind of big, but still. That was kind of ridiculous. Anyways, we then go on to order our entree, and I of course have to try something I know I will already like. I can't try a new restaurant and a new dish at the same time; it's too risky for me. So I got the Lemon Chicken. The only complaint I have about that plate is that the lemon sauce was not that great. The chicken was amazing though and they give you a TON. I had a lot of leftovers, so I just bought some lemon sauce from another Chinese restaurant and used that one instead. But I guess I can't really complain because I did order a Chinese plate at a Thai restaurant. But then again, it is just lemon sauce, shouldn't be that hard to make. I would go back though. And probably get the same thing.

Woodland Cafe

There really is no picture for this restaurant since it's a rinky-dink hole-in-the-wall. I guess I could walk the two minutes from my work to take a picture since it's right down the street, but that's just too much of a hassle. And speaking of rinky-dink hole-in-the-wall places, and knowing my love for them, you can imagine how excited I was when I got to eat there with my husband for lunch. 

This place has a variety of food: Burgers & fries, salads, Philly cheese steaks, and even a Teriyaki plate, and it is all pretty cheap too. I usually just start out with the basics when I first try a place because it should be easy to get it nice and delicious, so of course I got the burger and fries. I mean, if the burger and fries are really good, then the other food should be pretty good, right?  But unfortunately, I was super disappointed. Especially in the fries. If you know me, you know that fries make the meal. I absolutely love to eat at places with good fries. (If you want to see my list of places with the best fries, look here.) Usually, if the fries suck, then I won't even enjoy the burger that much. And these fries sucked. They were too dry even after I put a lot of salt on them. And even though the burger was greasy (which for some weird reason, I like that), it had no flavor to it. Maybe I had my hopes up too high. It's easy to say I won't be going back.

Farrell's

This past Monday I spent the entire day with my in-laws, and we ended up going to Farrell's for dinner. It's this new place that opened on the corner of downtown Brea, and it is always so packed. The line to get in goes halfway around the building...everyday, all day! There is always a line, so my husband and I figured it must be really good since so many people wait in that line to get in. I also heard from someone at church that the waiters had to audition at their interview in order to get the job; sing and dance, I think. An audition for an interview? That's crazy. I thought this place was going to be amazing. And I was excited because it had an old time kind of theme. So, we decided to go. The wait was about an hour long, and the wait for the food was another 30 minutes. We go in and it is noisy as heck. Our waitress pretty much yelled at the top of her lungs every time she talked to us, not because of the noise, but because she felt that was a way to entertain us. I was always afraid that she was going to spit on us because she sounded like she had so much saliva in her mouth. She even danced a little bit while we were waiting for our food, but it was more of an awkward moment than fun entertainment. Every time there was a birthday, an annoying alarm would go off, a bass drum would be played, and all the waiters would yell for the attention of the entire restaurant and then sing a birthday song. There were probably fifteen birthdays that night. And then this one really, really hyper waiter (because they were all pretty hyper) kept getting the entire restaurant to do the wave, and he would yell and make us yell back. I felt like I was at a high school football game, except less fun and more annoying. It was just too much. The food was alright. I got the "Talk of the Town" burger and both my husband and I had bottom buns that were too hard to eat. And they didn't give me enough FRIES! That's the most important part of the meal for me and I barely had any to eat. Farrell's is known for their ice cream, afterall it is an ice cream parlor, but it tasted just like regular ice cream to me; however, my mother-in-law loved it. Maybe I should have gotten something a little more exciting than a sundae. Overall, it was not the greatest experience. We were all pretty much ready to get the heck out of there when we were done. We were there a total of three hours. I don't think I'll ever be going back.

Duck and Sauerkraut

It's been awhile since I've tried something new. Christmas day I got terribly sick which lasted about a week, and then I got pink-eye so I couldn't really start any new books. I watched the Sound of Music on Christmas day, but I don't really care to post about that movie. I've seen it tons of times, and of course I would recommend it because it's a classic.

For New Years, we went to my sister-in-law's house for dinner, and instead of traditional American food like ham, mashed potatoes, and rolls, we had traditional Asian and German food. Because of my Asian in-laws, we had duck. My husband's step-dad passed away earlier this year, but he was half German so they continued with his tradition of sauerkraut on pork ribs. 

I would say that the duck was alright except that there are a lot of random small bones in the meat. I don't like that very much because I end up biting into a bone and having to pull it out of my mouth in crumbled pieces. I also don't know what part of the duck I am eating like I do with chicken, and that kind of makes me nervous. 

For the sauerkraut, it's not my favorite. I didn't eat much of it, and maybe I was still a little sick and couldn't taste really well, but I didn't like it too much. It covered most of the ribs, so of course being my picky self, I flicked some off. Let's just say it's not something I would eat by choice. Same for the duck. However, my husband absolutely loves it.

TAPS

Went to Taps yesterday to celebrate my husband's first finished semester of law school. We chose Taps because it looks like a really nice place. It's also one of those places where you are afraid to go inside because you might end up ordering two $50 plates because that's the cheapest thing on the menu. Luckily, that wasn't the case, although it was a bit pricey. However, I did not know that it was a "fish house." If I would have known that, I wouldn't have been so surprised that all of the appetizers and the main courses were fish. That being said, I did not like the place. I'm not really a seafood lover. So I ended up getting some kind of egg rolls that made me sick. Or maybe I just ate more than I really needed to eat, but either way, I felt like throwing up before I even left the restaurant. And the restrooms stunk. BUT, the ambiance of the place was really classy and cozy; it even had a fire burning in the waiting area which was nice. And of course, I enjoyed the company of my friends and family at dinner. If you're a lover of fish, I would recommend this place, but as for me, I don't think I'll ever go back.