3552 Meridian Crossings Drive
Okemos, MI 48864-6916
(517) 853-1100

Food Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars – I love these sandwiches
Service Rating: 4 out of 5 stars – Got my food quick, and everybody was friendly. What more can you ask for?
Atmosphere Rating: 3 out of 5 stars – I hardly spend any time inside. Can’t think of anything good or bad.
Price Rating: 4 out of 5 stars – While the prices are high, the food to price ratio is well within reason.
Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 stars – Only reason I don’t eat there every day is it is about a half hour round trip.

Like corned beef? Go to State Side Deli. Before you whine about the prices, look at what you get for it. That isn’t a goddamned sandwich, it is the goddamned Battle of the Bulge in a box.

I love me a ruben (and friends) sandwich. This is probably my second favorite ruben-class sandwich I’ve had in the Lansing area (the first is the Super Reuben at The Irish Pub…but I was drunk when I had it, so my judgment may be a bit off). Anyway, the State Side Deli doesn’t shit around. You get PLENTY of their delicious corned beef all up in your sandwich.

There isn’t really anything wrong with the sandwich, which in turn makes it a great sandwich since it is so hard to find a really good sandwich in a restaurant. I had plenty of sauce, slaw, etc with none of them over abundant. And if I did need anything else, everyone I’ve dealt with there was pretty friendly, so I’m sure I could have gotten it. You can check out their delicious menu online.

So, after I ate this sandwich I was pleasantly surprised to find a pickle wedge hiding underneath like I wouldn’t find it. Pickle, you can’t hide from me. I love pickles. And since the sandwich took up the whole box, I really didn’t know it was there until I finished. I propose we start saying the phrase “Like finding a pickle underneath a good sandwich” instead of “Like finding money in an old coat”

Finally, I had a slice of the something-layered cake. Forgot the number. It was given to me free of charge in hopes of a good review. While I am appreciative, and can usually be bought, there was no need sir. No need. Mmmmm, free cake.

1731 W Grand River Ave
Okemos, MI 48864-1803
(517) 347-9066

“Don’t call it a comeback, I been here for years, rockin’ my peers and puttin’ suckas in fear, makin the tears rain down like a MON-soon, listen to the bass go BOOM”

That’s right I’m back from my sabbatical.  “What pray tell were you doing?” one might ask.  “None of your goddamn business!!!11!!!!!1!11!” one might reply.  But seriously, I was saving children from burning buildings and curing diseases that plague small, cute animals (read substitute teaching and eating a lot of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches).  When I finished with this exhausting but rewarding work I found myself to be famished, so I called some friends and we repaired to a relatively new local eatery: T&D’s Coney Grill.

As you can see this is very nice, or at least nicer, than your typical diner/”coney island”, this is probably because this is the former set of Villegas, the ill-fated Okemos bistro.  The interior is very pleasant, with subdued lighting and muted colors that don’t try to claw your eyes out with a visual spoon.  The bar, situated right by the front entrance, is fantastic, long, with great views of the kitchen and the waitress stations (dinner and a show), and makes me sad that I can’t plunk myself down and drink myself into oblivion.  Despite the obvious superiority of the bar over other seating, my party and I chose a booth/table combo, as there were three of us.

I arrived to the table late, as I was unsuccessfully trying to snap a picture of the exterior, and as I sat down the waitress approached with drinks for my fellow diners, she gave a not entirely pleasant snort of surprise and asked if I needed something to drink,  I should have seen this as the beginning of a not very pleasant pattern, but I blithely pushed on and ordered a water.  More on the waitress in a bit.

The menu at T&D’s is pretty typical for a coney-style restaurant.  And if you from around the east lansing area, you  might notice that it has a strikingly similar layout to the menu at Hannah’s Koney Island on Hagadorn.  This is because they are operated by the same owners.  In any case, the menu has the usual greek centered diner fare that one comes to expect and love from a coney island.  Gyros, sandwiches, coney dogs, saganaki, greek salads, etc…

The waitress came back and we began to order.  My female dining companion ordered, and then my male compatriot told her to skip him as he wasn’t quite ready, well neither was I, so I hemmed and hawed for a couple second during which the waitress grew visibly annoyed.  So I finally settled on a gyro supreme with a cup of their soup of the day: split pea with ham.

The soup arrived in short order and was pretty good looking.  Split pea soup is one of those things that I didn’t really trust as a kid, and have come to like as an adult, like girls and wearing pants.  This rendition was decent, but a bit too salty.  The consistancy was really good though, not quite a soup but not yet a stew, and had chunks of ham strewn about it like delicious little shipwreck victims.

Next came the gyro supreme.  Actually all three of us ordered gyros, which became a problem.  The waitress, noting each of our orders, one vegetarian, one regular, and one no onions with extra tomatoes, then set down each plate in front of the wrong person, a mistake we did not catch until it was too late for one of our poor group.  One of my friends and I figured that her vegetarian and my meat (ha) had been switched so we switched back, if only we had known that no-one had received the correct plate we might have been able to avoid the tragedy, but alas one of our number was wounded by the presence of onion in his gyro and stricken by the loss of his extra tomato.  We didn’t figure this out until I accidently ate what was probably his gyro .  My friend, who was getting his gyro wrapped up, noted the presence of onions in his gyro and explained what we thought had happen, the waitress did not act like she was very happy about the possibility of having to get another gyro for my friend or have the onions removed, so my friend very graciously offered to just pick off the onions himself and asked for a box.  As a note, it was not our fault that she set the wrong plates in front of the wrong person, but she just seemed angry at life in general so who knows what was wrong.  I really wanted to make a stop action video of us all running around the restaurant switching plates with the Benny Hill music playing in the background, but the bastard wouldn’t give us permission, so that dream died.

The gyro though, was good.  Not great, not bad, but good.  Slices of gyro meat stacked on a warm pita with tomatoes, no onion apparently, shredded iceberg lettuce, feta cheese (the clutch addition for the “gyro supreme”), and tzatziki sauce.  I enjoyed it, though this gyro shared the complant that I’ve had with all gyros, it’s too hard to get all the ingredients in one bite.  The sandwich is too big to fit into your mouth all at once, so you’re forced to either go for the top or bottom.  Well on the top you get all tzatziki, while on the bottom, all you get is meat.  There are about two prime bites of gyro in an entire sandwich, these occur when you’ve whittled away the edges enough to make it possible to score meat and sauce in the same bite, but by then the tomatoes have inevitably fallen out or there is no feta left, either way you never can realize that dream of the perfectly assembled bite.  It is an outcome I will keep fighting for.

All in all besides the service, the meal was nice and comforting, and not too dear.  I walked out with 9.56 less in my pocket and a full belly.  As a waddled to my car with a post-prandial belch brewing in my stomach, which at this point was waving a tiny Greek flag, I knew I would be back, even though this wasn’t anywhere near the greatest meal of my life, it was a good experience for a coney-island, I just hope that someone gives the waitress a hug before we get there next time.

]]> http://halftonreviews.com/2009/11/11/who-the-hell-is-this-guy/feed/ 3 http://halftonreviews.com/2009/11/04/coming-soon/ http://halftonreviews.com/2009/11/04/coming-soon/#comments Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:53:05 +0000 rockstar http://halftonreviews.com/?p=228 Chili’s – Visited September 30, 2009

5055 Marsh Rd
Okemos, MI 48864-1103
(517) 347-7188

Food Rating: 3 out of 5 stars – The food is good. Not great, but Chili’s has become pretty popular and all of the marketing in the world can’t cover up awful food.

Service Rating: 1.5 out of 5 stars – This is generally where my distaste from Chili’s comes from. The orders are wrong, nobody seems to give a crap, and nobody seems concerned about our dining experience.

Atmosphere Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars – Gaudy. Not for me, but there isn’t anything really wrong with it.

Price Rating: 3 out of 5 stars – The food is slightly more expensive than I feel it should be, and the beer is considerably more expensive than it should be. But I did get a pretty big margarita for pretty cheap.

Overall Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars – I’m neither here nor there on Chili’s. I probably will continue to avoid them, but I’m not adverse to eating there if that is what other people want to do.

Well, I picked Chili’s because they had been pretty awful the past two times I went there. I decided to give Chili’s a third chance hoping to get a funny story out of the deal. Well, unfortunately for me and fortunately for them the third time was a “charm”.

The first two times visiting this Chili’s were dismal at best. The queso dip was cold with a nice micro-waved film on top, and several orders were wrong. We had to send the server back at least twice per visit because of missing dishes, and on a fairly regular occasion people had to ask for drink refills instead of being asked if they would like more (or, bonus, the server just brings it). The restaurant was slow during these visits, which explains, but does NOT excuse why the food wasn’t fresh, and definitely makes me wonder how the server messed up so much. Both dining experiences were pretty bad.

However, on our third venture to Chili’s they did much better. Our server still seemed like she would have preferred it if we hadn’t come in to dine, and she messed up an order, but once we pointed it out she had it fixed in a jiff.

One thing I was impressed with was a margarita I ordered. The el Presidente or some jazz. I was expecting a regular margarita with a double margarita price. What I got was a decent sized margarita, the shaker with at least another 1.5 refills in it, and a price of like $7. That is OK in my book. Super OK.

As for the food, it wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good either. Kind of generic. People ate up with no complaints.

I ordered some steak and ribs. My steak was ordered rare, and came out pretty close to what I wanted, so I can’t complain. Wasn’t a great cut of meat, but at least they cooked it how I wanted it. The ribs were dry and tasted like generic bbq sauce. As it turns out, I don’t want my Chili’s baby back ribs.

The only weird thing going on was the chips that came as an appetizer. Maybe this is how Chili’s does chips, but I wasn’t a fan. They were thin and kind of soft. Kind of like some fried tissue paper.

Also, the saltines were soggy in the packaging. Weird.

Anyway, I won’t choose to go to Chili’s again despite this not-so-terrible experience. I will sigh and groan if people want to go there, but I’ll probably go if I can’t talk them out of it. Maybe Chili’s are better somewhere else, but it was my understanding that part of being a franchise is to offer the same service no matter where it is. So, either Chili’s of Okemos shouldn’t be part of the franchise, or all Chili’s should be avoided if possible as you run a one-in-three chance of having a mediocre dining experience, and a two-in-three chance of being pissed off. We shall see!

Food Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars – It’s pasta bowl, man. It’s pretty tasty.
Service Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars – Our server was not thrilled with us. Also, I wanted food, not a breakdown of the rate structuring of DirecTV
Atmosphere Rating: 3 out of 5 stars – It’s an Olive Garden. They are all seriously the same
Price Rating: 3 out of 5 stars – Dinner for two (all you can eat), salad, bread sticks, drinks. $30 after tax/tip
Overall Rating: 3 out of 5 stars – It’s pasta bowl, man

When and if I (n)ever adopt a child from some horrible place where they don’t have food, I will have to make sure I time it right so that one of the first things we can do is experience true American culture at an “Italian” restaurant.

That’s right kids, you heard right. Never-ending Pasta Bowl is back. And, according to our waitress, it doubles the number of guests they have.

For those not in the know, Pasta Bowl gets you free salad, breadsticks, and as many bowls of pasta as you can feed into your horrible mouth for about $14 after drink, tax, and tip. Not bad. The only real catch is that you have to pick from the pasta on the list. The list has your basic types of pasta, and a few types of sauce, and any combination your horrible mind deems fit for your horrible mouth can be yours just as soon as they can slop it into a feed bag and bring it to your horrible face.

I keep saying “horrible” because I usually eat so much that I feel like I’m going to die.

The restaurant itself isn’t bad either. Our server acted like she could totally be doing something better. Also, we were seated next to the server station, so I am now well aware that one of the employees is switching from DirecTV to Comcast and is so happy to be doing so. See, the rate structuring for DirecTV just doesn’t make any sense, and according to another employee, it is a huge scam and they basically commit fraud every time they bill you.

One quirky thing that happened during our visit was that I arrived with 2 members of my party about 20 minutes before the other two, so I had them take my name down so they could direct the latecomers to my table. Two hostesses and my waitress made sure I did this. I’ll be damned if when they got there the hostesses had no idea what was going on. Oh well, that is why Alexander Graham Bell invented cellular communications.

I generally stick to alfredo dishes, so that is pretty much all I had (but 3 bowls). I understand the mushroom sauce was undelicious, but I can’t say from experience.

Alfredo sauce with spinach.

Some kind of noodle with regular alfredo sauce. Not a winner

Alfredo with spinach, again

Other members of my party felt like spending some more money, and got an appetizer and a dessert. They looked and tasted pretty delicious. Sorry, these pictures are after the vultures picked at them for a minute.

Delicious fried thing.

Delicious sugar dough things and chocolate dipping sauce

Basically, if when you go to the never-ending glutton bowl, tell the server to shove off when she brings you salad, and if possible go without a drink. Fill your horrible stomach with 95% pasta to get maximum value for your dollar. Or don’t.

2085 West Grand River Rd
Okemos, MI 48864
P: 517-349-2321

Food Rating: 3 out of 5 stars – Tasty. But it is kind of hard to mess up chicken wings.
Service Rating: 3 out of 5 stars – Hostess was a dummy. The actual service was good.
Atmosphere Rating: 3 out of 5 stars – Casual. And they didn’t change a DAMN thing inside from when it was a Bennigan’s
Price Rating: 2 out of 5 stars – A tad pricey for fried chicken in sauce
Overall Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars – If it was a little cheaper I would be all over this place

I’ll be honest, I was a little anxious when I heard that we would be trading our local Bennigan’s for a new wing joint that I had never heard of. I am a fan of the chicken wing, so I hoped for the best.

Well the place, Wild Wing Café, finally opened, and I waited a week or so to allow them to find their flow. I’m not a fan of rolling up on opening day and watching everyone run around like chickens with their heads cut off. You have to give them a little bit to get used to, ya know, the restaurant business.

Right off the bat I was displeased with the hostess. Apathetic and dumb. But whatever, our encounter with her was just the few seconds it took her to put us at a table that was too small for our party.

The actual waitress was a lot better, and while she got one of the orders wrong, she was friendly about it and had the problem fixed right away. She even brought me a glass of milk!

I ordered a Strong Bow Cider as it was happy hour, and everyone who tried it agreed that it tasted watered down, or Strong Bow Light (which isn’t a real thing, heads up). Who knows. The Shock Top beer I had after that tasted just fine. Mmmmmmm, Shock Top……

Now, on to the FOOD!

What do you order at a restaurant named “Wild Wing Café”
The answer: salads WINGS

The names of the flavors on the menu were slightly racist (which isn’t a bad thing, I snickered). They have a flavor called “The Oriental” with a description of “AH-SO-GOOD”. The biggest problem is WHAT IN THE HECK DOES THAT ACTUALLY TASTE LIKE? They had a few items on the menu that you just have to order to find out what it is, I guess.

They have 33 flavors of wings, and as much as I would like to, I can’t try them all in one sitting as A: I don’t think they will bring me 1 of each flavor, and B: I wasn’t 33 wings hungry. Fortunately, they have sampler platters. 5 wings of 5 different flavors! So we ordered two of those monsters. I can’t remember all of the flavors we got, but I do know this: I got the “Braveheart” which is supposedly the biggest baddest wing they have. I thought “I’ll be the judge of that!”

Well, the jury is in, and the “Braveheart” is a monster. Is it too hot? No. Should you eat that flavor first? Again, no. It was so hot that I couldn’t taste the first few wings after eating it. One member of our party who was going to eat one licked her finger, and said “oh god, I don’t want that!” and handed it off. If you order any “Braveheart” flavored wings, eat them last and make sure you are ok on refills. It won’t knock you down right away, it is more of a “creeper” that will let your lips and tongue know exactly who the new sheriff in town is as soon as you think it is safe. Don’t be a girl, try it.

All in all, I was not displeased with this new wing joint. The wings were big, the flavors creative and tasty, and judging from the quick glance of the non-wing part of the menu, it looks like they have other tasty meals. But seriously, get the wings.

The pricing leaves a little to be desired. The 5×5 sampler was a cool $20 after tax, and the beers will set you back $5-7 for something worth drinking. With alternatives like BWW on Tuesday or Thursday, or Old Chicago on Mondays, you’d be a fool to pay that much for wings considering 3/7 days of the week you can get them for ¼ the price. However, if you find yourself craving wings on Wednesday, or the weekend, give them a shot!

-Rockstar